The Basics of Legal Research

• Author: Arlene Blatt/JoAnn Kurtz
• Pages: 1-9

PART I

Introduction to Legal Research

Every legal professional, whether lawyer, paralegal, or law clerk, will be called on from

time to time, and perhaps frequently, to perform legal research. If you have to do it at

all, it makes sense to do it competently. In fact, legal research is a skill that both law-

yers and paralegals, under their respective rules of conduct, are required to have and

to apply when they undertake matters on behalf of their clients.

Don’t let anyone tell you that legal research is easy. But if you enjoy problem solv-

ing, legal research can be interesting—even fun.

Legal research is often taught as a series of exercises in using such resources as the

Canadian Abridgment or Lexis Advance Quicklaw (Quicklaw). However, there’s not

much point in working with resources if you don’t know how to read and understand

the primary sources to which the Canadian Abridgment or Quicklaw directs you—

statutes, regulations, bylaws, and cases. Nor is there any point in working with

resources if you don’t know how to identify the issues you have to research.

The purpose of this book is to take you through the research process step by step

so that you can

• identify an issue after hearing the story of a client’s problem;

• identify and use the right research tools to find information about that issue;

• read and understand the sources to which the research tools point you;

• apply the law you find so that you can solve the client’s problem; and

• write up the solution, in an opinion letter or memo of law.

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