May 4, 2016 – What are the best tips, tools, and techniques to use for legal research?
I polled legal research experts from around Wisconsin, and here are the top 10 tips, falling into three general categories:
Put Other People or Experts To Work for You
This does not mean delegating the assignment, but relying on the experts. This includes:
1. Treatises. Written by experts, a treatise provides an overview of the area of law. This is especially important in areas that are highly statutory (bankruptcy) or regulatory (environmental law).
2. The telephone. It may seem a little old-fashioned, but calling someone that deals with your issue may provide an answer or get you started with the best resources. The phone allows you to share nuances that might take several emails to discuss.
3. Law librarians. Law librarians can suggest resources and avenues of research. Don’t have a librarian in your firm? Contact one at the State Law Library.
Get Out of the Research Rut
Most people routinely use one or two databases. Unfortunately, these databases may not have the materials you need.
Barbara Fritschel (U.W. 1980) has been law librarian for the federal courts for more than 25 years. She thanks the members of the Law Librarians Association of Wisconsin (LLAW) for their top tips. LLAW's Public Relations Committee coordinates regular contributions by its members to InsideTrack.
4. Google has several specialized databases, including scholar. google.com (case law, law review articles, and patents) and patents.google.com. Choosing the appropriate Google will make the results more relevant.
5. Make use of multiple resources, both paid and free, to ensure you are finding everything. Don’t forget resources, like Fastcase, which are available for free through your State Bar membership.
6. Law Library web pages often provide comprehensive links to online resources. The Wisconsin State Law Library has a great collection of links to Wisconsin materials. (Plus, as a State Bar member you can join, check out materials, and access databases like Legal Trac and Hein Online.) The Law Library of Congress has a portal called Guide to Law Online that covers state, federal, foreign, international, and indigenous law.
Use Resources Effectively
Anyone can enter words into a search box and retrieve 10,000 or more results. Efficient researchers know there is a better way. One advantage is that many databases have similar features, so once you have mastered it on one database, it is easy to use on others.
7. Phrase searching. Some legal terms of art are phrases – search and seizure, habeas corpus, eminent domain. Placing that phrase inside quotation marks forces the search engine to search for the phrase rather than individual words.
8. Advance search on Google. Google has several advance search features that will help you search for phrases (yes, they use the “ ”) and can limit your search to specific times and certain sites or domains (like .gov). This makes your search more precise. After you get your initial search results, click on the wheel on the far right of the screen to pull up the advance search options.
9. Understand what you are looking for. Most people start searching for case law. Sometimes the best place may be to start with statutes or regulations. Understanding how your area of law develops (see tip No. 1) lets you get your research off to a good start.
10. Update, update, and update. Make use of tracking features and alerts to ensure there is no change to your statutes or case law. Your research is not done when you finish the brief. True story: In between the time the briefs were submitted and oral argument was held, a supreme court opinion was issued that resolved two of the three issues on appeal. Neither side mentioned the case at oral argument. The court of appeals panel was not pleased.
Hopefully none of these tips are new but serve to remind you that it is easy to get into a research rut and do your research more effectively.