How to do a Research in Law?

This listicle should be read by the paralegals when they have to do research on a question of law. In my listicle I summarize the major steps involved in a legal research I have learnt during my training in Paralegal Technology at Ahuntsic College. The legal research course was one of the first courses I took during my training in Paralegal Technology and it helped me a lot throughout my training in other courses.

1. Request an Interview with the Lawyer to ask questions about the Research.

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Meeting with a lawyer

When a paralegal receives a request from a lawyer to do research on a legal issue he has to understand the question and ask some clarifications if the question is vague or ambiguous. It is also better to reword the question to check if he understands very well.

There are two kinds of research. One with a memo and the other one without a memo. A paralegal should ask the lawyer what kind he wants. Generally, research with a memo requires more work, more time and more planning than research without a memo.

The paralegal should ask the lawyer what is the deadline for submitting the research or to check if it is rush research.

Finally, he should also ask the lawyer what is the budget of the research to find out if he can use paid website to do it.

2. Identify the Law Dealing with the Legal Issue

Legis Quebec

Lexis nexis

After the interview with the lawyer, a paralegal should go on the websites specialized in research in law and legislation. In Quebec, the website specialized in laws is Legis Quebec and its content has an official value in law. It updates every two months with new legislation. However, this website includes only Quebec Legislation. If the question is in criminal matter or a matter of federal law, the paralegal should go to Lexis Nexis Quicklaw. After the paralegal find out the law he could read the annotated version of law that gives some doctrine and case law.

3. What does Doctrine say on the Question of Law?

doctrine

doctrine

The next step is to read doctrine found in annoted law on the question of law. A paralegal could find doctrine on websites like CAIJ, SOQUIJ and La Reference. Most of the time, the annoted law gives the name of authors who have written on the legal issue. This step is very important because it is relevant to know the opinion of the legal authors. Some of their opinions may answer the research question and other may point to other important aspects of the issues. In addition, the authors give the case law that supports their opinion. Finally the selected doctrine should be printed and the relevant passages highlighted in yellow.

4. Case Law Research

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case law

The paralegal completes his legal research by doing a case law research on CAIJ, SOQUIJ, La Reference or CanLII. If he wants to have a fast result, he has to use keywords of the question of law and must respect the writing rules of the website he uses. Among the results of his research, he must give priority to recent decisions and those from the high courts such as the Supreme Court of Canada and Quebec Court of Appeal. The selected decisions of Court should be printed and the relevant passages highlighted in yellow.

5. Write Research Memo

memo

The last step of the research is to write a memo and to give it to the lawyer with legislation, doctrine and case law that are relevant to answer the question of law. The memo must be written without an error. It is also important to be available to answer some questions about the research.

Conclusion

The research is one of the most important works of a paralegal. In my listicle, I have described the steps I follow to do the legal research but I know that there are many other ways to do it. The advantage of the method I learned is that is covers all aspects of research.

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