To Grow to Be a Successful Lawyer: Develop a Research Plan

When I need to research the law, I first put together a comprehensive research plan. My research plan depends on my familiarity with the area of law.

If I don’t know much about a particular area of expertise, I will need to start my research at a more basic level, reading treatises or using research guides that will give me some background and explain enough to set me in the right direction. I might even ask my colleagues for ideas on where to start my research. I don’t want my colleagues to ask me later if I checked a source that to them was obvious, and then to have to reply that I didn’t check it.

Of course it’s easier to research an area that I’m already familiar with. Of course the place to start is usually with a law or related legislative acts. Even if I think I know the law, though, I need to make sure that the norms haven’t been changed and that there are no new cases or other interpretations of the laws that have occurred recently.

As I’ve noted before (see my Blog on Understand the Assignment), I need to know all of the relevant facts, the chronology, the identity of the parties, and the relationships between the parties before I research. But sometimes as I research, I realize that I need to know more detail about the already-known facts, or know additional facts, to determine how the law applies. Then as I find out these additional facts, it may cause me to need to research more law. Additional issues may even arise.

As I make separate notes about my research, I write down the source of my findings. I like to print out the relevant laws, so that I can make notes or underline on the copies. I do this with cases and commentary as well. But in my separate notes, I state which law or case I am referring to. That way when I need to find it, I don’t have to re-read all of the copies to find what I need. I’ll have my notes with the citation right in front of me. I try to put enough information so that not only can I find the source again, but I can cite to it properly.

Sometimes as I research, new questions come to me, and I make more notes. And as I think more, I may need to research more. But it’s all an important part of the process.

Next time I will write more about this entire “pre-writing” process, which includes thinking, making notes, researching, doing more thinking, making more notes, and doing more researching.

Do you have any good ideas for streamlining the research process?