legal research and writing

Business development

• Billing management software
• Court management software
• Legal calendaring solutions

Practice management & growth

• Project & knowledge management
• Workflow automation software

Corporate & business organization

• Business practice & procedure

Legal forms

• Legal form-building software

Legal data & document management

• Data management
• Data-driven insights
• Document management
• Document storage & retrieval

Drafting software, service & guidance

• Contract services
• Drafting software
• Electronic evidence

Financial management

• Outside counsel spend

Law firm marketing

• Attracting & retaining clients
• Custom legal marketing services

Legal research & guidance

• Anywhere access to reference books
• Due diligence
• Legal research technology

Trial readiness, process & case guidance

• Case management software
• Matter management

Recommended Products

Conduct legal research efficiently and confidently using trusted content, proprietary editorial enhancements, and advanced technology.

Accelerate how you find answers with powerful generative AI capabilities and the expertise of 650+ attorney editors. With Practical Law, access thousands of expertly maintained how-to guides, templates, checklists, and more across all major practice areas.

A business management tool for legal professionals that automates workflow. Simplify project management, increase profits, and improve client satisfaction.

• All products

Tax & Accounting

Audit & accounting.

• Accounting & financial management
• Audit workflow
• Engagement compilation & review
• Guidance & standards
• Internal audit & controls
• Quality control

Data & document management

• Certificate management
• Data management & mining
• Document storage & organization

Estate planning

• Estate planning & taxation
• Wealth management

Financial planning & analysis

• Financial reporting

Payroll, compensation, pension & benefits

• Payroll & workforce management services
• Healthcare plans
• Billing management
• Client management
• Cost management
• Practice management
• Workflow management

Professional development & education

• Product training & education
• Professional development

Tax planning & preparation

• Financial close
• Income tax compliance
• Tax automation
• Tax compliance
• Tax planning
• Tax preparation
• Sales & use tax
• Transfer pricing
• Fixed asset depreciation

Tax research & guidance

• Federal tax
• State & local tax
• International tax
• Tax laws & regulations
• Partnership taxation
• Research powered by AI
• Specialized industry taxation
• Credits & incentives
• Uncertain tax positions

Unleash the power of generative AI through an accounting and tax research tool. Find answers faster with dialogue-based research and quick, on-point search results.

Provides a full line of federal, state, and local programs. Save time with tax planning, preparation, and compliance.

Automate work paper preparation and eliminate data entry

Trade & Supply

Customs & duties management.

• Customs law compliance & administration

Global trade compliance & management

• Global export compliance & management
• Global trade analysis
• Denied party screening

Product & service classification

• Harmonized Tariff System classification

Supply chain & procurement technology

• Foreign-trade zone (FTZ) management
• Supply chain compliance

Software that keeps supply chain data in one central location. Optimize operations, connect with external partners, create reports and keep inventory accurate.

Automate sales and use tax, GST, and VAT compliance. Consolidate multiple country-specific spreadsheets into a single, customizable solution and improve tax filing and return accuracy.

Risk & Fraud

Risk & compliance management.

• Regulatory compliance management

Fraud prevention, detection & investigations

• Fraud prevention technology

Risk management & investigations

• Investigation technology
• Document retrieval & due diligence services

Search volumes of data with intuitive navigation and simple filtering parameters. Prevent, detect, and investigate crime.

Identify patterns of potentially fraudulent behavior with actionable analytics and protect resources and program integrity.

Analyze data to detect, prevent, and mitigate fraud. Focus investigation resources on the highest risks and protect programs by reducing improper payments.

News & Media

Who we serve.

• Broadcasters
• Governments
• Marketers & Advertisers
• Professionals
• Sports Media
• Corporate Communications
• Health & Pharma
• Machine Learning & AI

Content Types

• All Content Types
• Human Interest
• Business & Finance
• Entertainment & Lifestyle
• Reuters Community
• Reuters Plus - Content Studio
• Advertising Solutions
• Sponsorship
• Verification Services
• Action Images
• Reuters Connect
• World News Express
• Reuters Pictures Platform
• API & Feeds
• Reuters.com Platform

Media Solutions

• User Generated Content
• Reuters Ready
• Ready-to-Publish
• Case studies
• Reuters Partners
• Standards & values
• Leadership team
• Reuters Best
• Webinars & online events

Around the globe, with unmatched speed and scale, Reuters Connect gives you the power to serve your audiences in a whole new way.

Reuters Plus, the commercial content studio at the heart of Reuters, builds campaign content that helps you to connect with your audiences in meaningful and hyper-targeted ways.

Reuters.com provides readers with a rich, immersive multimedia experience when accessing the latest fast-moving global news and in-depth reporting.

• Reuters Media Center
• Jurisdiction
• Practice area
• View all legal
• Organization
• View all tax

Featured Products

• Blacks Law Dictionary
• Thomson Reuters ProView
• Recently updated products
• New products

Shop our latest titles

ProView Quickfinder favorite libraries

• Visit legal store
• Visit tax store

APIs by industry

• Risk & Fraud APIs
• Tax & Accounting APIs
• Trade & Supply APIs

Use case library

• Legal API use cases
• Risk & Fraud API use cases
• Tax & Accounting API use cases
• Trade & Supply API use cases

Related sites

United states support.

• Account help & support
• Communities
• Product help & support
• Product training

International support

• Legal UK, Ireland & Europe support

New releases

• Westlaw Precision
• 1040 Quickfinder Handbook

Join a TR community

• ONESOURCE community login
• Checkpoint community login
• CS community login
• TR Community

Free trials & demos

• Westlaw Edge
• Practical Law
• Checkpoint Edge
• Onvio Firm Management
• Proview eReader

How to do legal research in 3 steps

Knowing where to start a difficult legal research project can be a challenge. But if you already understand the basics of legal research, the process can be significantly easier — not to mention quicker.

Solid research skills are crucial to crafting a winning argument. So, whether you are a law school student or a seasoned attorney with years of experience, knowing how to perform legal research is important — including where to start and the steps to follow.

What is legal research, and where do I start? 

Black's Law Dictionary defines legal research as “[t]he finding and assembling of authorities that bear on a question of law." But what does that actually mean? It means that legal research is the process you use to identify and find the laws — including statutes, regulations, and court opinions — that apply to the facts of your case.

In most instances, the purpose of legal research is to find support for a specific legal issue or decision. For example, attorneys must conduct legal research if they need court opinions — that is, case law — to back up a legal argument they are making in a motion or brief filed with the court.

Alternatively, lawyers may need legal research to provide clients with accurate legal guidance . In the case of law students, they often use legal research to complete memos and briefs for class. But these are just a few situations in which legal research is necessary.

Why is legal research hard?

Each step — from defining research questions to synthesizing findings — demands critical thinking and rigorous analysis.

1. Identifying the legal issue is not so straightforward. Legal research involves interpreting many legal precedents and theories to justify your questions. Finding the right issue takes time and patience.

2. There's too much to research. Attorneys now face a great deal of case law and statutory material. The sheer volume forces the researcher to be efficient by following a methodology based on a solid foundation of legal knowledge and principles.

3. The law is a fluid doctrine. It changes with time, and staying updated with the latest legal codes, precedents, and statutes means the most resourceful lawyer needs to assess the relevance and importance of new decisions.

Legal research can pose quite a challenge, but professionals can improve it at every stage of the process . 

Step 1: Key questions to ask yourself when starting legal research

Before you begin looking for laws and court opinions, you first need to define the scope of your legal research project. There are several key questions you can use to help do this.

What are the facts?

Always gather the essential facts so you know the “who, what, why, when, where, and how” of your case. Take the time to write everything down, especially since you will likely need to include a statement of facts in an eventual filing or brief anyway. Even if you don't think a fact may be relevant now, write it down because it may be relevant later. These facts will also be helpful when identifying your legal issue.

What is the actual legal issue?

You will never know what to research if you don't know what your legal issue is. Does your client need help collecting money from an insurance company following a car accident involving a negligent driver? How about a criminal case involving excluding evidence found during an alleged illegal stop?

No matter the legal research project, you must identify the relevant legal problem and the outcome or relief sought. This information will guide your research so you can stay focused and on topic.

What is the relevant jurisdiction?

Don't cast your net too wide regarding legal research; you should focus on the relevant jurisdiction. For example, does your case deal with federal or state law? If it is state law, which state? You may find a case in California state court that is precisely on point, but it won't be beneficial if your legal project involves New York law.

Where to start legal research: The library, online, or even AI?

In years past, future attorneys were trained in law school to perform research in the library. But now, you can find almost everything from the library — and more — online. While you can certainly still use the library if you want, you will probably be costing yourself valuable time if you do.

When it comes to online research, some people start with free legal research options , including search engines like Google or Bing. But to ensure your legal research is comprehensive, you will want to use an online research service designed specifically for the law, such as Westlaw . Not only do online solutions like Westlaw have all the legal sources you need, but they also include artificial intelligence research features that help make quick work of your research

Step 2: How to find relevant case law and other primary sources of law

Now that you have gathered the facts and know your legal issue, the next step is knowing what to look for. After all, you will need the law to support your legal argument, whether providing guidance to a client or writing an internal memo, brief, or some other legal document.

But what type of law do you need? The answer: primary sources of law. Some of the more important types of primary law include:

• Case law, which are court opinions or decisions issued by federal or state courts
• Statutes, including legislation passed by both the U.S. Congress and state lawmakers
• Regulations, including those issued by either federal or state agencies
• Constitutions, both federal and state

Searching for primary sources of law

So, if it's primary law you want, it makes sense to begin searching there first, right? Not so fast. While you will need primary sources of law to support your case, in many instances, it is much easier — and a more efficient use of your time — to begin your search with secondary sources such as practice guides, treatises, and legal articles.

Why? Because secondary sources provide a thorough overview of legal topics, meaning you don't have to start your research from scratch. After secondary sources, you can move on to primary sources of law.

For example, while no two legal research projects are the same, the order in which you will want to search different types of sources may look something like this:

• Secondary sources . If you are researching a new legal principle or an unfamiliar area of the law, the best place to start is secondary sources, including law journals, practice guides , legal encyclopedias, and treatises. They are a good jumping-off point for legal research since they've already done the work for you. As an added bonus, they can save you additional time since they often identify and cite important statutes and seminal cases.
• Case law . If you have already found some case law in secondary sources, great, you have something to work with. But if not, don't fret. You can still search for relevant case law in a variety of ways, including running a search in a case law research tool.

Once you find a helpful case, you can use it to find others. For example, in Westlaw, most cases contain headnotes that summarize each of the case's important legal issues. These headnotes are also assigned a Key Number based on the topic associated with that legal issue. So, once you find a good case, you can use the headnotes and Key Numbers within it to quickly find more relevant case law.

• Statutes and regulations . In many instances, secondary sources and case law list the statutes and regulations relevant to your legal issue. But if you haven't found anything yet, you can still search for statutes and regs online like you do with cases.

Once you know which statute or reg is pertinent to your case, pull up the annotated version on Westlaw. Why the annotated version? Because the annotations will include vital information, such as a list of important cases that cite your statute or reg. Sometimes, these cases are even organized by topic — just one more way to find the case law you need to support your legal argument.

Keep in mind, though, that legal research isn't always a linear process. You may start out going from source to source as outlined above and then find yourself needing to go back to secondary sources once you have a better grasp of the legal issue. In other instances, you may even find the answer you are looking for in a source not listed above, like a sample brief filed with the court by another attorney. Ultimately, you need to go where the information takes you.

Step 3: Make sure you are using ‘good’ law

One of the most important steps with every legal research project is to verify that you are using “good" law — meaning a court hasn't invalidated it or struck it down in some way. After all, it probably won't look good to a judge if you cite a case that has been overruled or use a statute deemed unconstitutional. It doesn't necessarily mean you can never cite these sources; you just need to take a closer look before you do.

The simplest way to find out if something is still good law is to use a legal tool known as a citator, which will show you subsequent cases that have cited your source as well as any negative history, including if it has been overruled, reversed, questioned, or merely differentiated.

For instance, if a case, statute, or regulation has any negative history — and therefore may no longer be good law — KeyCite, the citator on Westlaw, will warn you. Specifically, KeyCite will show a flag or icon at the top of the document, along with a little blurb about the negative history. This alert system allows you to quickly know if there may be anything you need to worry about.

Some examples of these flags and icons include:

• A red flag on a case warns you it is no longer good for at least one point of law, meaning it may have been overruled or reversed on appeal.
• A yellow flag on a case warns that it has some negative history but is not expressly overruled or reversed, meaning another court may have criticized it or pointed out the holding was limited to a specific fact pattern.
• A blue-striped flag on a case warns you that it has been appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court or the U.S. Court of Appeals.
• The KeyCite Overruling Risk icon on a case warns you that the case may be implicitly undermined because it relies on another case that has been overruled.

Another bonus of using a citator like KeyCite is that it also provides a list of other cases that merely cite your source — it can lead to additional sources you previously didn't know about.

Perseverance is vital when it comes to legal research

Given that legal research is a complex process, it will likely come as no surprise that this guide cannot provide everything you need to know.

There is a reason why there are entire law school courses and countless books focused solely on legal research methodology. In fact, many attorneys will spend their entire careers honing their research skills — and even then, they may not have perfected the process.

So, if you are just beginning, don't get discouraged if you find legal research difficult — almost everyone does at first. With enough time, patience, and dedication, you can master the art of legal research.

Thomson Reuters originally published this article on November 10, 2020.

Related insights

Westlaw tip of the week: Checking cases with KeyCite

Why legislative history matters when crafting a winning argument

Case law research tools: The most useful free and paid offerings

Request a trial and experience the fastest way to find what you need

Latest Blogs

How lexis+ ai delivers hallucination-free linked legal citat....

By: Serena Wellen, Vice President of Product Management, LexisNexis We raised some eyebrows last fall when we announced the launch of Lexis+ AI, our new generative artificial intelligence (Gen AI) solution...

Obtain Fast Insights into Complex Legal Issues with Legal AI...

By: Liz Christman The practice of law revolves around the interpretation of complex documents, which can be tedious and time-consuming. But what if there was a tool that could quickly summarize these...

4 Tips for Improving Your Legal Searches with Generative Eng...

By Jennifer Belz The emergence of generative engines — a new wave of generative artificial intelligence (Gen AI) — is poised to revolutionize the way lawyers approach legal research. But...

How to Extract and Analyze Legal Documents with Gen AI

By Jake Nelson Legal professionals continue to dive into the brave new world of generative artificial intelligence (Gen AI) to explore possible use cases for this exciting new technology. For those practicing...

How Lexis+ AI Can Help You Write Legal Memos Faster

By Jake Nelson One of the foundations of the practice of law is the legal memorandum. Legal memos provide an objective summary and analysis of relevant legal principles, statutes, regulations, case law...

Legal Research Basics: A Step-By-Step Guide to Brushing Up on Your Skills

Legal research is imperative to the practice of law. Depending on where you are in your legal career, there could be multiple reasons to brush up on the basics of legal research. You could be a: 

• Law student or recent graduate preparing for your career 
• Seasoned attorney aiming to brush up on the basics amidst ever-evolving legal research technology 
• Growing law firm preparing to train new attorneys or paralegals 

Regardless of which of these categories you align with most, reviewing the basics of legal research should become regular practice. After all, the importance of legal research cannot be overstated – pinpointing the best facts and knowledge for your case can make the difference between winning and losing.  

Use this article to review the basics and set yourself (and your firm) up for success. First, we’ll define legal research and its components. Then, we’ll walk you through a step-by-step process for conducting superior legal research. Finally, we’ll close with recommendations for tools that can help you become both an accurate and efficient legal researcher – which ultimately equips you with a reputation for success in the courtroom.  

What is Legal Research?

Legal research is defined as the process of identifying and retrieving information necessary to support legal decision-making. There are multiple reasons you might conduct legal research: 

• To find “good” case law that backs up your motion or brief  
• To provide legal counsel to clients  
• To provide a memo or brief for class (law students only)  
• To identify case law that refutes an opposing argument 
• To support the over-arching narrative of your case 

What is the Importance of Legal Research?

Legal research provides support for decision-making on complex issues, by providing specific facts and legal precedent that allow you to produce complete answers for clients. Quality legal research is critical to the practice of law.

Historically, attorneys combed through books and libraries for the perfect facts, cases, and issues; now, technology has largely replaced this process. While the prominence of ever-evolving technology has made the process more efficient (and, in many ways, easier), the sheer number of products and options available can be overwhelming.  

The Legal Research Process

Understanding that the legal research process can be overwhelming and time-consuming, we’ve broken the legal research process down into three key steps: 

• Understand the facts of your case 
• Gather sources of law 
• Check your citations for “good” law 

Each of these steps is detailed below, alongside a quick-view checklist.  

Step 1: Record the Facts of Your Case and Create a Research Plan  

Handling a legal task with authority requires confidence in the process. This is true in any practice, jurisdictional setting, or level of legal expertise. A good process should start by taking time to identify and understand the facts of your case. Ask yourself the following questions: 

• What is the legal issue at hand?  
• What are the details of the case?  
• What jurisdiction is most relevant?  
• Do you need state or federal case law? 

Record your facts in a case management tool before beginning – this can help you develop a course of action and narrow down where to start your research. While it may be tempting to skip this step, a commitment to this process saves you time in the long run by helping you efficiently juggle multiple clients. Not to mention, you will likely need what you’ve recorded to file a motion or brief. 

With the facts of the case recorded, you can begin your research. Because this will help you develop a plan for gathering your sources, we will briefly discuss creating a research plan before moving on to Step 2.  

Did you know? LexisNexis boasts a collection of state case law superior to its leading competitors. Easily filter by jurisdiction before or after your search.  

Creating a Research Plan  

Review the facts you recorded to determine what information you will need to build your case. When legal research first moved online, many attorneys felt the need to start with a free service like Google to identify terms of art before conducting a search in a legal research platform. However, this is no longer necessary. Research platforms like Lexis+ allow you to start your search with a natural language search or question and equip you to quickly comb both primary and secondary sources. Litigators, specifically, can use Fact and Issue Finder – integrated directly with Lexis+ – to help quickly identify the best terms of art for their search.  

Creating your research plan is less about planning where you will search and more about planning what you will search. You know your research can be conducted on one, fully integrated platform. So, what questions will you ask to get started? What legal issues do you need more information about? What filters will you need (jurisdiction, time period, etc.)?  

Once you know what you will search for, you are ready to gather sources.  

Step 2: Gather Sources of Law  

The next step in your process is to gather relevant sources of law. Below, we detail the difference between primary law and secondary law. Importantly, when gathering sources, start with secondary law materials. This helps ensure you are up-to-speed on what experts have to say about a topic before you begin your case law search. Why does this matter? Think about it as building your knowledge base before crafting an argument – you’ll be less likely to make mistakes and more inclined to spot case-winning primary law.  

What are Secondary Sources of Law?  

Secondary legal sources are materials that describe or interpret the law. They are educational resources that provide analysis of the law. These documents are cited by attorneys to persuade a court to reach a particular decision in a case, but which the court is not obligated to follow. Start with secondary sources to learn from legal experts that have already explored a given topic.  

Secondary sources may include: 

• Practice guides 
• Legal treatises 
• Law review articles 
• Scholarly journals 
• Legal news 
• Jury instructions 
• Legal dictionaries and encyclopedias 

What are Primary Sources of Law?  

A primary legal source is a formal document officially issued by the government that establishes the law on a particular matter, such as a case decision or legislative act. Primary sources are the law. This is the most authoritative step in the legal research process. You can support arguments with primary sources as they are not only authoritative, but precedential and controlling.  

Your primary sources may include: 

• Case law (federal and/or state) 
• Orders 
• Decisions 
• Statutes and regulations 
• Constitutions  
• Treatises 

Step 3: Check to See If You’re Using Good Law   

The final step in your research process should include a final check to ensure you have used “good” law – this means you are using case law that has been treated positively in court (as opposed to case law that has been overturned or brought into question). 

Check your case citations as you collect them, especially since legal research software can allow a quick view of how your case has been treated in court directly from your search results. However, it is best practice to review your citations once your research process is complete to check for any gaps, changes, or oversights.  

Read more about using good law and the process of " Shepardizing ."

Conduct Winning Legal Research  

Following this three-step process ensures you’re taking the right measures to find the most accurate, relevant and valuable data to achieve your objectives. Now that you’re ready to conduct winning legal research, take some time to review products and tools that can help you in your path to success.  

Getting Started with Legal Research Tools   

Legal research is key to drafting effective documents and building winning cases. Legal research solutions have evolved substantially – helping you conduct legal research with increased efficiency and accuracy . Below is a list of legal research tools to help you build a winning case:  

• Lexis +:  This is the premier LexisNexis fully integrated legal research platform. Features such as Shepard's At Risk ensures you’re citing only the most authoritative sources, with unprecedented visibility into whether a case is at risk of being overruled or undermined. Other Lexis+ features include, but aren’t limited to: 
• Brief Analysis: Get a clear picture of the contents of your legal brief to identify any missteps and bolster your arguments against opposing counsel. Simply upload and file and quickly evaluate the legal authority cited in your (or an opposing) brief in granular detail and receive recommendations for additional searches.  
• Litigation Analytics: Get the most accurate insights into judges, courts, attorneys, and law firms to ensure your success in litigation. Understand critical insights regarding caseloads, experience across case types, timing to key milestones, and damages by comparing federal districts and judges. 
• Shepard's ® Citations Service:  See if a case has been overturned, reaffirmed, questioned, or cited by later cases, or is at risk of negative treatment. Your research needs to provide precedential value. Using reversed or overruled authority doesn't qualify as "Good Law" and your research may be ineffectual or harmful to your case.  
• Practical Guidance: View professional insights on 20 different practice areas. Accomplish any task with practice notes, annotated templates, and checklists.  
• Legal News Hub: Receive up-to-the-minute, award-winning journalism and legal news from Law360 and Law360 Pulse anytime you need it — without having to leave the Lexis+ ecosystem. Stay current on critical developments across legal practice areas, with over 70 coverage areas spanning the practice and business of law. 

LexisNexis is here to support your firm in winning your next case. With Lexis+, all of your legal research needs are integrated into one platform as a true start-to-finish solution. Ready to learn more? Take a guided tour of Lexis+ today. 

Buy Now    Free Lexis+ Access

• Practical Guidance
• Legal Research
• Shepard's Citations Service

Legal Research Strategy

Preliminary analysis, organization, secondary sources, primary sources, updating research, identifying an end point, getting help, about this guide.

This guide will walk a beginning researcher though the legal research process step-by-step. These materials are created with the 1L Legal Research & Writing course in mind. However, these resources will also assist upper-level students engaged in any legal research project.

How to Strategize

Legal research must be comprehensive and precise.  One contrary source that you miss may invalidate other sources you plan to rely on.  Sticking to a strategy will save you time, ensure completeness, and improve your work product. 

Follow These Steps

Running Time: 3 minutes, 13 seconds.

Make sure that you don't miss any steps by using our:

• Legal Research Strategy Checklist

If you get stuck at any time during the process, check this out:

• Ten Tips for Moving Beyond the Brick Wall in the Legal Research Process, by Marsha L. Baum

Understanding the Legal Questions

A legal question often originates as a problem or story about a series of events. In law school, these stories are called fact patterns. In practice, facts may arise from a manager or an interview with a potential client. Start by doing the following:

• Read anything you have been given
• Analyze the facts and frame the legal issues
• Assess what you know and need to learn
• Note the jurisdiction and any primary law you have been given
• Generate potential search terms

Jurisdiction

Legal rules will vary depending on where geographically your legal question will be answered. You must determine the jurisdiction in which your claim will be heard. These resources can help you learn more about jurisdiction and how it is determined:

• Legal Treatises on Jurisdiction
• LII Wex Entry on Jurisdiction

This map indicates which states are in each federal appellate circuit:

Getting Started

Once you have begun your research, you will need to keep track of your work. Logging your research will help you to avoid missing sources and explain your research strategy. You will likely be asked to explain your research process when in practice. Researchers can keep paper logs, folders on Westlaw or Lexis, or online citation management platforms.

Organizational Methods

Tracking with paper or excel.

Many researchers create their own tracking charts.  Be sure to include:

• Search Date
• Topics/Keywords/Search Strategy
• Citation to Relevant Source Found
• Save Locations
• Follow Up Needed

Consider using the following research log as a starting place: 

• Sample Research Log

Tracking with Folders

Westlaw and Lexis offer options to create folders, then save and organize your materials there.

• Lexis Advance Folders
• Westlaw Edge Folders

Tracking with Citation Management Software

For long term projects, platforms such as Zotero, EndNote, Mendeley, or Refworks might be useful. These are good tools to keep your research well organized. Note, however, that none of these platforms substitute for doing your own proper Bluebook citations. Learn more about citation management software on our other research guides:

• Guide to Zotero for Harvard Law Students by Harvard Law School Library Research Services Last Updated Aug 9, 2024 399 views this year
• Zotero by Daniel Becker Last Updated Aug 19, 2024 26355 views this year

Types of Sources

There are three different types of sources: Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary.  When doing legal research you will be using mostly primary and secondary sources.  We will explore these different types of sources in the sections below.

Secondary sources often explain legal principles more thoroughly than a single case or statute. Starting with them can help you save time.

Secondary sources are particularly useful for:

• Learning the basics of a particular area of law
• Understanding key terms of art in an area
• Identifying essential cases and statutes

Consider the following when deciding which type of secondary source is right for you:

• Scope/Breadth
• Depth of Treatment
• Currentness/Reliability

For a deep dive into secondary sources visit:

• Secondary Sources: ALRs, Encyclopedias, Law Reviews, Restatements, & Treatises by Catherine Biondo Last Updated Apr 12, 2024 6411 views this year

Legal Dictionaries & Encyclopedias

Legal dictionaries.

Legal dictionaries are similar to other dictionaries that you have likely used before.

• Black's Law Dictionary
• Ballentine's Law Dictionary

Legal Encyclopedias

Legal encyclopedias contain brief, broad summaries of legal topics, providing introductions and explaining terms of art. They also provide citations to primary law and relevant major law review articles.  

Here are the two major national encyclopedias:

• American Jurisprudence (AmJur) (Westlaw)
• American Jurisprudence (Lexis)
• Corpus Juris Secundum (CJS)

Treatises are books on legal topics.  These books are a good place to begin your research.  They provide explanation, analysis, and citations to the most relevant primary sources. Treatises range from single subject overviews to deep treatments of broad subject areas.

It is important to check the date when the treatise was published. Many are either not updated, or are updated through the release of newer editions.

To find a relevant treatise explore:

• Legal Treatises by Subject by Catherine Biondo Last Updated Apr 12, 2024 5999 views this year

American Law Reports (ALR)

American Law Reports (ALR) contains in-depth articles on narrow topics of the law. ALR articles, are often called annotations. They provide background, analysis, and citations to relevant cases, statutes, articles, and other annotations. ALR annotations are invaluable tools to quickly find primary law on narrow legal questions.

This resource is available in both Westlaw and Lexis:

• American Law Reports on Westlaw (includes index)
• American Law Reports on Lexis

Law Reviews & Journals

Law reviews are scholarly publications, usually edited by law students in conjunction with faculty members. They contain both lengthy articles and shorter essays by professors and lawyers. They also contain comments, notes, or developments in the law written by law students. Articles often focus on new or emerging areas of law and may offer critical commentary. Some law reviews are dedicated to a particular topic while others are general. Occasionally, law reviews will include issues devoted to proceedings of panels and symposia.

Law review and journal articles are extremely narrow and deep with extensive references. 

To find law review articles visit:

• Law Journal Library on HeinOnline
• Law Reviews & Journals on LexisNexis
• Law Reviews & Journals on Westlaw

Restatements

Restatements are highly regarded distillations of common law, prepared by the American Law Institute (ALI). ALI is a prestigious organization comprised of judges, professors, and lawyers. They distill the "black letter law" from cases to indicate trends in common law. Resulting in a “restatement” of existing common law into a series of principles or rules. Occasionally, they make recommendations on what a rule of law should be.

Restatements are not primary law. However, they are considered persuasive authority by many courts.

Restatements are organized into chapters, titles, and sections.  Sections contain the following:

• a concisely stated rule of law,
• comments to clarify the rule,
• hypothetical examples,
• explanation of purpose, and
• exceptions to the rule  

To access restatements visit:

• American Law Institute Library on HeinOnline
• Restatements & Principles of the Law on LexisNexis
• Restatements & Principles of Law on Westlaw

Primary Authority

Primary authority is "authority that issues directly from a law-making body."   Authority , Black's Law Dictionary (11th ed. 2019).   Sources of primary authority include:

• Constitutions
• Statutes 

Regulations

Access to primary legal sources is available through:

• Bloomberg Law
• Free & Low Cost Alternatives

Statutes (also called legislation) are "laws enacted by legislative bodies", such as Congress and state legislatures.  Statute , Black's Law Dictionary (11th ed. 2019).

We typically start primary law research here. If there is a controlling statute, cases you look for later will interpret that law. There are two types of statutes, annotated and unannotated.

Annotated codes are a great place to start your research. They combine statutory language with citations to cases, regulations, secondary sources, and other relevant statutes. This can quickly connect you to the most relevant cases related to a particular law. Unannotated Codes provide only the text of the statute without editorial additions. Unannotated codes, however, are more often considered official and used for citation purposes.

For a deep dive on federal and state statutes, visit:

• Statutes: US and State Codes by Mindy Kent Last Updated Apr 12, 2024 4797 views this year
• 50 State Surveys

Want to learn more about the history or legislative intent of a law?  Learn how to get started here:

• Legislative History Get an introduction to legislative histories in less than 5 minutes.
• Federal Legislative History Research Guide

Regulations are rules made by executive departments and agencies. Not every legal question will require you to search regulations. However, many areas of law are affected by regulations. So make sure not to skip this step if they are relevant to your question.

To learn more about working with regulations, visit:

• Administrative Law Research by AJ Blechner Last Updated Apr 12, 2024 814 views this year

Case Basics

In many areas, finding relevant caselaw will comprise a significant part of your research. This Is particularly true in legal areas that rely heavily on common law principles.

Running Time: 3 minutes, 10 seconds.

Unpublished Cases

Up to  86% of federal case opinions are unpublished. You must determine whether your jurisdiction will consider these unpublished cases as persuasive authority. The Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure have an overarching rule, Rule 32.1  Each circuit also has local rules regarding citations to unpublished opinions. You must understand both the Federal Rule and the rule in your jurisdiction.

• Federal and Local Rules of Appellate Procedure 32.1 (Dec. 2021).
• Type of Opinion or Order Filed in Cases Terminated on the Merits, by Circuit (Sept. 2021).

Each state also has its own local rules which can often be accessed through:

• State Bar Associations
• State Courts Websites

First Circuit

• First Circuit Court Rule 32.1.0

Second Circuit

• Second Circuit Court Rule 32.1.1

Third Circuit

• Third Circuit Court Rule 5.7

Fourth Circuit

• Fourth Circuit Court Rule 32.1

Fifth Circuit

• Fifth Circuit Court Rule 47.5

Sixth Circuit

• Sixth Circuit Court Rule 32.1

Seventh Circuit

• Seventh Circuit Court Rule 32.1

Eighth Circuit

• Eighth Circuit Court Rule 32.1A

Ninth Circuit

• Ninth Circuit Court Rule 36-3

Tenth Circuit

• Tenth Circuit Court Rule 32.1

Eleventh Circuit

• Eleventh Circuit Court Rule 32.1

D.C. Circuit

• D.C. Circuit Court Rule 32.1

Federal Circuit

• Federal Circuit Court Rule 32.1

Finding Cases

Headnotes show the key legal points in a case. Legal databases use these headnotes to guide researchers to other cases on the same topic. They also use them to organize concepts explored in cases by subject. Publishers, like Westlaw and Lexis, create headnotes, so they are not consistent across databases.

Headnotes are organized by subject into an outline that allows you to search by subject. This outline is known as a "digest of cases." By browsing or searching the digest you can retrieve all headnotes covering a particular topic. This can help you identify particularly important cases on the relevant subject.

Running Time: 4 minutes, 43 seconds.

Each major legal database has its own digest:

• Topic Navigator (Lexis)
• Key Digest System (Westlaw)

Start by identifying a relevant topic in a digest.  Then you can limit those results to your jurisdiction for more relevant results.  Sometimes, you can keyword search within only the results on your topic in your jurisdiction.  This is a particularly powerful research method.

One Good Case Method

After following the steps above, you will have identified some relevant cases on your topic. You can use good cases you find to locate other cases addressing the same topic. These other cases often apply similar rules to a range of diverse fact patterns.

• in Lexis click "More Like This Headnote"
• in Westlaw click "Cases that Cite This Headnote"

to focus on the terms of art or key words in a particular headnote. You can use this feature to find more cases with similar language and concepts.  ​

Ways to Use Citators

A citator is "a catalogued list of cases, statutes, and other legal sources showing the subsequent history and current precedential value of those sources.  Citators allow researchers to verify the authority of a precedent and to find additional sources relating to a given subject." Citator , Black's Law Dictionary (11th ed. 2019).

Each major legal database has its own citator.  The two most popular are Keycite on Westlaw and Shepard's on Lexis.

• Keycite Information Page
• Shepard's Information Page

Making Sure Your Case is Still Good Law

This video answers common questions about citators:

For step-by-step instructions on how to use Keycite and Shepard's see the following:

Additional Shepard's Resources

• Shepard's Video Tutorial
• Shepard's Handout
• Shepard's Editorial Phrase Dictionary
• Shepard's Signal Indicators & Analysis Phrases
• Shepard's Citation Services User Guide
• Lexis+ Support and Training Additional online videos and handouts for Lexis+.

Additional KeyCite Resources

• How to Ensure I'm Citing Good Law (Westlaw Video)
• KeyCite Handout
• KeyCite Editorial Phrase Dictionary
• Understanding Next Generation KeyCite
• How to Check the Status of a Case with KeyCite
• Westlaw Precision Support Additional videos and handouts to support your Westlaw research.

Using Citators For

Citators serve three purposes: (1) case validation, (2) better understanding, and (3) additional research.

Case Validation

Is my case or statute good law?

• Parallel citations
• Prior and subsequent history
• Negative treatment suggesting you should no longer cite to holding.

Better Understanding

Has the law in this area changed?

• Later cases on the same point of law
• Positive treatment, explaining or expanding the law.
• Negative Treatment, narrowing or distinguishing the law.

Track Research

Who is citing and writing about my case or statute?

• Secondary sources that discuss your case or statute.
• Cases in other jurisdictions that discuss your case or statute.

Knowing When to Start Writing

For more guidance on when to stop your research see:

• Terminating Research, by Christina L. Kunz

Contact Us!

  Ask Us!  Submit a question or search our knowledge base.

Chat with us!  Chat   with a librarian (HLS only)

Email: [email protected]

 Contact Historical & Special Collections at [email protected]

  Meet with Us   Schedule an online consult with a Librarian

Hours  Library Hours

Classes  View  Training Calendar  or  Request an Insta-Class

 Text  Ask a Librarian, 617-702-2728

 Call  Reference & Research Services, 617-495-4516

This guide is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License .

You may reproduce any part of it for noncommercial purposes as long as credit is included and it is shared in the same manner. 

• Last Updated: Aug 27, 2024 5:19 PM
• URL: https://guides.library.harvard.edu/law/researchstrategy

Harvard University Digital Accessibility Policy

• Platform Overview All-in-one legal research and workflow software
• Legal Research Unmetered access to primary and secondary sources
• Workflow Tools AI-powered tools for smarter workflows
• News & Analysis Paywall-free premium Bloomberg news and coverage
• Practical Guidance Ready-to-use guidance for any legal task
• Contract Solutions New: Streamlined contract workflow platform
• Dashboard Legal New: Project management and collaboration tool
• Introducing Contract Solutions Experience contract simplicity
• Watch product demo
• Law Firms Find everything you need to serve your clients
• In-House Counsel Expand expertise, reduce cost, and save time
• Government Get unlimited access to state and federal coverage
• Law Schools Succeed in school and prepare for practice
• Effective Contract Management Get essential strategies for in-house legal teams.
• Getting Started Experience one platform, one price, and continuous innovation
• Our Initiatives Empower the next generation of lawyers
• Careers Explore alternative law careers and join our team
• Press Releases See our latest news and product updates
• Our Approach to AI Discover powerful AI tools built for lawyers, by lawyers
• Request Pricing
• Legal Solutions

How to Conduct Legal Research

September 21, 2021

Conducting legal research can challenge even the most skilled law practitioners.

As laws evolve across jurisdictions, it can be a difficult to keep pace with every legal development. Equally daunting is the ability to track and glean insights into stakeholder strategies and legal responses. Without quick and easy access to the right tools, the legal research upon which case strategy hinges may face cost, personnel, and litigation outcome challenges.

Bloomberg Law’s artificial intelligence-driven tools drastically reduce the time to perform legal research. Whether you seek quick answers to legal research definitions, or general guidance on the legal research process, Bloomberg Law’s Core Litigation Skills Toolkit has you covered.

What is legal research?

Legal research is the process of uncovering and understanding all of the legal precedents, laws, regulations, and other legal authorities that apply in a case and inform an attorney’s course of action.

Legal research often involves case law research, which is the practice of identifying and interpreting the most relevant cases concerning the topic at issue. Legal research can also involve a deep dive into a judge’s past rulings or opposing counsel’s record of success.

Research is not a process that has a finite start and end, but remains ongoing throughout every phase of a legal matter. It is a cornerstone of a litigator’s skills.

[Learn how our integrated, time-saving litigation research tools allow litigators to streamline their work and get answers quickly.]

Where do I begin my legal research?

Beginning your legal research will look different for each assignment. At the outset, ensure that you understand your goal by asking questions and taking careful notes. Ask about background case information, logistical issues such as filing deadlines, the client/matter number, and billing instructions.

It’s also important to consider how your legal research will be used. Is the research to be used for a pending motion? If you are helping with a motion for summary judgment, for example, your goal is to find cases that are in the same procedural posture as yours and come out favorably for your side (i.e., if your client is the one filing the motion, try to find cases where a motion for summary judgment was granted, not denied). Keep in mind the burden of proof for different kinds of motions.

Finally, but no less important, assess the key facts of the case. Who are the relevant parties? Where is the jurisdiction? Who is the judge? Note all case details that come to mind.

What if I’m new to the practice area or specific legal issue?

While conducting legal research, it is easy to go down rabbit holes. Resist the urge to start by reviewing individual cases, which may prove irrelevant. Start instead with secondary sources, which often provide a prevailing statement of the law for a specific topic. These sources will save time and orient you to the area of the law and key issues.

Litigation Practical Guidance provides the essentials including step-by-step guidance, expert legal analysis, and a preview of next steps. Source citations are included in all Practical Guidance, and you can filter Points of Law, Smart Code®, and court opinions searches to get the jurisdiction-specific cases or statutes you need.

Searching across Points of Law will help to get your bearings on an issue before diving into reading the cases in full. Points of Law uses machine learning to identify key legal principles expressed in court opinions, which are easily searchable by keyword and jurisdiction. This tool helps you quickly find other cases that have expressed the same Point of Law, and directs you to related Points of Law that might be relevant to your research. It is automatically updated with the most recent opinions, saving you time and helping you quickly drill down to the relevant cases.

How do I respond to the opposing side’s brief?

Whether a brief is yours or that of the opposing party, Bloomberg Law’s Brief Analyzer is an essential component in the legal research process. It reduces the time spent analyzing a brief, identifying relevant authorities, and preparing a solid response.

To start, navigate to Brief Analyzer available from the Bloomberg Law homepage, within the Litigation Intelligence Center , or from Docket Key search results for briefs.

Simply upload the opposing side’s brief into the tool, and Brief Analyzer will generate a report of the cited authorities and arguments contained in the brief.

You can easily view a comparison with the brief and analysis side by side. It will also point you directly to relevant cases, Points of Law, and Practical Guidance to jump start your research.

[ How to Write a Legal Brief – Learn how to shorten the legal research cycle and give your legal brief a competitive advantage.]

How to optimize your search.

Crafting searches is a critical skill when it comes to legal research. Although many legal research platforms, including Bloomberg Law, offer natural language searching, terms and connectors (also called Boolean) searching is still a vital legal research skill and should be used when searching across court opinions, dockets, Points of Law, and other primary and secondary sources.

When you conduct a natural language search, the search engine applies algorithms to rank your results. Why a certain case is ranked as it is may not be obvious. This makes it harder to interpret whether the search is giving you everything you need. It is also harder to efficiently and effectively manipulate your search terms to zero in on the results you want. Using Boolean searching gives you better control over your search and greater confidence in your results.

The good news? Bloomberg Law does not charge by the search for court opinion searches. If your initial search was much too broad or much too narrow, you do not have to worry about immediately running a new and improved search.

Follow these tips when beginning a search to ensure that you do not miss relevant materials:

• Make sure you do not have typos in your search string.
• Search the appropriate source or section of the research platform. It is possible to search only within a practice area, jurisdiction, secondary resource, or other grouping of materials.
• Make sure you know which terms and connectors are utilized by the platform you are working on and what they mean – there is no uniform standard set of terms of connectors utilized by all platforms.
• Include in your search all possible terms the court might use, or alternate ways the court may address an issue. It is best to group the alternatives together within a parenthetical, connected by OR between each term.
• Consider including single and multiple character wildcards when relevant. Using a single character wildcard (an asterisk) and/or a multiple character wildcard (an exclamation point) helps you capture all word variations – even those you might not have envisioned.
• Try using a tool that helps you find additional relevant case law. When you find relevant authority, use BCITE on Bloomberg Law to find all other cases and/or sources that cite back to that case. When in BCITE, click on the Citing Documents tab, and search by keyword to narrow the results. Alternatively, you can use the court’s language or ruling to search Points of Law and find other cases that addressed the same issue or reached the same ruling.

[Bloomberg Law subscribers can access a complete checklist of search term best practices . Not a subscriber? Request a Demo .]

How can legal research help with drafting or strategy?

Before drafting a motion or brief, search for examples of what firm lawyers filed with the court in similar cases. You can likely find recent examples in your firm’s internal document system or search Bloomberg Law’s dockets. If possible, look for things filed before the same judge so you can get a quick check on rules/procedures to be followed (and by the same partner when possible so you can get an idea of their style preferences).

Careful docket search provides a wealth of information about relevant cases, jurisdictions, judges, and opposing counsel. On Bloomberg Law, type “Dockets Search” in the Go bar or find the dockets search box in the Litigation Intelligence Center .

If you do not know the specific docket number and/or court, use the docket search functionality Docket Key . Select from any of 20 categories, including motions, briefs, and orders, across all 94 federal district courts, to pinpoint the exact filing of choice.

Dockets can also help you access lots of information to guide your case strategy. For example, if you are considering filing a particular type of motion, such as a sanctions motion, you can use dockets to help determine how frequently your judge grants sanctions motions. You can also use dockets to see how similar cases before your judge proceeded through discovery.

If you are researching expert witnesses, you can use dockets to help determine if the expert has been recently excluded from a case, or whether their opinion has been limited. If so, this will help you determine whether the expert is a good fit for your case.

Dockets are a powerful research tool that allow you to search across filings to support your argument. Stay apprised of docket updates with the “Create Alert” option on Bloomberg Law.

Dive deeper into competitive research.

For even more competitive research insights, dive into Bloomberg Law’s Litigation Analytics – this is available in the Litigation tab on the homepage. Data here helps attorneys develop litigation strategy, predict possible outcomes, and better advise clients.

To start, under Litigation Analytics , leverage the Attorney tab to view case history and preview legal strategies the opposition may practice against you. Also, within Litigation Analytics, use the Court tab to get aggregate motion and appeal outcome rates across all federal courts, with the option to run comparisons across jurisdictions, and filter by company, law firm, and attorney.

Use the Judge tab to glean insights from cited opinions, and past and current decisions by motion and appeal outcomes. Also view litigation analytics in the right rail of court opinions.

Docket search can also offer intel on your opponent. Has your opponent filed similar lawsuits or made similar arguments before? How did those cases pan out? You can learn a lot about an opponent from past appearances in court.

How do I validate case law citations?

Checking the status of case law is essential in legal research. Rely on Bloomberg Law’s proprietary citator, BCITE. This time-saving tool lets you know if a case is still good law.

Under each court opinion, simply look to the right rail. There, you will see a thumbnail icon for “BCITE Analysis.” Click on the icon, and you will be provided quick links to direct history (opinions that affect or are affected by the outcome of the case at issue); case analysis (citing cases, with filter and search options), table of authorities, and citing documents.

How should I use technology to improve my legal research?

A significant benefit of digital research platforms and analytics is increased efficiency. Modern legal research technology helps attorneys sift through thousands of cases quickly and comprehensively. These products can also help aggregate or summarize data in a way that is more useful and make associations instantaneously.

For example, before litigation analytics were common, a partner may have asked a junior associate to find all summary judgment motions ruled on by a specific judge to determine how often that judge grants or denies them. The attorney could have done so by manually searching over PACER and/or by searching through court opinions, but that would take a long time. Now, Litigation Analytics can aggregate that data and provide an answer in seconds. Understanding that such products exist can be a game changer. Automating parts of the research process frees up time and effort for other activities that benefit the client and makes legal research and writing more efficient.

[Read our article: Six ways legal technology aids your litigation workflow .]

Tools like  Points of Law ,  dockets  and  Brief Analyzer  can also increase efficiency, especially when narrowing your research to confirm that you found everything on point. In the past, attorneys had to spend many hours (and lots of money) running multiple court opinion searches to ensure they did not miss a case on point. Now, there are tools that can dramatically speed up that process. For example, running a search over Points of Law can immediately direct you to other cases that discuss that same legal principle.

However, it’s important to remember that digital research and analytical tools should be seen as enhancing the legal research experience, not displacing the review, analysis, and judgment of an attorney. An attorney uses his or her knowledge of their client, the facts, the precedent, expert opinions, and his or her own experiences to predict the likely result in a given matter. Digital research products enhance this process by providing more data on a wider array of variables so that an attorney can take even more information into consideration.

[Get all your questions answered, request a Bloomberg Law demo , and more.]

Recommended for you

See bloomberg law in action.

From live events to in-depth reports, discover singular thought leadership from Bloomberg Law. Our network of expert analysts is always on the case – so you can make yours. Request a demo to see it for yourself.

Legal Writing I & II: Legal Research and Writing & Introduction to Litigation Practice

(0 reviews)

Ben Fernandez

Copyright Year: 2020

ISBN 13: 9798746520340

Publisher: Ben Fernandez

Language: English

Formats Available

Conditions of use.

Table of Contents

• Introduction
• Part I: Objective Writing
• 1. Sources of Law
• 2. Legal Research 
• 3. Briefing Cases
• 4. Applying Cases and Analogical Reasoning
• 5. Analyzing Statues and Marshaling Facts
• 6. Citation
• 8. Objective Legal Memoranda
• 9. Other Examples of Legal Writing
• 10. Improving Your Writing
• Part II: Persuasive Essay
• 11. Credibility
• 13. Ethical Rules for Advocacy
• 14. Civil and Appellate Procedure
• 15. Requirements for Civil Motions and Standards for Appeals
• 16. Persuasive Writing
• 17. Memoranda in Support of MOtions
• 18. Motion Session
• 19. Appellate Briefs
• 20. Oral Argument
• Case Briefing Exercise
• Clampitt v. Spencer
• Eppler v. Tarmac
• Sample Case Briefs
• Clampitt v. Spencer Brief
• Eppler v. Tarmac Brief
• Case Analogy Exercise
• Malczewski v. Florida
• Sample Case Analogy
• IRAC Exercise
• Young v. Kirsch
• State Farm V. Mosharaf
• Southland v. Thousand Oaks
• Sample IRAC
• Legal Memorandum Exercise 
• Sample Legal Memorandum
• About the Author

Ancillary Material

About the book.

Legal Writing I & II; Legal Research and Writing & Introduction to Litigation Practice contains a brief discussion of all of the topics covered in a law school courses on legal writing, including a typical first semester course on legal research, analysis and writing an objective memorandum, as well as a second semester course on persuasion and writing an appellate brief, motion to dismiss or motion for summary judgment. The discussion focuses on the basics of analogical reasoning and persuasion and leaves out the minutiae. Each topic is taken one step at a time, with each step building on the step before it. The sources of law are presented first, then legal research, and reading and analyzing cases and statutes. The book covers analogizing a case to a fact pattern and marshaling the relevant facts to the elements of a statutory rule next. And then first section of the book concludes with legal citation, CRAC and CREAC, and writing a legal research memorandum. The text also includes a lot of samples and examples of how the author would write a case brief, a legal memoranda and an appellate brief, as well as an appendix with charts, outlines and exercises students can use to practice these skills. Legal Writing I & II; Legal Research and Writing & Introduction to Litigation Practice covers all the skills students need to know to work at a law firm, and everything students have to learn to begin practicing in litigation department of a firm.

About the Contributors

Ben Fernandez,  University of Florida Levin College of Law

Contribute to this Page

• Uncategorized Posts

A Step-by-Step Guide on How to Do Legal Research

Instantly download this blog article as a PDF

Set yourself up for success with our free Guide to Starting a Law Firm.

Download this article as a PDF Loading ...

When it comes to the practice of law, we often think about court appearances. But crafting a winning legal argument requires a lot of research.

Well-conducted legal research empowers your arguments and gives substance to your legal work, leading to a better outcome for your clients.

To become a pro, you need to understand the tools available to you, and developing a research strategy. Learning to conduct effective legal research isn’t glamorous. That said, it will save you time while helping you conduct stronger outcomes.

This guide reviews the fundamentals of the legal research process, including what sources you should turn to—and when. We’ll also discuss how and why you should check that you’re using “good” law, and offer tips for how you can improve your legal research skills—at any stage in your career.

Click here to watch our on-demand webinar with our lawyer in residence, Joshua Lenon, to learn how to take your legal research to the next level. 

What is legal research?

Legal research involves identifying, finding, and cite-checking information and applicable laws needed to support your legal decision-making. The primary and secondary legal sources for this research include statutes, constitutions, regulations, court orders, and more.

How to do legal research

While the techniques and tools you use may vary, the goal of legal research is simple: You want to find the relevant information and resources (i.e. laws) that apply to the facts of your case, so you can support legal decision making.

With this in mind, the legal research process can be broken down into three basic elements:

• Understanding the key details and questions of your legal issue
• Finding laws and information to support your legal argument checking that what you’ve found is still relevant
• Achieve your research goals in seven easy to follow steps:

Gather critical information about your legal issue

When presented with a legal issue, it’s natural to want to dive in and start looking for cases. But it’s in your best interest to first collect key details about the legal issue at hand.

Pausing to gather and record critical details (like the who, what, when, where, and how of your case) lays the foundation for a more focused, streamlined legal research process.

Establish your legal issue and your goal

Next, use your case’s critical information to pinpoint your legal issue. By establishing legal issues and your client’s ideal outcomes before you start researching, you can construct a well-defined framework that allows you to:

• See what you know about your legal issue—and what you need to find out
• Narrow the field of potential search terms
• Identify the jurisdiction you need to focus your research within

Learn and understand the precedent in your jurisdiction

While researching, pay special attention to the geographical location where your legal issue will be resolved. Is the precedent controlling already in your jurisdiction? Or is it merely a persuasive precedent that has not yet been adopted in your jurisdiction?

Determine the type of legal sources you need

Each of the three types of legal sources you’ll work with has a purpose in the legal research process. Here’s a quick overview:

Primary legal sources are key to legal research because they establish the current law on whatever legal issue you’re working with. You can find primary sources by searching legal research databases like Fastcase or Casetext , include:

• Federal and state constitutions
• Statutes or legislation (such as laws enacted by legislative bodies like Congress and state legislatures)
• Regulations (such as rules or regulations made by either federal or state agencies)
• Annotations
• Case law (such as court opinions or decisions issued by federal or state courts)

Secondary legal sources explain or interpret legal principles in detail, or summarize the current state of the law—giving a better understanding of a particular area of law. These sources are also useful for identifying primary sources for your case (more on that later). Examples include:

• Law review articles and journals
• Practice guides
• Legal treatises

Learn more about the best free legal research tools available.

Begin your legal research with secondary sources

When it comes to legal research sources, start in the middle with secondary sources.

In addition to providing important background information on your legal issue, secondary sources save time: Instead of starting from scratch, you can leverage the expert work that’s already been done.

Think of it this way: In order to create and publish the material, experts had to go through a legal research process themselves. If a secondary source is reputable, the writer reviewed all of the available primary resources to determine what was most applicable. So, by noting the primary sources that are cited in law reviews, law journals, and case-law documents, you can take advantage of the research already done.

Note: Also keep in mind that useful cases don’t necessarily have to have the same legal outcome as your goal. If you find relevant case law where the outcome didn’t match your client’s desired outcome, you shouldn’t necessarily disregard it. If the laws are aligned, you can use that case to show how the fact patterns in your client’s case are different to strengthen your own argument.

Check that you’re using “good” law

Another key step to legal research is verifying that any cases and statutes you come across in your legal research are still “good” law—that is, that any legal decision you’re looking to is still valid and relevant. Using an overruled or unconstitutional statute won’t help you win your case.

Can older cases be “good” law?

While more recent cases are preferred (after all, they’re more likely to reflect the current legal changes that could impact the case law—and are thus less likely to have been rendered obsolete), recency isn’t mandatory.

A decades-old case could be considered “good” law—if it hasn’t been overruled in court or otherwise made irrelevant, an older case that fits with your case’s fact pattern and applicable law could be helpful.

Verify you’re using “good law” with a citator

How can you check if you’re using “good” law? Use a citator. Citators let you verify a case’s authority by giving you a cataloged list of cases, statutes, and legal sources—along with a history and precedential value for those sources—so you can then check that it hasn’t been overruled, questioned, or made irrelevant.

When using a citator, focus on the negative material (by checking a case in a citator, you can look for flags that indicate any negative history). Specifically, use a citator to check that you don’t miss a case that invalidates your argument—which could undermine your credibility.

Major legal databases all have their own citator tools. For example, Casetext offers SmartCite , which “uses a system of flags to indicate the treatment of cases.” Casetext can also “help you evaluate whether a case is good law and find other relevant cases citing that opinion.”

Report your results to check for gaps

Compiling your research into a legal memorandum is a necessary part of conducting legal research, as it allows you to identify any gaps in information that may present consequences at a later stage. Legal writing presents challenges within itself, and it’s not a bad approach for you to supplement your legal case research with a book from a local law library on how to present your findings. Generally speaking, a legal memorandum does five things:

• States the facts of the case
• Identifies the issue
• Applies “good” law to the facts
• Predicts any counterpoints
• Makes an assessment of the outcome of the case

How can I improve my legal research skills?

Whether you’re new to legal research or you’ve conducted legal research for years, once you have a solid understanding of the process, take advantage of strategies and tools to maximize legal research efficiency. Here are three strategies to consider:

Conduct more efficient research remotely

In the past, the legal research process was arduous—partly because it tied the researcher to a physical location—whether that was a local law library or a law office computer—to access resources through legal databases.

Today, online legal research software can be used remotely when integrated with a cloud-based practice management software like Clio Manage. Having the flexibility to research from anywhere streamlines the legal research process and enhances efficiency. Here are a few examples:

• By signing into an online legal research service like Fastcase with Clio, for example, you can remotely access resources and primary sources like cases and statutes, as well as secondary sources like law review articles. CourtTrax provides real-time online access to State and Federal courts across the United States. With CourtTrax’s Clio integration, you can link your search results to specific client matters, and have the results injected directly into Clio as a document.
• Cloud-based online research software like Tracers lets you search for pertinent information (such as contract information or social media activity) remotely. You can also request a Tracers search directly from a matter in Clio for an even more efficient process.

Double-check your memos and briefs with advanced legal research AI

Casetext Logo

Effective legal research needs to be thorough and accurate—which, traditionally, is time-consuming. Legal research AI can help speed that process up without sacrificing the quality of your research.

Here are a few tools to help streamline your legal research process:

• ROSS Intelligence is an AI-driven legal research platform with an automated review tool that allows you to do more thorough research in a fraction of the time. ROSS lets you highlight statements in your pleadings and briefs to instantly search for cases and statutes discussing similar points of law. You can also use ROSS to identify negative case treatment in your pleadings and law briefs—without the manual searching.
• Casetext’s CARA artificial intelligence search technology and automated review tool enhance and speed up your legal searches. You can use Casetext to start your research with a complaint or legal brief from a matter in Clio to find highly relevant, tailored search results and resources. Casetext will not just find authorities on the same facts and legal issues—it will also find them in the same jurisdiction. Casetext’s citator functionality also makes it easier to check and flag any bad law.

Document your research with secure, cloud-based fact management software

Don’t let your research go to waste or let facts slip through the cracks because of a poor documentation system. By using secure, cloud-based fact-management software, you can record your research in an efficient, organized, and accessible way.

Software like Clio Manage and apps like FactBox , for example, keep you organized by connecting all the facts, notes, and ideas in your cases. Using this type of tool helps you prepare for depositions, hearings, client briefings, and trials faster—and with more confidence that you aren’t missing facts.

You may like these posts

Clio’s series f funding: how it benefits you, a lawyer’s guide to motion hearings, a lawyer's guide to post-trial motions, lawyer depression: recognizing the signs and dealing with it, final thoughts on how to conduct legal research.

Whether you’re a student in law school or an experienced attorney, learning how to do thorough legal research (or how to enhance your existing legal research process) is a skill that can give you a competitive advantage.

Learning great legal research techniques—from developing a more efficient research process to adopting cloud-based tools to conduct better, faster, and smarter legal research—helps you better support your cases, and clients.

Explore how you can conduct more efficient legal research with Clio Manage and the host of Clio software integrations .

How do you do legal research?

Lawyers conducting legal research often consult online legal databases, such as LexisNexis and Westlaw. They might also pore over print resources, case law reports, statutes and regulations, and secondary resources (such as legal encyclopedias, dictionaries, and treatises). That said, there’s no one-size-fits-all process.

How do I start a legal research paper?

Start by determining your topic—this should be specific and something you find interesting. Then, conduct the necessary research to form a well-supported thesis. Create an outline to structure your thoughts before writing an introduction, body paragraphs, and conclusion. Finally, edit and proofread.

How to do legal research as a paralegal

First, ensure you understand what you’re researching. Then, start with secondary sources (law reviews, practice guides, and treatises), consulting a citator to ensure it’s “good” law. Lastly, fill in any gaps with primary sources, including constitutions, treaties, regulations, and case law.

We published this blog post in October 2020. Last updated: November 15, 2023 .

Categorized in: Uncategorized

You might also like

Related articles on how to run a more efficient, profitable law firm.

Subscribe to the blog

We’re proud to share news of Clio’s Series F funding—the largest of its kind for any cloud-based legal technology, worldwide.

Learn why a motion hearing is important, how they work, and how they can expedite case resolution.

Post-trial motions are an essential part of trial practice. Explore some essentials of the most common post-trial motions and how…

Nearly 1 in 3 lawyers struggle with depression: Read this post to learn about the symptoms, how to deal with…

What's Clio?

We're the world's leading provider of cloud-based legal software. With Clio's low-barrier and affordable solutions, lawyers can manage and grow their firms more effectively, more profitably, and with better client experiences. We're redefining how lawyers manage their firms by equipping them with essential tools to run their firms securely from any device, anywhere.

Legal Writing

Current offerings, useful links.

• Course Evaluations
• Approved Non-Law Courses

Legal Writing (219): This course introduces students to the ways lawyers write to persuade. In a hypothetical criminal case in state court, students draw on the useful facts from the record, synthesize rules from cases, and analogize and distinguish cases in a closed universe. Students receive feedback from the instructor on multiple drafts before submission. Students then submit one persuasive brief on a motion in the conventions of the Bluebook. This course depends on participation; attendance is mandatory. Grading reflects written work, class preparedness and participation, and professionalism. This course is part of the required first-year JD curriculum.

Legal Writing | LAW 219 Section 01 Class #1013

• Robin Linsenmayer
• Grading: Law Honors/Pass/Restrd Cr/Fail
• Enrollment Limitations: Consent
• 1L: Mandatory (First-Year Required Course)
• LO1 - Substantive and Procedural Law
• LO2 - Legal Analysis and Reasoning
• LO4 - Ability to Communicate Effectively in Writing
• LO5 - Ability to Communicate Orally
• LO7 - Professional Skills
• 2024-2025 Autumn ( Sep 3 Nov 22 )
• Fri 9:45 AM 11:00 AM
• Room: LAW 85
• Tue 11:20 AM 12:35 PM

Legal Writing | LAW 219 Section 02 Class #1014

• Room: LAW 185

Legal Writing | LAW 219 Section 03 Class #1015

• Alicia Thesing
• Room: LAW 285

Legal Writing | LAW 219 Section 04 Class #1016

• Arielle Tolman
• Wed 9:45 AM 11:00 AM
• Fri 11:20 AM 12:35 PM

Legal Writing | LAW 219 Section 05 Class #1017

• Brandi Lupo

Legal Writing | LAW 219 Section 06 Class #1018

• Anjali Mohan

Past Offerings

2023-2024 autumn, legal writing | law 219 section 01 class #1027.

• Tyler Valeska
• 2023-2024 Autumn Schedule No Longer Available

Legal Writing | LAW 219 Section 02 Class #1028

• Nicholas Handler

Legal Writing | LAW 219 Section 03 Class #1029

Legal writing | law 219 section 04 class #1030, legal writing | law 219 section 05 class #1031.

• Seema N. Patel

Legal Writing | LAW 219 Section 06 Class #1032

• Susan Yorke

2022-2023 Autumn

Legal Research and Writing (219): Legal Research and Writing is a two-unit course taught as a simulation. Students work on a legal problem starting with an initial interview, and they conduct fact investigation and legal research related to that problem. Students receive rigorous training in reading and analyzing legal authority, and in using persuasive strategies--legal analysis, narrative, rhetoric, legal theory, and public policy--to frame and develop legal arguments. Students write predictive memos and persuasive briefs, and are introduced to the professional norms of ethics, timeliness, and courtesy. This course is part of the required first-year JD curriculum.

Legal Research and Writing | LAW 219 Section 01 Class #1014

• Shirin Bakhshay
• 2022-2023 Autumn Schedule No Longer Available
• LO3 - Ability to Conduct Legal Research

Legal Research and Writing

Legal Research and Writing is the students’ foundational clinical course and focuses on practice-oriented legal analysis. During this yearlong course students develop the analytic skill set needed by practicing lawyers and desired by legal employers.  Students are introduced to fundamentals of legal reasoning, the structure of objective and persuasive arguments, effective written analysis, legal research methods, statutory interpretation, compelling oral advocacy, fact investigation, client counseling, and negotiation.  These analytic skills are taught using the clinical method, with the client’s perspective firmly in mind and with the students learning by acting as lawyers.  By learning how to function as practicing lawyers, students can succeed in their summer jobs, and in their careers when they graduate.

Learn about our courses, programs, & resources. Lunch provided for registrants.

Legal Research and Writing: Essential Skills for Student Success

Legal research and writing are the cornerstone of legal education and practice. Mastering these skills is pivotal for law students and a prerequisite for a successful legal career. This blog post delves into the significance of legal research and writing, outlining how students can harness these tools to excel in their studies and lay a strong foundation for their future as legal professionals.

The Fundamentals of Legal Research

Legal research is the systematic process of identifying and retrieving information necessary to support legal decision-making. In law studies and practice, its primary purpose is to find an ‘authority’ that will aid in solving a legal problem. Whether a law student or a practicing attorney, legal research helps understand the law, find legal precedents, and provide the legal framework for handling cases. For those who find this process daunting, seeking assistance from professional research paper writers can be a valuable resource. These experts can guide and support navigating complex legal databases and sources, ensuring that the research is thorough, relevant, and effectively supports the legal argument or case.

Key Resources and Tools

Legal research encompasses various resources and tools:

• Law Libraries: A traditional yet invaluable resource offering access to a vast collection of legal texts, case law, statutes, and periodicals.
• Online Legal Databases: Tools like LexisNexis, Westlaw, and Bloomberg Law provide comprehensive digital access to case law, statutes, and legal commentaries.
• Legal Journals are crucial for staying updated with the latest legal research, theories, and case studies.

Steps for Conducting Effective Legal Research

• Identifying and Articulating the Legal Problem: This involves understanding the issue in detail, which is critical for effective research.
• Locating Relevant Legal Sources and Materials: This step requires using various resources to find statutes, case law, and legal opinions pertinent to the issue.
• Analyzing and Interpreting Legal Texts: The final step involves interpreting the findings and how they apply to the legal problem, requiring a deep understanding of legal principles and precedents.

Mastering Legal Writing

Legal writing is crucial for effectively communicating legal analysis and arguments. It is the medium through which a lawyer or law student expresses their understanding of legal issues and their ability to argue cases or provide legal opinions. Clarity, precision, and persuasiveness in legal writing directly impact legal arguments’ effectiveness in courtrooms, memos, and other legal documents.

Different Forms of Legal Writing

Legal writing can take various forms, each serving a different purpose:

• Case Briefs: Summarize court opinions. Case briefs are a fundamental tool in law studies.
• Legal Memos: Used to advise clients or other attorneys on legal matters.
• Legal Correspondence: Encompasses a variety of communications, including letters to clients, opposing counsel, and court filings.

Essential Elements of Effective Legal Writing

• Clarity and Precision in Language: Legal writing should be clear and concise, avoiding ambiguity or excessive legal jargon.
• Logical Structure and Argumentation: Arguments should be logically structured, making it easy for the reader to follow and understand the reasoning.
• Proper Citation and Referencing of Legal Sources: Citing authorities accurately is essential for supporting arguments and demonstrating legal knowledge.
• Adherence to Legal Writing Conventions and Formats: Different legal documents require different formats and conventions, and it’s essential to adhere to these standards for professional and effective communication.

Integrating Research and Writing

Effective legal writing is deeply rooted in robust research. Research provides the factual and legal foundations upon which arguments are built. By integrating comprehensive analysis, legal writing becomes more authoritative and persuasive. Facts and legal precedents gleaned from research lend credibility to legal disputes , ensuring they are well-supported and grounded in law.

Developing a Research-Based Approach to Legal Writing

To develop a research-based approach in legal writing:

• Start with Thorough Research: Before beginning to write, conduct extensive research to gather all relevant facts and legal precedents.
• Organize Research Findings: Organize your research systematically to ensure you can easily reference and incorporate these findings into your writing.
• Use Research to Form Arguments: Use the information and precedents from your research to support your legal arguments and positions.

Developing Critical Thinking and Analytical Skills

Critical thinking is paramount in legal research and writing. It involves understanding legal principles and analyzing how they apply to various situations, questioning assumptions, and evaluating the strength of arguments. In legal research, critical thinking enables one to discern relevant from irrelevant information and to identify the most persuasive authorities. Writing allows for the construction of logically sound and convincing arguments.

Techniques for Honing Analytical Skills

Engage in Active Learning: Rather than passively reading legal materials, actively question and critique what you read. Consider alternative perspectives and potential counterarguments.

Practice Writing Regularly: Regular writing exercises like drafting briefs or memos on hypothetical cases can sharpen analytical skills.

Peer Review and Feedback: Engage in peer reviews where you can receive and give feedback. This process can provide new insights and ways of thinking.

Simulated Legal Scenarios: Participate in moot court or mock trial exercises, which provide practical experience in applying legal research and writing skills in a simulated real-world context.

Practical Tips and Strategies

In legal research, starting with a well-defined plan is essential for efficiency. A clear understanding of the legal issue at hand guides the selection of relevant resources and tools. To ensure a comprehensive understanding, it’s essential to utilize a broad range of sources, including case law, statutes, legal journals, and online databases, while avoiding over-reliance on any single type. As legal precedents constantly evolve, keeping abreast of the latest cases and legislative changes is crucial. Organizing research materials effectively is also vital, as it saves time and enhances the ability to retrieve information quickly.

Writing Techniques

The emphasis in legal writing should be on clarity, persuasiveness, and cohesiveness. Using precise and concise language helps make arguments easily understandable, removing unnecessary legal jargon and complex sentences. This is where tools like a chat gpt essay writer can be handy, providing students with examples and guidance on how to craft coherent and effective legal documents.

A strong structure is vital, beginning with a clear thesis, followed by well-supported arguments, and concluding effectively. Persuasiveness in legal writing can be enhanced through analogies, precedents, and logical reasoning. Additionally, incorporating technology like chat gpt for initial drafts or to gain new perspectives can be beneficial. Regular editing and peer reviews are also integral to ensure coherence, grammatical accuracy, and legal precision in legal writing.

Time Management and Organization Tips

Effective time management and organization are crucial in balancing research and writing tasks. Prioritizing tasks based on their importance and urgency, setting realistic deadlines, and using technology efficiently can significantly enhance productivity. Allocating specific times for research and writing ensures that both tasks receive adequate attention and focus.

Overcoming Common Challenges

Common pitfalls in legal research and writing include an overreliance on specific sources, leading to a narrow perspective, and unclear writing due to complex sentence structures and legal jargon. Expanding research sources and exploring diverse legal opinions and interdisciplinary materials is advisable to overcome these challenges. Enhancing writing skills through workshops, mentor feedback, and regular practice is also crucial. Staying updated with legal developments and continually refining writing styles helps maintain clarity and effectiveness.

The Role of Legal Research and Writing in Career Development

Proficiency in legal research and writing significantly impacts career opportunities and growth in the legal field. These skills are the foundation for effective advocacy and crafting compelling arguments and are critical for any legal professional. High proficiency can lead to recognition, advancement opportunities, and specialization, especially in fields requiring intensive research and writing.

The transition from Academic to Professional Legal Writing and Research

The transition from academic to professional legal writing and research involves adapting academic skills to the practical needs of real-world legal challenges. This may require more pragmatic and concise writing styles or the usage of EssayPay, a reliable essay writing service. Continuous learning and adaptation to meet evolving legal standards, client needs, and technological advancements are integral to a successful legal career.

These skills form the bedrock of legal proficiency, from meticulously navigating various resources for comprehensive research to articulating complex legal arguments with clarity and precision. The ability to integrate research into persuasive legal writing and develop critical thinking and analytical skills sets the foundation for excellence in the legal field.

Furthermore, practical strategies like effective time management, overcoming standard research and writing pitfalls, and adapting to professional standards are vital in transitioning from academic to real-world legal challenges. For aspiring legal professionals, mastering legal research and writing is a continuous learning and adaptation journey, pivotal for career advancement and effective legal practice. This blog post serves as a guide, helping law students navigate this journey and honing their skills for a future where they stand out as proficient, thoughtful, and impactful legal practitioners.

Related Posts

• Procedure For Recognition And Enforcement Of Arbitral Awards In Nigeria
• Vinson & Elkins hires Paul Simcock from Jones Day’s London base
• Chile environmental court rules against SQM mining corporation
• Fieldfisher merges with Beijing’s JS Partners
• Top 5 Reasons to Hire a Bankruptcy Lawyer in Arizona
• Picking Up the Pieces: The Corporate Carve-Out Opportunity
• Seeking Compensation for Medical Bills: Legal Assistance
• Amended Hong Kong Listing Rules on Share Schemes

You might also like

Latest News

Mailing List

Join our mailing list of over 150,000 contacts worldwide and receive the latest updates from Leaders-in-Law.

Full Name *

This site uses cookies. By continuing to browse the site, you are agreeing to our use of cookies.

Cookie and Privacy Settings

We may request cookies to be set on your device. We use cookies to let us know when you visit our websites, how you interact with us, to enrich your user experience, and to customize your relationship with our website.

Click on the different category headings to find out more. You can also change some of your preferences. Note that blocking some types of cookies may impact your experience on our websites and the services we are able to offer.

These cookies are strictly necessary to provide you with services available through our website and to use some of its features.

Because these cookies are strictly necessary to deliver the website, refuseing them will have impact how our site functions. You always can block or delete cookies by changing your browser settings and force blocking all cookies on this website. But this will always prompt you to accept/refuse cookies when revisiting our site.

We fully respect if you want to refuse cookies but to avoid asking you again and again kindly allow us to store a cookie for that. You are free to opt out any time or opt in for other cookies to get a better experience. If you refuse cookies we will remove all set cookies in our domain.

We provide you with a list of stored cookies on your computer in our domain so you can check what we stored. Due to security reasons we are not able to show or modify cookies from other domains. You can check these in your browser security settings.

These cookies collect information that is used either in aggregate form to help us understand how our website is being used or how effective our marketing campaigns are, or to help us customize our website and application for you in order to enhance your experience.

If you do not want that we track your visit to our site you can disable tracking in your browser here:

We also use different external services like Google Webfonts, Google Maps, and external Video providers. Since these providers may collect personal data like your IP address we allow you to block them here. Please be aware that this might heavily reduce the functionality and appearance of our site. Changes will take effect once you reload the page.

Google Webfont Settings:

Google Map Settings:

Google reCaptcha Settings:

Vimeo and Youtube video embeds:

The following cookies are also needed - You can choose if you want to allow them:

• Faculty & Research
• Life at Duke Law
• Faculty & Staff Directory
• Event Calendar
• Goodson Law Library
• ABA Required Disclosures
• Follow Duke Law Duke Law on Youtube Duke Law on Twitter Duke Law on Facebook Duke Law on Instagram
• Return to start of menu
• Juris Doctor
• International LLM
• Master of Judicial Studies
• Dual Degrees
• Areas of Focus
• Public Interest & Pro Bono
• Summer Institutes
• PreLaw Fellowship Program
• Admissions Contact
• Academic Advising
• Academic Calendar
• Course Browser
• Degree Requirements
• Clinics and Externships
• Legal Writing
• Wintersession
• Study Abroad
• Registration Portal
• Faculty Profiles
• Scholarship
• Visiting Assistant Professor Program
• Faculty Workshops
• Teaching & Learning
• Student Resources
• Student Organizations
• Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
• Student Events
• Prospective Students
• JD Students
• International LLMs
• Employment Data
• Administration
• A History of Duke Law School
• Durham: The Bull City
• Visiting Duke Law
• Rules & Policies
• News & Events
• Alumni Benefits
• Update Your Address
• Event Refund Policy

210 Science Drive | Durham, NC 27708 | 919-613-7006

Legal Writing at Duke Law School

Learning to write like a lawyer is perhaps the greatest challenge of legal education. The writing faculty support Duke Law students in all of their writing endeavors, helping them to develop and perfect the skills necessary to produce top-quality legal writing.

First-year Legal Analysis, Research, and Writing Program

Duke Law School's first-year Legal Analysis, Research, and Writing Program evidences the Law School's strong commitment to writing and research excellence. The Program, supplemented by the Legal Writing Resources website, emphasizes the integration of legal analysis, writing, and research, and helps students to understand and consider the legal audience for whom they are writing. The research and writing faculty are paired for each section of students, providing opportunities for team-teaching and specialized instruction throughout the year-long course. (The writing faculty for the first-year course are listed below.) In writing assignments, which range from short office memos to trial and appellate briefs, students master sophisticated research skills, complex analysis, careful construction of legal arguments, and the special requirements of legal prose. The intertwined research and writing tasks additionally enhance the retention of research skills and promote more effective research strategies.

The Legal Analysis, Research and Writing Program is also distinguished by its use of writing faculty with substantial past law practice who have moved into the teaching of writing as their primary professional commitment and research faculty who are part of the Law School's professional reference librarians, all of whom are also lawyers. Duke was one of the first top-tier law schools to employ writing faculty whose first professional commitment is teaching; at a number of other top-tier schools, these courses are still taught by upperclass law students, recent law graduates, or practitioners who serve as adjunct professors. The blend of academic strength and first-rate practical experience in the Duke Law Program results in a rigorous and richly rewarding experience.

Upper-Level, Advanced Legal Writing Courses

Duke Law School's upper-level advanced legal writing courses provide students with opportunities to hone further the legal writing skills taught in the first year. These courses are geared to specific subject-matter or legal writing settings, taught by the writing faculty in small seminars, and include substantial feedback to students on their written products. Some of these courses also involve continued instruction in legal research.

Contract Drafting

Prof. Diane Dimond has taught this course which teaches basic practical skills in contract drafting through written drafting exercises. While the skills taught are basic, they are readily translatable to more sophisticated contracts, such as those that Duke Law students can expect to see and draft in practice. » more info

Legal Writing In Civil Practice

This course helps prepare students for the rigors of legal analysis and writing in general civil practice by providing a variety of writing experiences including opinion and demand letters, pleadings, motions, and trial briefs. It culminates in oral arguments on motions before members of the bench and bar. » more info

This two-credit course introduces the components of contracts, a formal vocabulary for discussing them, and the skill of translating business deals to the page. Contract Drafting features writing exercises that will be done both in and outside of class. In addition, extensive peer and instructor editing will be used. While the skills taught will be basic, they will also apply to more sophisticated contracts, including those that Duke Law students can expect to see and draft in practice. While this writing-intensive course fulfills the upper-level professional skills requirement, because performing significant independent legal research is not a part of it, it does not fulfill the substantial research and writing project requirement. » more info

Writing: Drafting Legislation

Professor William Blais teaches this course in which students will follow a topic of their own interest and produce a substantive proposal for legislation, along with supporting research and technical reports. The course will appeal to students who are interested in public policy, public interest law, or advocacy through the legislative process. The class will emphasize the development of writing skills that enable the execution of policies through the creation of rules, procedures, duties, rights, and sanctions. In addition to substantive writing, the students will participate in interactive oral defense and advocacy of their proposed legislation. » more info

Writing: Federal Litigation

Professor Allison Kort teaches this advanced writing course, which helps prepare students for the writing challenges specific to litigating large federal cases. Students will be required to complete various writing assignments surrounding one hypothetical federal problem, including a client letter; a complaint or answer, a discovery request, and a motion for summary judgment. Coursework will involve research, preparation of initial drafts and final revisions of documents, instructor feedback, and peer review of written materials. The course will culminate in oral argument on cross-motions for summary judgment. » more info

Scholarly Writing Workshop

In this course, students will produce an original analytic paper of substantial length. Papers must involve significant and thorough independent research, be well-written, and provide appropriate sourcing. Participants are free to choose any topic that may be addressed seriously in an article-length piece and that may be written during one semester. » more info

Judicial Writing

This two-credit course is intended to appeal to any student who is interested in or who’s already been hired for a judicial clerkship. The course offers each student the opportunity to focus on and assess the writing style practiced by the judge for whom each will be clerking (or another whose opinions she or he admires). In addition, the students will practice forms of legal writing that they, as clerks, will be drafting for their judges—a bench memorandum, a majority opinion, and a concurrence or dissent. The focus here is on organized, clear, effective formal writing, which is the focal point of both. » more info

This course is an introduction to several different types of persuasive writing used in federal litigation. The simulated writing exercises will focus on one hypothetical matter involving federal law. » more info

Mediation Advocacy

In this advanced experiential seminar, students explore the fundamentals of mediation theory and practice from the perspective of the mediator, the attorney, and the client.  Students have the opportunity to practice persuasive writing as they draft pre-mediation statements, and will learn the essential elements of drafting agreements memorializing your settlements.  By engaging in all phases of the mediation process, students not only improve their social and emotional competence, they will develop skills that will be useful in client interviewing and counseling, fact development and legal analysis, and a variety of other contexts beyond mediation.  » more info

Legal Writing: Craft & Style

This is a two-credit boot camp for 2Ls and 3Ls who want to work towards acquiring professional-level writing and editing skills. Through weekly writing projects, students will master the line-editing techniques for creating optimal sentences and paragraphs. Through intensive study, practice, and an exit exam, students will master the essentials of grammar, usage, and copyediting expected of professional writers. Finally, each student will deploy these skills by creating two pieces of original writing commonly expected of young lawyers: a client letter and a client update on a development in the law. Throughout the course, students will have individual support and feedback for their work.  » more info

Federal Indigent Defense in Practice

This skills-based simulation course focuses on writing as an advocate for the accused and developing foundational practical skills and substantive legal knowledge needed to prepare a strong defense. The course focuses on the real cases of several indigent defendants convicted of federal crimes and is structured around preparing a direct appeal from the viewpoint of a solo practicing attorney appointed at the direct appeal stage. Each student will work on preparing one defendant’s case throughout the semester.   » more info

Legal Writing for Non-Legal Audiences

Not all legal communications are directed at judges and lawyers.  This advanced seminar focuses on communicating legal ideas to non-legal audiences with different goals, values, and knowledge bases.  Students will explore how to counsel clients, engage with industry, manage media relations, and leverage platforms such as social media to communicate legal concepts in a broadly understandable manner.  The course combines communication theory with practical workshops, role-playing exercises, guest speakers, and case studies.  By the end of the course, students should feel equipped with the comprehensive communication toolkit needed for a modern, dynamic legal practice.  » more info

Student Scholarship Workshop

This workshop provides students the opportunity to share their scholarship with other students. Students present their writings and receive feedback from peers and guidance from faculty advisors. » more info

Legal Writing for LLM Students

Legal analysis, research, and writing for international students.

Duke Law School recognizes that LLM students will be writing or analyzing documents in English for US lawyers and clients during their careers. It, therefore, requires as part of the LLM curriculum a one-semester legal analysis, research, and writing course. The course trains LLM students in the process of legal analysis, reasoning, and essential legal research tools and methodologies in American law. The course teaches students to prepare written documents in the style and format appropriate for the audience and purpose, with an emphasis on objective analysis and writing. Lawyers cannot provide effective representation unless they master the necessary research skills. To that end, the legal research component of the course introduces LLM students to core tools and methodologies that will be essential to working with US law.

The course challenges LLM students to write in the direct, succinct style preferred by US lawyers and business people. Students improve their written English through numerous opportunities to review and revise their work. Taught in small sections by faculty who have practiced law and have extensive experience with international lawyers, the course prepares international LLM students not only for law school exams, but more broadly for a transnational career.

Advanced Legal Writing Workshop for LLM Students

In their second semester, LLM students may attend the Advanced Legal Writing Workshop for LLM Students. The Workshop provides international students a closer examination of advanced topics in legal writing. Topics of the Workshop include the fundamentals of contract drafting, preparing briefs, expectations of persuasive writing, an overview of legislative drafting, as well as extensive advanced editing techniques. The Workshop also fortifies understanding of subjects taught during the fall writing course, such as rule extraction and rule synthesis.

Summer Institute for Law, Language and Culture

The Summer Institute for Law, Language and Culture is a four-week intensive course introducing students to legal English, the U.S. legal system, and the law school experience. Through small-group class interaction, encounters with lawyers, judges, and teachers, visits to courtrooms and law firms, and interaction with popular media, students will learn to read and produce good legal writing, to study and understand U.S. law, and to make the best possible use of their U.S. law school experiences. Because the study of law is a language-intensive task, SILLC is designed to increase proficiency in reading and hearing English, to develop confidence and skill in speaking and writing, and to facilitate personal adjustment to the culture of U.S. legal education. Small class size and individual attention from the instructors give students a concentrated and tailored teaching experience. » more info

In this section

• Legal Writing Resources
• Student Scholarship
• Bar Application

Legal Writing Faculty and Courses

• Director of Legal Writing Jeremy Mullem
• Assistant Director of Legal Writing Rebecca Rich
• Required First Year Writing Course Sarah Baker , Ryan Christian,  Kendall Gray,   Melissa Hanson,   Catherine Lawson ,  Jeremy Mullem , Greg Pawlowski ,  Rebecca Rich , Casey Thomson
• Legal Analysis, Research and Writing for International Students Leslie Griffith ,  Rima Idzelis , Phyllis Lile-King , James Stuart
• Legal Writing in Civil Practice Catherine Lawson ,  Greg Pawlowski
• Contract Drafting Jeremy Mullem , Sarah Baker ,  Sarah Powell ,  Rebecca Rich
• Scholarly Writing Workshop Jeremy Mullem , Rebecca Rich ,  Sarah Baker
• Judicial Writing Melissa Hanson
• Legal Writing: Craft & Style Kendall Gray
• Writing: Federal Litigation Sarah Baker , Melissa Hanson
• Mediation Advocacy Casey Thomson
• Federal Indigent Defense in Practice Sarah Powell
• Legal Writing for Non-Legal Audiences Catherine Lawson
• Advanced Legal Writing Workshop for LLM students Rima Idzelis
• Summer Institute for Law, Language and Culture Marily Nixon ,  Melissa Hanson

Abhayraj Naik did his BA LLB (Hons.) from NLSIU Bangalore in 2006 and LLM from Yale Law School in 2009.

He is currently an independent researcher and consultant and has previously taught in colleges like JGLS, Azim Premji University, and NLSIU. He has also been a research fellow at SARAI-CSDS, and a researcher at the Environment Support Group in Bangalore.

Shrutanjaya Bhardwaj is the lead researcher and content developer of this course and worked closely under the guidance of Abhayraj. He completed his BA LLB (Hons.) from NLUD in 2017 where he was awarded the Vice Chancellor’s Gold Medal for the Best Overall Student (Male).

He then worked at the chambers of Gopal Sankarnarayanan for a year and then went on to complete LLM from Michigan Law School in 2019.

Prof. Anupama Sharma is an Assistant Professor at JGLS, Sonipat. She has completed B.A. LL.B. (Hons.) from the NUJS, Kolkata in 2014, and LL.M. from the University of Cambridge, UK in June 2015, and is currently pursuing her Ph.D. from the University of Hong Kong.

She has been a part of various research projects run by institutions and organizations, such as Cambridge Pro Bono Project, Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI), International Justice Mission, etc. She has also been a Legislative Review Team member for the Journal of Indian Law and Society (JILS).

Mansi Mankotia graduated with a B.A.LL.B (Hons.) from H.P. University in 2020 and pursued an LLM specializing in criminal law from NLU Shimla. Currently, Mansi is dedicated to advancing her expertise through a PhD in Law. With professional experience as an in-house counsel, she currently serves as a Learning Manager at Lawctopus Law School, contributing to the development and delivery of practical law courses.

Who is this course for?

• Undergraduate and postgraduate students of law.
• Faculty members in the fields of law, social sciences, and business wishing to revisit the fundamental of legal research and writing.
• Young lawyers (both litigators and those working in law firms who are interested in these topics.
• Students of other streams interested in gaining legal research and writing skills

Learner’s Feedback

Course Details

Duration: 8 weeks.

Fees: 6900 INR (Including GST)

Life-time Access

By purchasing this course, you are granted lifetime access.

Life-time access means that the course access will be available to you as long as the company continues to offer the course or remains in existence. In the event the course is discontinued or the company ceases operations, access to the course will no longer be available.

Mode of learning:

• Completely online and self-paced. (Except for the weekly live sessions. The recordings of the live sessions is also available)
• Detailed reading modules and resources
• Recorded video lectures
• Weekly live lectures which build on the reading modules, clear your doubts, explain assignments, etc.
• Online forum for doubt clarification
• Regular communication over Whatsapp and Email so that you do not miss any live class or assignment deadline. We deeply ‘care’ for your learning.
• Assignment: submission of a short research paper (this assignment is divided into 3 mini-assignments)
• Personal 3-level feedback on your assignments.
• Optional reflective exercises
• Recorded webinars on careers in legal research, CV-building, earning through freelancing, etc.
• Access to alumni group which will keep you updated about future career opportunities

We go out of our way to support our students!

• Live orientation session which tells you about our platform and how to make full use of the course.
• A broadcast-only Whatsapp group to check updates easily and fast.
• Access to recorded version of the live lectures in case you miss attending them live!

Add-on benefits:

• Get a certificate issued by Lawctopus Law School after the successful completion of the course. (Don’t worry, if you put in a sincere effort in this course, you’ll get a certificate. We are liberal in our markings and give you a second chance. We do want sincere efforts from our learners).
• Free career counselling, CV, and career guidance webinars for everyone.
• A chance to get published on Academike , Lawctopus’ Law Journal (ISSN: 2349-9796).
• An opportunity to mentor future batches for senior students, academicians, and practitioners (this is a paid, part-time, work-from-home position at Lawctopus)

Free Access to Manupatra for 2 Months!

Students of this course will get free access to Manupatra for the duration of the course, i.e for 2 months. Manupatra is India’s most popular and trustworthy tool for legal research and we believe having access to the platform for 2 months will help students gain familiarity and develop competence in using this excellent resource.

Lawctopus and Manupatra also conduct joint webinars every 2-3 months. The webinars are around the topics of legal research, using Manupatra for legal research, etc. and students of this course will have the opportunity to attend those webinars on priority.

Some achievements of the students of Lawctopus’ Legal Research and Writing Course till now:

• NUALS Law Journal
• LawAndOtherThings
• Law School Policy Review
• Presenting their papers in an international seminar on Liberty
• Securing a Research Assistantship with a Professor from the Oxford University
• Working on a legal history project in the Bombay High Court.
• Securing a research internship with a leading education provider
• Winning top-notch legal essay writing competitions
• Securing internships and freelance gigs based on their writing samples
• Thanks to the excellent research, writing, and editing skills, many of our students submit better CVs and writing samples which has lead to a dozen of internship offers.
• Many of our students have won the country’s best legal essay writing competitions after this course!

These are just indicative list of achievements. While these achievements are due to the students’ own initiative and hard work, they have told us that the course helped them towards these, and we couldn’t be happier!

This course teaches you Legal Research and Writing from A to Z!

Whether you are a 1st-year law student from a lesser-ranked law college, whether you are an experienced faculty member who already has a Ph.D. or you may even be a practicing lawyer wishing to know what the exact process behind quality legal research and writing can look like, you’ll find this course of great utility and spark!

FAQs [click on the Qs to read the As]:

No. You’ll have 7-8 live lectures each lasting approximately 90 minutes. The schedule of the live sessions is released when the course starts. Most of our live sessions happen on weekends or on late evenings so that all learners (students or working professionals) can attend them without skipping their regular classes or office.

We suggest that you spend approximately  3-5 hours/week doing the course. When you spend these 3-5 hours is up to you. You may spend around 40 minutes each day or do it over the weekend.

Yes, this course is designed to help an absolute newbie to learn the fundamentals and nuances of legal research and writing. Even senior academicians find the course of immense use. If you are a professional looking to improve their research and writing skills, this course will help you too.

We encourage you to attend the live classes after thorough preparations. Just like the real  charm of a live match/performance  is watching it live, the real value of a live class is in attending it live! A lot of new, practical things are covered; and of course, your questions are addressed too. However, if you miss the live class, you can watch the recorded version of the live class which is uploaded for the specific batch only.

Good research and writing skills are absolutely crucial (no questions asked) for any knowledge professional. Every legal professional, whether a corporate lawyer or a litigator, a judge or an academician, requires good legal research and writing skills. Through this course, you’ll learn these core skills. Consider this: even your CV and cover letters are evaluated by recruiters as short writing samples. Is it written well, formatted well? Interestingly, our students have told us that after this course their internship applications which were rejected earlier were not getting accepted! Good research, writing, and presentation skills are transferable to multiple domains. The course will also help you do well in moots, publications, and conferences and seminars.

There is only one compulsory assignment: submission of a 1500-2500 word short research essay. The assignment is divided into 3 mini-assignments. Submission of: 1. A research topic and questions 2. Submission of a rough draft with references and footnotes 3. Final research paper Each mini-assignment is followed by feedback from the faculty. Each student is given feedback. We pride ourselves on being able to give personalized, 3-level feedback.

The intention of the course is to teach you legal research and writing skills. Any type of legal drafting, civil or criminal or corporate, requires good research and writing skills. The focus of this course is not on particular drafts, but on legal research and writing as the broader skill-set. Your drafting will surely improve after doing this course.

Yes. There are many free, open sources available online that can help you with your research. SSRN, Google Scholar, ResearchGate, IndianKanoon, Government websites, and many free and open law journals (both from India and abroad), are an excellent repositories of knowledge, information, and insights. We also provide a list of such sources.

Need help to decide? Feel free to reach out to us on these channels.

Phone calls/WhatsApp Number: 935 968 4056 (Ishani Patankar, Counsellor, Lawctopus Law School)

Email: [email protected]

Join Our WhatsApp Channel for Opportunity Updates

Get Daily Updates

Join our Telegram Channel for Opportunity Updates

Get an Internship

94 Responses

I am interested in doing this course. I am a second-year law student. But my problem is that network on my campus is not good…so I will be needing recorded classes. As the network goes anytime. Will it be possible?

I am always struggling in legal writing. Thanks for making this course accessible and I m going to join it right now.

Hey! • The course is marked as from Aug 5 to sep 30 while the duration of the course as mentioned is 2 months(+2 months for review) Could you please confirm the duration of the course?? What are the dates mentioned here relevant for??? • Also, are the studying materials (both reading & videos or other sources) accessible for future use beyond the +2 expansion???? It would be so kind of you to clear my doubts as soon as possible as I am interested to enroll for the course and today is the last date for the same.

Hi, you can write to [email protected] to get all your queries resolved. The course is actually taught for 2 months. You get an additional 2 months to review content on your own.

please someone answer this comment, since the lawctopus people aren’t responding. Can i access the course from different accounts and device, because i have to travel constantly

Hi! May I know which email you wrote to? Answering your query, yes you can. You’re given login credentials through which you can access the course from different devices. However, the account remains the same through which you signed up for the course.

Hi, Good day. I would like to ask if we can pay in dollars and if so how

I am a life-long learner. All along I have studied in night colleges while working during the day. I did my B. A (Economics) in 1976, LL. B. in 1979, D. B. M in 1980, MMM (Masters in Marketing Management) from JBIMS in 1987, did my M. Sc. Psychology from Tamil Nadu Open University, Chennai, Diploma in English Journalism from Annamalai University, had a colourful career in Marketing from Sales Asstt. To Vice President Marketing from a Birla Group Company, did many certificate and short-term courses in law, even now I am doing an Advanced Diploma in Real Estate Law. I am passionate about legal research and want to do the course, which will help me in my writing. My problem is that I will not be able to do it in four months, I want it at my pace. I am a Blogger, Writer and Columnist. How can you help me. I want to do legal research and want to specialise in Constitutional Law. I am writing a paper on total gender equality. If the course is dounloadable I will go for it. Please let me know. Thanks.

Respected sir/mam, i wanted to confirm that after the completion of this course would we be able to access the study material (particularly recorded lectures) for future use?

Hi I’m from Pakistan Can I enrol in this course? Is it beneficial for me?

Do you have a sample video may of 10-20 minutes available, where we can get a taster of the course or content?

Hey Admin, do they provide demo of the course.

Your blog is simply amazing, congratulations on your great work.

Hey, can you please clarify if doing citations will also be taught in this course?

Yes, they’ll be taught.

Hey, can you please clarify if we will be taught how to cite also in this course? Thank you!

I am unable to enroll in the Jan-Feb course as the payment option isn’t operational. Will the payment option be open later on?

I really wanted to enroll for this course, however the last date has passed, is there any chance I can make the payment(today, for the next coming batch – post jan)and access the study material (videos and text resources) december onwards?

Hi Tanisha, you can still register for the Dec-Jan batch. Best,

Can i please apply today, I was unable to apply yesterday due to technical reasons.

Very helpful and Great information, I appreciate advice especially coming from a professional.

Sir…will there be a 7th batch too? As today is the last day to register for the 6th batch and right now I won’t be able to enroll. Please reply asap

It says that the registration is open till November 5th but the 6th batch has officially started from October 1st. Can you please clarify since I’m willing to join.

Hi, the next batch is from December 1. Best,

Thanks for this informative blog. its really helps me as this blog gives all information

Hi. Will there be a 7 th batch for this course?

Hi, when will the next batch (7th) starts ? as right now due to college exams I wouldn’t be join the current batch.

I have no command over English. should I go for this course first or improve my English first?

Hi Rahul, if you have no command over English then you might not be able to do the course well. However, if you are willing to work harder, you can do this course. You’ll have to read/watch everything twice, and you’ll be good to go.

This course looks promising but I didnt see anything that would inform me about the procedure to put this knowledge into action i.e. getting my articles published on reputed platforms. Please throw some light on that.

Can 1st year law students take up this course?( If we’re pursuing 5year law degree)

Yes, Samridhi.

I would love to join this course but i have a issue that my mid semester examination will be going on between the course period i.e from 21 – 25 sep. will i be able to manage this course simultaneously with my examinations?

Hi Deept, you’ll be able to manage. If an assignment falls within this duration, you can ask for an extension. But you must communicate it with us.

When will the next batch start?

Hi, September 1.

Sir today is 19th Aug.. Can I enroll today… Please reply asap

Hello. There is one typo error in FAQ 6, para starting with .. consider this…are now* (instead of not*) getting accepted. Thank you.

Hello, I was planning on registering for the Batch starting on August 1st. Are slots still available?

Please do reply ASAP, I would really look forward to enrolling for this course

Hello, I am Tanishka, online sources like SCC or Manupatra are usually required for research but I don’t have access to any of these, will it be a problem to join the course if I don’t have access of the afore?

Hi Tanishka, not at all. There are many ‘free’ and trusted egal databases which can be used. Best,

Hey sir Rajat here Sir i m from jk ! And I have internet connection problems as u know 2g is working there! So videos are available offline also? Can we watch them offline !?

Hi Rajat, sorry, the videos can’t be accessed offline. 🙁

Hello, Is this course easy to understand for the first year enrolled students of LLB? Waiting for a reply soon. Best Regards Mohit

Yes. It’s easy to understand. The purpose of this course is to teach you legal research and writing and we have many 1st year students doing the course. Even academicians do this course to brush up their skills/revise.

hey, i just submitted my payment and i went to my id to change the password but i forgot the old password can you please help me

Is there any free course because there are students who aren’t able to pay the fees but wanted to study various courses if there are then please do convey.

You can check our Youtube page for free webinars.

Please go to courses.lawctopus.com. If there is any issue, please email at [email protected]

Hello,I am inquiring  regarding Online Legal research and writing. Please let me can I register now?what are the timings?will I be able cover backlog sessions?Please reply ASAP

Can we still apply for the course

You have stated in “achievements of students who took this course” that one student 3 got published in Law School Policy Review and got Research Assistantship with a Professor from Oxford University. He’ll be working on a legal history project in the Bombay High Court” — can you please tell me which professor from oxford university and how he got the RA?

I am looking forward to starting this course soon, after this query is responded to

Can’t disclose the name till our student gives us the permission. Can introduce you to the student directly and you guys can talk. Email at [email protected]

im going to be enroll as a research scholar wanted to join this course. can i join it now on 29th of may by paying 3500?

I am a Govt Law College Professor and Research Guide and has experience in handling classes for scholars and guides in fora including those of Christ University Banglore. If you are interested, I would like to associate with you by taking online classes and by providing materials including ppt and other materials.

Hi, sure, it will be responded to asap. Don’t worry at all! Best,

i want to talk to Tanuj Kalia sir, please contact me on 9947300916 I would like to join Legal research course

Hi sir, i just go through the course. If the registration is open…is it possible to make payment in installments for the course?

Hi Vrinda, sorry but you cannot make payments in installments. We are trying to have scholarships and partial payments from August 1 onwards to make our courses more accessible. Best,

Can you please tell us about these scholarships?

Is the Course still Open? Please Revert back ASAP!

hi just go to know about the course,i have registered but i am facing an issue with the transaction

Can we now submit to become a college manager?

Hello, I have just gone through the legal research course about to begin from 1st of June. Can you please let me know that wil there be any online session (if yes, what wil be the time slot) or recorded lecture?

There are recorded lectures and live sessions. Timings for live lectures will be informed later.

Hi, since the course starts on 1 June, can I enrol for Batch 3 now?

Hi, we’ll start a new batch that starts from July 1.

hello, I just came across the post. is there any vacancy in the batch? if yes, I would love to join in.

Is this course is still open?!

IS THE COURSE STILL OPEN

HI can I apply for the course now?

Hi can i join this course, i ll make the payment right now if registration is still open. I just came across the course now

Hi, we’ll look into this. When did you email us about this (if you did)?

I am from Nepal , how can I pay the program fee and get enroll in this.

Yes, we are sure that even international students can get immense value out of the program.

Since we are already at home due to the prevailing health crisis, is it possible the course could be started earlier – say in the month of May itself? If things smoothen out, my college may open in July, preventing me from learning the key aspects of the last four modules.

Hi Jei, you’ll be given 50% of the course access from April 21 onwards. You can read the modules and watch the videos for the first 4/5 modules from April 21 onwards.

Hi. Is there a possiblity to enrol past the deadline for the third batch ?

i wasnt aware about this course , is there any chance i can enroll now ?

Hii,can I puchase the course by involving one of my friends to purchase it so that we both have access to material. I want to go dutch

Sorry, that is not allowed. 🙁

Hi, we are extending the date of registration to April 12.

Its 21st April and registration deadline seems to be passed…can I still enroll for course?

hey I’m having some payment issues. I tried paying with a card and today is the last date

Will there be a 3rd batch for this course?

Hi Can I please join this course, I saw the notification a day after the deadline.

Hi Anchal, you can join the 2nd batch of this course. The 2nd batch will officially start from June 1. However, you can access the study material (videos and text resources) from April 11 onwards. Best,

Can I join the course scheduled for next month. . Please convey the dates of Registration

Thanks & Regards

Rajesh Choudhary

Add a Comment Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Advertisement

Congratulations! 🎉

Use this coupon inside the Lawctopus app to activate your 3 months’ free premium subscription.

🎦 FREE Webinar on 'SC Judgement against Exorbitant Bar Council Fees'

For Advertisements on Lawctopus

• +91 90235 43927
• [email protected]
• Office hours: 11AM - 7PM

For Lawctopus Law School

• +91 80474 94091
• [email protected]

Download our eBook on

Get An Internship

Certifications

Enhance Your Knowledge & Showcase Your Skills

With thomson reuters research certifications.

Basic Certification

Learn the fundamental Westlaw tools and techniques for effective research:

• Plain-language searching, filters, and Precision Search
• Discover various types of secondary sources and how to find them
• Westlaw's annotations to find cases, statutes, and other authorities
• Streamline your research with shortcuts, like Copy with Reference
• KeyCite to validate your findings and expand research.

Intermediate Certification

Amplify your research skills with Westlaw tools that will help you work more efficiently and competently:

• Learn how to search using the Key Number System
• Use KeyCite tools like the red-striped flag, Cited With technology, and advanced Citing References
• Leverage statutory research tools like Notes of Decisions, Context & Analysis, and Graphical History
• Find sources and get up to speed quickly with the Secondary Resource Index and Practical Law
• Take advantage of Outline Builder and Quick Check to link your research to your writing assignments.

Advanced Certification

There is always something new to discover and master when it comes to Westlaw:

• Learn how to quickly run precise searches using terms & connectors and field searches
• Delve into Westlaw's legislative history tools to find and use regulations.
• Uncover new developments in the law and quickly understand the procedural posture of a case.
• Utilize Folder Analysis to discover missed issues and Graphical History to retrace your steps
• Access court documents for useful insights on drafting, and explore legal forms for examples.

Legal Research & Writing Certification

An introduction to legal research & writing, the core skills for all future attorneys.

• Learn the basics of legal research & writing and how they are practiced by students and attorneys
• Explore the various types of legal analysis frameworks and writing styles
• Understand the core components of case briefs and the briefing process
• Recognize the need for properly formatted legal citations
• Discover how to effectively research and draft a legal memorandum

Foundations of Legal Research Certification

Understand the legal system and how to put a research plan into action.

• An overview of the legal system, precedent and types of authority
• Build effective research plans
• Identify gaps in legal knowledge and overcome them
• Construct legal arguments utilizing different types of legal authority

Transactional Certification

An introduction transactional practice for all future attorneys.

• Transactional drafting principles, document types, and the role of negotiation in deals.
• Key transactional vocabulary, due diligence, and the importance of precedent documents.
• Utilizing technology like Westlaw for research, drafting, and ensuring compliance.
• The lifecycle of transactional documents from pre-drafting to finalization and execution.
• Crafting complex clauses, avoiding common pitfalls, and adhering to ethical standards.

Litigation Research Certification

An overview of trial pratice and research techniques for all future attorneys.

• Gain trial preparation skills, including strategy and evidence presentation techniques.
• Understand jury selection and the importance of voir dire processes.
• Learn to draft and argue motions, and understand trial objections.
• Comprehend appellate court structures and standards for reviewing trial court decisions.
• Master appellate brief writing, including research and argument construction.

Prepare to Practice Certification

Preparing to practice goes beyond legal research.

• Understand the business of law, and the role research plays
• Utilize different methods of billing and tracking time
• Employ practice tools to avoid conflicts and missed deadlines
• Research both time-efficiently and cost-effectively

Come and join in the conversation on our social channels.

Cozy up with Westlaw to win an Amazon Fall Haul!

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Thomson Reuters Law School - Westlaw for Students (@trlawschool.us)

Fuel Your Research with Key Numbers - Bonus Entries

Need some inspiration check out these key numbers by using the digest searches below., find your rhythm with black's law dictionary - bonus entries, need some inspiration check out these legal terms by using the the links below., westlaw's "no skips" tips playlist, real property, civil procedure, criminal law, constitutional law, show westlaw some love.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Westlaw for Law Students (@trlawschool.us)

Statutes on Westlaw - Bonus Entries

Need some inspiration check out the statutes below., key numbers on westlaw - bonus entries, searching on westlaw - bonus entries, need some search inspiration for your entries check out the sample searches below.

Because neurodivergent people often need visual prompts or sensory tools, it is helpful to figure out what works best for you. Maybe you need a quiet fidget to use under your desk in class to help you focus. Maybe you need to incorporate the use of timers throughout your day. If you struggle with time blindness, you can use hourglasses to help you visualize time. Perhaps you struggle with extraneous sounds and need to use noise-cancelling headphones. More and more tools and gadgets are being made for neurodiverse individuals that can help you throughout law school.

Society can dictate when you are supposed to be most productive. See the traditional 9-5 work schedule. However, that model does not always work best for neurodiverse individuals. Some people are not morning people, and that is fine. Figure out when you have the most energy during your day to be your most productive self.

Find one system to use for organization and don’t change it. Trying too many organizational systems can become overwhelming. If your phone calendar works best, use that. If you are a list person, write all the lists. If you are a planner person, find the coolest one to use throughout the school year.

It would be nice to think that you can remember every task or deadline, but let’s be honest, that’s probably not true. Write down every deadline, every task, meeting, assignment, important date, etc. in the organizational system that you use.

Just like you can only put so much gasoline in a car, most neurodiverse individuals only have so much room in their focus tank. Figure out how long you can truly focus and apply yourself to a task before you need a break. That amount of time is typically shorter for neurodiverse individuals. If you can only truly focus for 20 minutes, study for 20 minutes, take a break, and then come back for another 20 minutes.

You may have started law school with your mind full of horror stories. Throw them out the window. Most of the people you attend law school with are genuinely kind and helpful people. Try to find a group or a couple of people that you can trust and lean on when necessary. Your law school friends can help you stay on task, body double, and even provide notes on the days you may be struggling. These friends can be one of your greatest assets throughout your law school journey.

Only discuss your neurodivergence with your professors to the extent that you are comfortable. If there are things you are concerned about related to your neurodivergence, it can be beneficial to make your professors aware at the beginning of the semester. Whether you are worried about cold calling or need a topic broken down, most professors love opportunities to discuss their area of law! They can’t know that you may need help if you don’t let them know. This is especially important if you aren’t successful in getting accommodations from your school’s Disability Services.

As a neurodivergent student, you may not fit the traditional mold of all the things a law student is “supposed to do” in order to be successful. You have been in school for years, and now is the time to trust yourself and not be afraid to be an “outside of the box” law student. There is no harm in trying new study methods, but never fear going back to your personal basics. If you need help figuring those out, see if your law school has a learning center or faculty member that can assist you.

Outlining with jury instructions.

• On your Westlaw Precision home screen, click on Secondary Sources and then Jury Instructions .
• On the Jury Instructions page, use the Jurisdiction filter to select your desired jurisdiction.
• Search for your cause of action. (Ex. elements of libel in Federal Jury Practice & Instructions )
• Open your relevant jury instruction and don't forget to check the related notes.
• To see more instructions, check out the table of contents to your left or click on View Full TOC.

Citation in a Click

• Highlight the text you want to copy. Try it out with Miranda v. Arizona
• Select "Copy with Reference" from the pop-up box.
• Paste into your word document...and you're done!

Black's Law Dictionary

Don't guess the meaning of a legal term. know it., by using black’s law dictionary, exclusively on westlaw , you’ll know the meanings of key terms that will help you understand your cases faster, be prepared for cold-calls and beef up your class notes. 1. access black's law dictionary on westlaw., 2. type your term into the dictionary term box. (ex. demurrer ) if your term contains multiple words, place the terms in quotes. (ex. "rule against perpetuities" ), 3. open up your desired term, copy it and paste it into your notes., looking for some inspiration here are a few legal terms to get you started contracts - collateral estoppel - consequential damages civil procedure - minimum contacts - in personam jurisdiction torts - negligence - invasion of privacy criminal law - mayhem - wobbler, where can i learn more about a firm so i can ask good questions in an interview, news is an excellent source for learning about a firm. you’ll see the clients and matters they represent along with the accolades they earned from their communities. 1. click on news under “specialty areas” on your westlaw edge home screen., 2. start by trying a plain language search for your firm. (ex. gibson dunn crutcher ), 3. to up your search game, consider running a terms & connectors search with an index field. (ex. gibson /2 dunn /s crutcher & in(law lawsuit legal) ), start writing your brief without starting from scratch, what is a brief, a brief is a summary of a case in your own words that includes the key facts, procedural history, issues addressed, along with the court's holdings. how can i find a case on westlaw, cases on westlaw contain a synopsis, a summary of the main facts, issues and holdings of a case, and headnotes, summaries of points of law organizes by topic. you can locate cases on westlaw in a variety of ways. find by citation: if you know your case's citation, just type one of the citations in the search box. (ex. 113 sct 2217 ), find by party name: if you know the names of your parties, just start typing them in the search box and select corresponding case from the drop-down menu. (ex. international shoe).

Note: If your case has common party names, you may need to enter more than one party.

Download your synopsis and headnotes: once you've pulled up your case, click on download under delivery options, select brief it under what to deliver and click on download..

The right search terms can make a difference. Here is an easy way to come up with smart search terms.

Rules, Codes & Restatements

Exporting tables of contents, exporting a table of contents is an easy way to get access to a list of rules, codes or restatements that you can reference on the fly and add to your outlines, as needed. locate your rules, codes or restatement: to export a toc (table of contents), you'll first want to locate your resource. restatement of torts restatement of contracts restatement of property federal rules of civil procedure ucc article 2 federal rules of evidence united states constitution, export your toc: click on download, select outline of current view under what to deliver and then click on download..

Strengthen Your Interview Discussions with News

• Search for a particular firm, attorney, or agency. (Ex. Kirkland and Ellis or Fourth Circuit )
• Or select a specific practice area (Ex. Mergers & Acquisitions )

American Law Reports

Your go-to secondary source, finding an a.l.r. (american law reports) article covering your topic is a great starting point for research. you'll get a quick summary of the legal issue you're researching and a table of cases, laws, and rules to see the law across all jurisdictions. you can also use annotations to find additional secondary sources, such as legal encyclopedias, treatises, and periodicals. no wonder they're nicknamed already done legal research see it in action: the legal discussion to compensate student athletes is heating up. check out this alr article to see how the legal picture for tomorrow’s student athletes comes together in one place., keycite graphical history, procedural history made easy, are you reading a case and not sure how you got there procedurally reversed, remanded or otherwise, we got you. just sign into westlaw and follow the steps below... 1. grab one of the citations you see in your case book and type it into the search box on westlaw . (ex. 480 u.s. 102), 2. click on your case in the drop-down menu., 3. click on the history tab to see your procedural history., keycite graphical history works best when you have a federal case and a complex issue. check out some additional examples from your classes below. contracts - koken v. black & veatch const., inc. - lamps plus, inc. v. varela civil procedure - national equipment rental v. szukhent - helicopteros nacionales de colombia, s.a. v. hall torts - palsgraf v. long island r. co. - kentucky fried chicken of cal., inc. v. superior court, law school resource center, flowcharts, overviews & more..

Step 1 - Create a New Class

Step 3 - invite your students, step 2 - assign lessons.

About this event

Love Your Lawyer Day

All the rules you need for class in one place.

Understand the procedural history of your case..

Don't guess the meaning of a term. Know it.

Copy the Code Below

You'll use this code to make a copy of the sample course.

Click on Copy Another Class

Go to the Knowledge Center and click on the Copy Another Class button.

Enter Your Copy Code

Enter your copy code in the Enter Class Copy Code box and click the Validate button.

4. Set Your Options

Change your course title, set your course dates and set your copy option to Assignments Only.

5. Click Copy Course

Click on Copy Course and you're all set to share your course with students.

1. Copy the Code Below

2. click on copy another class, 3. enter your copy code, set your options, click copy course, determining whether a federal court has subject matter jurisdiction over a non-class action case..

If the case arises out of the U.S. Constitution, U.S. laws, rules or regulations, or a treaty signed by the U.S., and the federal courts have exclusive jurisdiction, then the case must be litigated in federal court.

If the case does not arise out of the U.S. Constitution, U.S. laws, rules or regulations, or a treaty signed by the U.S., and there is not complete diversity between the plaintiffs and defendants (a.k.a they are both from different states or one is a citizen of a foreign country), then the case must be litigated in state court.

Restatement of Contracts 2d

Counter-offers.

(1) A counter-offer is an offer made by an offeree to his offeror relating to the same matter as the original offer and proposing a substituted bargain differing from that proposed by the original offer.

(2) An offeree’s power of acceptance is terminated by his making of a counter-offer, unless the offeror has manifested a contrary intention or unless the counter-offer manifests a contrary intention of the offeree.

Negligence Defined

Restatement (second) of torts 282.

In the Restatement of this Subject, negligence is conduct which falls below the standard established by law for the protection of others against unreasonable risk of harm. It does not include conduct recklessly disregardful of an interest of others.

Black’s Law Dictionary (10th ed.2014)

Demurrer: A means of objecting to the sufficiency in law of a pleading by admitting the actual allegations made by disputing that they frame an adequate claim. Demurrer is commonly known as a motion to dismiss.

(2) An offeree’s power of acceptance is terminated by his making a counter-off, unless the offeror has manifested a contrary intention or unless the counter-offer manifests a contrary intention of the offeree.

testing footnote

What is common law and is it written by the courts of law?

[ninja_form id=2]

School: West Academic Test Account Only

This email confirms approval of your order of Law School registration keys required on July 02, 2019. View your order in Password Access Central as needed. If requested, your keys are listed below. Keys are registered at lawschool.westlaw.com/register . Users will need to create their individual OnePass credentials (Username and Password) as well as complete a Law School Profile.

Law School Registration Key(s) to be assigned.

Registration Steps are as follows

1. Visit lawschool.westlaw.com/register

2. Create your OnePass credentials The email address you use for OnePass will be the same one used for TWEN communications.

3. Complete a Law School Profile

Please contact Technical Support at 800-850-9378 (WEST) or email [email protected] with questions about registration. For questions about PAC, please contact your Academic Account Manager.

Westlaw Academic Team

Negligence defined

Restatement (second) of torts § 282.

Become a Member

The Teaching Bank is an online resource center. It includes writing problems and exercises, syllabi, grading rubrics, teaching ideas, and other materials. Access to the Teaching Bank is professional teachers of legal writing.

Teaching Bank Sign In:

Forgot your password.

Enter your email and we'll send you a message to reset your password:

LWI has nearly 3,000 members. Members represent all ABA-accredited law schools in the United States as well as law schools in other countries. LWI members also come from undergraduate schools and universities, the practicing bar and the judiciary, and independent research-and-consulting organizations. Anyone who is interested in legal writing or the teaching of legal writing may join LWI.

Become an LWI Member:

Apply for our Teaching Bank Membership:

2023-24 Joint ALWD/LWI Survey

The report on the Individual Phase of the 2023-24 Joint ALWD/LWI Survey results is now available! Thank you to all members of the community who responded, and special thanks to the Joint Survey Committee, led by LWI co-chair Ted Becker and ALD co-chair Marci Rosenthal. You can find that report, along with reports on all past Individual and Institutional Phases of the Survey, at the link below. 

• Access the Report

Congrats to Heather Hall!

The LWI Board wishes to congratulate Heather Hall for being selected as our new LEAP Board Member! Given her unique background as a non-traditional law student and faculty member, Heather will provide a fresh voice on the Board. Heather will serve a two-year term commencing with the LWI Biennial

• Faculty Profile

Teresa G. Phelps Award

The Board of Directors of the Legal Writing Institute is delighted to announce that Susan McMahon is the recipient  of the 2024 Teresa Godwin Phelps Award for Scholarship in Legal Communication.

Mary Lawrence Award

The Board of Directors of the Legal Writing Institute (LWI) is elated to announce Helene Shapo as the recipient of the 2024 Mary Lawrence Award. Professor Shapo is Professor of Law Emerita at Northwestern Pritzker School of Law.

Sirico Scholars’ Workshop

The Governing Board of the Sirico Scholars’ Workshop is pleased to announce the 2024 Sirico Scholars’ Workshop in Indianapolis, July 13-16, 2024.   More details will be coming soon.

• Read the details here.

Influential Teaching Award

The Board of Directors of the Legal Writing Institute is thrilled to announce that Professor Joan M. Rocklin is the recipient of the 2024 Influential Teaching Award.

Courage Award

The Board of Directors of the Legal Writing Institute (LWI) announces with enthusiasm that Professors Mary Bowman and Bob Brain are the recipients of the 2024 Courage Award.

10th Biennial Applied Legal Storytelling Conference

Mark your calendars now and stay tuned for more details on registration, accommodations, and programming. We look forward to seeing you in Ann Arbor!

• Conference Details

Emerging Scholar Award

The Board of Directors of the Legal Writing Institute (LWI) is delighted to announce that Professor Michael Blasie is the recipient of the 2024 Emerging Scholar Award. The Board created this award in 2019 to help foster a new generation of scholars in our field. The award is limited to a professor’s first or second full-length, published article on legal writing or pedagogy.

Golden Pen Award

The Board of Directors of the Legal Writing Institute is pleased to announce that Joseph Kimble is the recipient of the 2024 Golden Pen Award.

Become a General Member: Anyone who is interested in legal writing or the teaching of legal writing may subscribe to LWI's email distribution list. To learn more about LWI's publications, resources, conferences, and workshops, become a general member.

The Legal Writing Institute (LWI) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving legal communication. We believe that effective legal communication is critical to the wellbeing of society, the judicial system, and the legal profession.

Providing Virtual Legal Writing Support to Law Students Beyond the Classroom

Alwd/lwi survey.

Each year, ALWD and LWI jointly sponsor a national survey of legal writing programs. The survey collects data on program design, curriculum, salary, workload, and status issues. Almost all law schools in the U.S. participate in these surveys.

• Publications Volume 36, No. 3
• Publications Vol. 36, No. 3

Save the Date!

10th Biennial Applied Legal Storytelling Conference University of Michigan Law School - Ann Arbor July 9-11, 2025

Join us for the 10th

16th Global Legal Skills Conference

The 16th Global Legal Skills Conference will be held June 4-6, 2024, and will be hosted by the University of Bari Aldo Moro in Bari

Meet the Board Event

Have you ever considered running for the LWI Board? If so, then please join LWI Board members via  Zoom on   Nov. 15 from 4-5pm

New England Legal Writing Conference

New england legal writing conference: the future of legal education is golden.

Suffolk University Law School is hosting a conference this fall on Thursday, November

Teaching & Learning

Legal writing in focus.

As a lawyer, teacher, and director for the past 14 years of Harvard Law School’s First-Year Legal Research and Writing Program, Susannah Barton Tobin ’04 sees a lot of legal writing, some good, some less good. But she doesn’t entirely agree with the framing of a recent article in The Economist titled, “Why legal writing is so awful,” discussing a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in which the authors blamed the continuing use of “arcane” and “archaic” legal lingo, in part, on what they perceived as lawyers’ tendency to imitate their predecessors’ poor prose.  

Armed with two degrees in classics, a J.D. from Harvard Law, and years of writing and teaching experience, Tobin recently spoke to Harvard Law Today about the study and offered a few tips for new law students, long-time legal practitioners, and aspiring writers of all stripes. Above all, she says, before you open your laptop or pick up your pen, know your audience and what you are trying to achieve.

Harvard Law Today: Is legal writing as bad as The Economist and the study argue, or does it get a bad rap?

Susannah Barton Tobin: Legal writing has had a bad rap for as long as I can remember being involved in it, as a reader, as a student, and as a practitioner. But as a teacher, I think legal writing is writing. There’s good writing, and there’s bad writing, and there’s middling writing. And what we’re trying to do when we teach students how to write is to help them communicate as effectively as possible with the audience they’re trying to reach and with the particular purpose they have in mind.

I agree with the hypothesis that there’s path dependency bound up in legal writing, and particularly in the United States, where our common law tradition makes us want to stick with what has worked. But a simpler reason why some legal writing is bad is the same reason why some non-legal writing is bad: Writing well takes a lot of time and patience, particularly when you’re trying to explain complicated ideas, which lawyers almost always are trying to do.

HLT: Does it matter if legal writing is good writing ?

Tobin: I teach legal writing, so of course I think it matters. It is advantageous for students and young attorneys to be known as good legal writers. Being able to explain what the law says and how it works in a clear and honest way is an essential skill to being a good lawyer and a good citizen in the democracy. From a professional perspective, you advance further, faster if you’re known to be a reliably strong legal writer.

HLT: Where do you see bad legal writing the most?

Tobin: The two categories the study emphasized were contracts and statutory language. And it makes sense why those would be where you would start. They’re both notably long and complicated. A lot of cooks are involved, particularly with legislation, where you have lawmakers and lobbyists and all kinds of feedback and last-minute changes. There’s a great quote from [former U.S. Senator from Wisconsin] Russ Feingold ’79, after he was the only senator to vote against the Patriot Act. When they asked him why he had voted no, he said “Because I read it.” That was a particularly political point. But it speaks to the fact that nobody’s able to sit down and read these legislative documents start to finish. Is Congress trying to create something that people are going to read and be able to understand? I’m not sure that’s really what is happening anymore with legislation. So, is that a feature or a bug? It may be a feature for the people trying to pass the law, but it’s a huge bug for people who are trying to figure out what’s going on.

HLT: Where do you see the best legal writing?

Tobin: Brief writing, particularly at the highest levels of the federal courts, is where you see some of the best writing, partially because the stakes of the disputes are so high and so publicly salient. When my students are looking for good legal writing, I encourage them to read briefs that are coming out of the Office of the Solicitor General, briefs that are coming out of nonprofits and firms that practice regularly before the Supreme Court.

HLT: So, it sounds like a lot of this comes down to, as most writing does, a question of audience?

Tobin: I think that’s exactly right. And that’s why I’m not a big fan of the idea that legal writing is a totally separate animal from any other writing. If you haven’t thought about your audience, then why are you doing the writing? A former editorial writer for The New York Times, Verlyn Klinkenborg, wrote this really helpful book called “Several Short Sentences About Writing.” And he’s got this particularly memorable point about composing a sentence: Once you write a sentence, it’s an orphan that you send out into the world and you can’t accompany it to help explain it, or to say “This is what I meant. You didn’t understand what I meant. But here’s what I meant.” And that’s the conversation I regularly have with students.

HLT: Has the amount of writing that practicing lawyers do changed over time?

Tobin: That’s an empirical question. I had a conversation with a judge I clerked for in the early 2000s, who wondered why opinions were getting so long: “Why can’t we write an Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. style short opinion?” Part of it is the common law tradition, in which we’re always accumulating more precedent, more statutory language, new sources, and more context for any dispute that arises. If you want to be thorough, you have to trace that evolution. So perhaps there’s more writing being done. On the other hand, lawyers are writing shorter pieces, maybe less formal contributions, than they did 30 or 40 years ago. What used to be a formal memo might now be a quick email with bullets outlining the most important points. So, I’m not sure that there is more or less writing being done, but the form of it and the speed with which it’s being requested may be changing.

HLT: Does the law still need to use Latin, which is a dead language, other than in the Vatican? Or does it just serve as a barrier to entry for non-Latin speakers?

Tobin: This is a fraught topic for me because I was fortunate to study Latin at the Vatican with the papal Latin secretary, the late Father Reginald Foster. So, I’ll have to fight the premise that Latin is bad as an absolute matter. Good writing often comes from a deep understanding of etymology, which comes in large part from a deep understanding of the Latin origins of English and of Latin rhetoric. We have learned a great deal, for example, from Cicero’s powerfully persuasive writing, including his legal arguments, or from the sharp clarity of Seneca. Of course, Latin is not the only influence on English language and law.

One of my favorite quotes on writing is from George Orwell’s “Politics and the English Language”: ”What is above all needed is to let the meaning choose the word and not the other way about.” One of the reasons writing takes time is that word choice matters. It’s good advice to remind students not to use $10 words when a 50-cent word will do. I don’t want my students going out of their way to use a polysyllabic word to show that they are smart. I know that they are smart. But I think the advice also runs the risk of proving too much, because English is a phenomenally rich language, influenced by Latin and other languages. And some words thought to be synonyms don’t mean exactly the same thing as other words. So sometimes, if you’re looking for a synonym, or you’re trying to be simple and direct, you can run the risk of losing nuance, and you run the risk of losing precision. And — maybe this is going too far — losing the chance for poetry in your writing, if you keep the vocabulary too narrow. And so, I guess I would have a plea for a middle ground, as Orwell suggests — choose the right word for the meaning you want.

But I also think Latin is used less today than it used to be in legal writing. Some Latin terms of art are, from our common law tradition, embedded in the law. Our students need to know what those words mean, so they can appreciate the meaning of a judicial opinion or the way a statute is constructed. But if you’re going to use Latin, you need to explain what it means. You don’t use it just as a bomb that you throw in the middle of a sentence to impress people or confuse readers.

So, should we be using Latin to gatekeep, to make it harder for people to understand? Absolutely not. But should we get rid of it entirely? Also no.

HLT: Do you have any legal writing tips for new students, upper-level students, or even practicing lawyers?

Tobin: My best advice for good writing is to read good writing. And so, even though they have many, many pages of required reading for class, I recommend to my students that they also keep reading narrative nonfiction, like articles in The New Yorker, because it’s like listening to music. If you have good rhythmic sentences in your head, if you hear the way someone puts together varied lengths of sentences and uses transitions well, and explains complicated concepts well, that sound will stay with you. I don’t know that I’ve convinced everybody to carry Ta-Nehisi Coates, Joan Didion, John McPhee, or Toni Morrison (not just her novels but essays) around with them, but I wish they would. I will give a shout-out to Chief Justice John Roberts ‘79 and Justice Elena Kagan ‘86, two of the best practitioners of legal writing.  Their sentence-level writing is superb. Bryan Garner’s “ Legal Writing in Plain English ,” Third Edition is a particularly helpful guide. And if you’re having trouble figuring out what’s good legal writing, ask your faculty what they recommend.

HLT: So, improve your writing by reading good writing. Any other tips?

Barton Tobin: Justice Kagan likes to say that good writing is hard. It takes a lot of time. It takes multiple drafts. I think that advice can be frustrating to hear when time is limited. But it’s profoundly true. Certainly, when you’re learning a new genre, your work is not going to come out perfectly the first time. But sadly, or perhaps encouragingly, as a practitioner of legal writing, you’re never going to be done practicing. You’re always going to be working to get better. And so, we do drafts and revisions, and we receive feedback, from peers and from instructors. On the peer editing point, sometimes my students will say to me, “Well, we’re not lawyers yet. So how can we possibly give good advice to our peers about their drafts?” I say, “But you are readers, and you know how to respond to something if it doesn’t make sense. And the fact that it doesn’t make sense, actually isn’t your problem. It’s the writer’s problem. It’s not that you’re confused, but that the writing is confusing.” And so, being able to give constructive feedback, and to feel justified in giving that feedback, I think helps you become a good reader of your own prose and a good editor. You’re ultimately your own editor. At the end of the day, you’re responsible for what you submit. Whatever feedback you get, you’re developing the skill of incorporating multiple suggestions and making judgments about which changes you’re going to accept.

Finally, as a lawyer, and particularly as a litigator, you are a professional writer. And there is pleasure to be taken in crafting prose that is powerful and persuasive. As busy as lawyers are, the benefits of taking care with your words is professionally and psychologically huge. And so, I hope people remember that truth.

Want to stay up to date with Harvard Law Today? Sign up for our weekly newsletter.

Modal Gallery

Gallery block modal gallery.

Visitors, please read the Law Library's Visitors Policy for updated visitor's requirements.

If research assistance is needed, please do not visit the library without receiving confirmation of your appointment from a library staff member..

Resources for First-Year Law Students

• Civil Procedure
• Criminal Law
• Legal Research and Writing

CALI Lessons

Online study aids, audio resources, legal research and writing resources in print.

• Property Law
• NCCU Law Library Mission and Policies
• Tips for Success in Law School
• Exam Taking Resources

More Ways to Contact Us

Students submit help requests here .

Faculty and staff submit help requests here .

Legal Research Lessons

• Legal Research Lessons This Subject Area Index lists all CALI lessons covering Legal Research.
• Sources of American Law: An Introduction to Legal Research Sources of Law focuses on realistic goals for 1Ls to learn in a relatively small amount of instruction time, and so focuses mainly on the basics. It does introduce some advanced material so that 1Ls can recognize pieces of information they may encounter in research, but it does not fully cover researching materials outside the scope of the traditional 1L course. As such, it is best-suited for introductory legal research courses for 1Ls.
• Legal Research Methodology This exercise is designed to help law students develop their abilities to handle legal research assignments. Students who have some experience doing legal research or who have completed their first year legal research course will benefit the most. However, these lessons may be used to supplement the learning process for students studying legal research for the first time.
• American Law Reports This lesson is an introduction to the American Law Reports (ALR) and is intended for use by students in introductory legal research classes. The goal is to give you an understanding of the features of the resource, the best methods for using it, and an understanding of when to use it.
• Anatomy of a Case This brief lesson will familiarize the student with the basic parts of a case (i.e., the written decision of a court published in a print reporter).
• Evaluating Web Sites This lesson will provide the student with the tools to effectively judge the content of web pages. Included in the exercise are four criteria for evaluation: authority, accuracy, comprehensiveness and currency. Each of these concepts is defined through the use of descriptive text followed by screen images of actual law-related web sites to illustrate the concepts.
• Introduction to Secondary Resources This lesson will provide an overview of secondary resources used in legal research. Secondary resources are books and other material ABOUT legal subjects and issues: they discuss and explain primary resources such as cases and statutes and can be useful in assisting our understanding about specific areas of law. The student will learn about the different types of secondary resources and what secondary resources are most useful for specific types of legal research tasks.

Legal Writing Lessons

• Legal Writing Lessons This Subject Area Index lists all CALI lessons covering Legal Writing.
• Citation Form for Briefs and Legal Memoranda This exercise is to help users learn the rules of proper citation form for briefs and legal memoranda. It does not deal with proper citation form for law review footnotes. It is divided into three sections: Section A deals with cases, B with statutory materials and C with secondary authorities.
• Email Correspondence: Ethical and Professional Considerations This is one in a series of lessons directed at the ethical and professional considerations associated with the production of particular lawyering documents. This lesson is intended to introduce first year law students to the ethical and professional considerations associated with email correspondence in law practice. No prior instruction in professional responsibility is required.
• How to Brief a Case This is an exercise designed to introduce first-semester law and graduate students to the basic elements of a typical case "brief" and to teach them general methodology for writing their own briefs. The exercise consists of three parts: (1) an introduction to the purposes and uses of a case brief; (2) a detailed examination of each of the ten components of a typical case brief (with examples); and (3) two actual cases that students are asked to read and then to brief, using the methodology described in this exercise. A sample brief for each of the two cases is also provided, thereby allowing students to correct and modify their briefs by way of comparison.
• Issue Statements for Memos and Briefs This lesson introduces a modern approach to writing issue statements for traditional memos and briefs. The lesson steers users away from single-sentence issue statements. It bases much of its approach on the syllogism.
• Learning Legal Analysis Through Its Components: Issue, Rule, Application, Conclusion—IRAC The purpose of this exercise is to help students—especially first-year students—understand the process of legal analysis and improve their legal writing and legal analysis skills. Specifically, students will work on their ability to apply the law to the facts of a problem.
• Punctuation and Grammar Basics for Students This lesson covers punctuation and some key points of grammar every law student should know. Getting these key rules down will keep you from losing credibility with your legal-writing teacher, employers, clients, and judges.
• Punctuation and Grammar: Advanced Most students do all right with commas, periods, sentence fragments, and verb agreement. But what about colons, dashes, passive voice, and parallelism? This lesson covers several advanced topics in grammar and punctuation for the legal writer who is ready to move beyond the basics.
• Stating Facts: Objective and Persuasive Approaches This lesson is designed to cover how to distinguish legally relevant facts, contextually relevant facts, and nonrelevant facts; plus, how to use each of those types of facts. It is also designed to cover beginning and organizing a statement of facts, writing facts briefly and readably, stating facts objectively, and stating facts persuasively.
• Top 10 Tips for Successfully Writing a Law School Essay In this podcast, Prof. Jennifer Martin discusses the top ten mistakes law students make in law school examinations. These are poor issue spotting, poor knowledge and understanding of the law, poor application of the law to the facts, giving only conclusory answers, lack of organization, errors in the facts, failure to understand the role you are given in the examination, padding, fact inventing, and question begging. Included in this discussion is guidance on spotting the issues, avoiding being bottom line oriented, how to use the facts, how to approach a question, and using words efficiently. Prof. Martin also discusses the hallmarks of a good essay answer. These answers are lawyerlike, responsive to the question asked, logical, thought out, well organized, fact and issue centered, and use cogent reasoning and good rule application.

Legal Research By State Lessons 

• Legal Research By State Lessons This Subject Area Index lists all CALI lessons covering Legal Research by State
• North Carolina Legal Research: Primary Resources This lesson on North Carolina primary legal research materials will provide an introduction on how to locate North Carolina legal materials including North Carolina constitutional provisions, statutes, case law, regulations, and municipal provisions. In addition to discussing how to locate these materials in print, we will also discuss how to locate them in the major databases and free and low cost databases.
• North Carolina Legal Research: Secondary Resources This lesson is designed to give a basic overview of secondary sources used in North Carolina legal research. Secondary resources are commentary on the law written by legal professionals or legal publishers. They are useful for finding background information and citations to primary resources, but it is important to remember that secondary resources are not the law.

Online Study Aids are accessible within the library.  Note that off-campus access requires EZproxy login with your NCCU username and password.  For more information visit the  Online Study Aid Collections  webpage.

The resources below are just a few of the many resources available to assist with studying for legal research and writing.  To locate more resources, search the  Library's Online Catalog  using search terms related to legal research and writing or subject headings.

• << Previous: Criminal Law
• Next: Property Law >>
• Last Updated: Jul 9, 2024 1:00 PM
• URL: https://ncculaw.libguides.nccu.edu/FirstYearResources

• INNOVATION FESTIVAL
• Capital One

08-27-2024 NEWS

Hate reading contracts? MIT study explains the real reason legal documents are so hard to understand

New research from a team of cognitive scientists at MIT suggests that the confusing nature of legalese may serve a very specific purpose.

[Photos: Wildaanun/Adobe Stock, apinya/Adobe Stock, geargodz/Adobe Stock, Feng Yu/Adobe Stock]

BY  Joe Berkowitz 5 minute read

Legalese has been frustrating and intimidating anyone not in possession of a law degree since time immemorial. Marked by a cosmic gumbo of antiquated language, mind-numbing repetition, and dense blocks of clauses incepted into the middle of sentences, it’s a style of writing that shows up in almost no place other than the fine print. But why is the language in legal documents so consistently indigestible that many of us never fully read our own contracts? A new study from a team of cognitive scientists at MIT suggests that the confusing nature of legalese may serve a very specific purpose.

The first thing to know about legalese is that legal professionals tend not to be fans of it either. Sure enough, it was only after the MIT study’s lead author Eric Martinez earned a law degree at Harvard, spending years immersed in court filings, laws, deeds, and decrees, that he thought to focus on legalese as a topic. Since 2020, he has been researching this perplexing style of writing with Edward Gibson, an MIT professor who specializes in brain and cognitive sciences. In their most recent study into why legal documents are so often inscrutable, the team tested whether even nonlawyers would end up using legalese if asked to write legal documents.

The experiment tested out two theories: a) the “copy and edit” hypothesis, which posits that legal documents start off simply enough, until late-breaking info requires inserting lengthy definitions into the middle of sentences, creating what are called “center-embedded clauses,” and b) the “magic spell” hypothesis, which suggests that, much like the rhyming and pidgin Latin that are inherent to magic spells, people use legalese simply to broadcast a legal document’s “legal-ness.”

The researchers recruited 200 people without legal backgrounds to write laws prohibiting certain crimes, and also to later write stories about those laws. In order to also test the “copy and edit” hypothesis, half of those people were given additional context after writing their initial laws to test whether that would trigger more complex, center-embedded clauses. In the end, all subjects wrote their laws with complex, center-embedded clauses—which were absent from the stories they later wrote. The scientists concluded that convoluted legalese often acts as a way to convey authority.

Even lawyers hate legalese

Lead author Martinez isn’t the only legal professional turned off by this style of writing.

“Whenever pleadings start with ‘comes now,’ I sort of expect trumpets to herald whatever’s next,” says Jacqueline Schafer , former assistant attorney general in Alaska and Washington State, and founder of Clearbrief , a company that uses AI to make legal writing more efficient.

“The last time people spoke like this they were celebrating the first Thanksgiving,” says Vineet Dubey , cofounder and partner of Custodio & Dubey, the law firm that represents the L.A. Kings.

There is certainly reason to believe that at least part of the reason this style of writing still appears in legal documents is to convey authority. After all, what could feel more legally binding than a contract that’s impossible to decipher? Even some lawyers are willing to admit as much.

“What people most associate with the term ‘legalese’ is the belief that to be effective, legal language has to be complicated, containing terms like ‘thereto’ and all this other shit,” says Natela Shenon , a partner at Grant Shenon in Los Angeles. “That isn’t true, and it’s often overkill. Lawyers sometimes go overboard because they feel that they need to show that they’re worth their billable hours. They might believe that if the contract isn’t complicated enough, it somehow undermines their competency, or isn’t giving the client their money’s worth.”

Some might even weaponize legalese.

“There’s no doubt we live in a world where we’ve all been confronted with legal documents designed for intentional obfuscation,” Dubey says. “When it comes to user agreements or terms of use, where the company’s best interests are at heart, that’s when a wall of words may serve an intention to overwhelm or intimidate customers who might be unhappy, harmed, or wronged by the product or service. We’ve just seen Disney try to push this into uncharted territory .”

But very few lawyers would likely admit to deploying legalese strictly to sound authoritative, according to these experts. So, why do they all write that way?

It’s all in the fine print

One obvious reason is because legal documents cover complex concepts. The more complex an idea, the more specific and detailed lawyers have to be in their writing in order to capture all the nuances of that complexity and support it with correct terminology—not to mention relevant precedents and citations. The gold standard in court filings, according to Schaefer, is that every single sentence has a citation, either tied to the facts of the case or to a law it evokes. 

The explicit demand for all those citations, which can make the visual experience of ingesting a legal document pure hell, helps support the “copy and edit” hypothesis.

“It’s sort of a necessary evil, when you’re drafting something for a court,” Schaefer says. “Some lawyers do start out just telling the story of their case when writing a brief, but then they have to go back and find the factual citations for every single fact they mentioned.”

As for the language that seems intended to project authority, perhaps the reason it sounds so unnaturally antiquated is because law is a profession that is resistant to change. Some terms have remained untouched since the invention of English Common Law hundreds of years ago. On a micro level, lawyers often adhere to precedent at their own firm; on a macro level, they often adhere to broader legal precedents that have held true for decades and sometimes even centuries.

“The whole foundation of our legal system is this idea of precedent, where we are incorporating statements from old court opinions,” Schaefer says. “When most lawyers sit down to write, we’re often working off of precedent, so we see a lot of the same phrasing and terminology get repeated and reincorporated over the generations of legal writing.”

Legal documents are intricate, beholden to precedent, and require precise language that often feels wildly outdated and inexplicably flecked with Latin. Although the stodginess of legalese may feel annoyingly affected or aggressively opaque, it may just be evidence of a legal professional sticking to the script. The client’s eyes glaze over, but the job gets done.

Will legal documents ever read closer to the way regular people write stories, and not laws? Probably not, unless enough local courts update their documents’ requirements. Or unless  some force majeure event, including but not limited to acts of God, riots, war, fire, floods, accidents, strikes—you get the idea—reverts all legal writing precedent back to zero.

Apply to the Most Innovative Companies Awards and be recognized as an organization driving the world forward through innovation. Early-rate deadline: Friday, August 30.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Joe Berkowitz is an opinion columnist at Fast Company. His latest book, American Cheese: An Indulgent Odyssey Through the Artisan Cheese World , is available from Harper Perennial.   More

Explore Topics

• Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• Tech Telegram CEO Durov’s investigation is ‘absurd,’ his lawyer says
• Tech AI bill with the ‘most bipartisan opposition’ passes California’s legislature
• Tech No one can decide whether Nvidia’s latest earnings report was good or bad
• News Sub-Saharan Africa will grow to become 25% of the global working population. Here’s what that could mean for the economy
• News Japan’s Nippon Steel plans to invest $1.3 billion more in U.S. Steel’s mills
• News Dollar General stock price plunges 30% as company says customers don’t have enough money to shop there
• Design Progressive’s commercials go big on humor. Now they’re going big on feelings too
• Design Can American labels replicate K-pop’s success? This new girl group could offer an answer
• Design 5 information design classics that are so perfect you might forget they were ever designed
• Work Life How one botched form will impact the number of U.S. students attending college
• Work Life Yes, you should still apply for a job with a lower salary range. Here’s why
• Work Life How to become a more empathetic leader

• UB Directory
• School of Law >
• Law Links >
• August 2024 >

A lifelong learner at the head of the class

• Lisa M. Mueller , Vice Dean for Communications
• Kristina Lively , Associate Director for Digital Communications
• Rachael Krupski , Assistant Director for Marketing and Communications
• Cynthia Watts Rogers , News Manager and Editorial Assistant
• Sandy Conti , Administrative Assistant for Communications

“It’s kind of a homecoming,” George P. Brown Jr. ’17 says of his return to UB School of Law as an instructor in the Legal Analysis, Writing and Research (LAWR) program.

Brown grew up in nearby Niagara County, and chose UB for his undergraduate work, majoring in political science and psychology, before entering UB Law. Law school, he says, was an eye-opening time of transformation for him—one that he intends to share with the 25 second-year law students in his class. (Law students take three semesters of foundational LAWR courses; Brown is teaching the third semester.)

His place at the front of the classroom brings him full circle. As a kid, he remembers checking a book out of the public library about law and sports. That planted a seed of interest that grew throughout high school, and he entered UB knowing that law school was his next step.

Studying psychology, Brown says, laid the groundwork for his interest in narrative and the ways people put forth and understand arguments—crucial insights in effective lawyering. That interest grew when he took a law school class with Professor John Henry Schlegel on storytelling techniques as they relate to law. “We were reading Jane Austen and watching movies,” he says, “looking at how you can build the storytelling angle into your legal writing.”

He learned that storytelling can be an effective tool in all types of legal writing. “While many may understand the practical applications of storytelling in briefs and memorandums before a court,” he says, “it is just as important to implement storytelling skills in transactional drafting. Thinking of the business relationship in this manner allows you to imagine the different risks and outcomes this contract could create and allows you to protect your client before the business relationship begins.”

As a law student, Brown was a beneficiary of an early iteration of the LAWR program, emerging from the sequence fundamentally reshaped as a legal scholar. “It’s a stereotype that you learn a whole new way of thinking and learning, but for me it really was relearning how to reason and write,” Brown says. “I definitely felt I was relearning how to think critically about cases, and to take what I was thinking about and reading and incorporate that into my writing.”

After graduation, Brown went from summer associate to full time attorney at Harris Beach PLLC, where he spent nearly two years in the firm’s commercial real estate practice, before leaving to become corporate counsel for a national self-storage firm headquartered in Williamsville. There he managed a broad portfolio of real estate matters before moving to the company’s acquisitions department—at a time when demand for self-storage was booming as people quarantined by Covid kept busy clearing out their attics.

The company entered a merger and its corporate offices moved to Utah. Brown knew he wanted to stay close to home, so he rejoined Harris Beach, doing mostly transactional work. But when the opportunity arose to join the UB Law faculty, he jumped at the chance to make the move to O’Brian Hall.

“I’ve always been a lifelong learner,” he says, “and I had always been interested in academia. On Law Review (where he served as a publications editor), I had an opportunity to read a lot of scholarship, and I was very interested in that. This is a place where scholarship is encouraged, and I love being in that environment.”

In his LAWR course, Brown says, he’ll focus on the kinds of assignments that first-year associates would take on in their first legal position. “Professional emails, professional letters, researching for partners, drafting a client-facing article that would be used by a law firm,” he lists. “It’s a very practical twist on legal writing.”  

He’ll also be able to speak from experience about how to succeed in law school, especially for someone like him who was both a first-generation college student and first-generation law school student in his family. And as he settles into the classroom, he’s looking to put into practice the wisdom of his practice group leader. “He told me, you don’t have to know everything, but you need to know how to find out,” Brown says. “Even if you’ve been practicing for 20 years, your client will eventually ask you something you don’t know. In practice, you’re always learning. And I hope I can model that for my students as well.”

College of Law

Lorraine gaynor.

Lorraine Gaynor (11JD) joined the faculty as assistant professor of legal analysis, writing, and research in 2024.

Prior to Iowa Law, Gaynor was a senior staff attorney for Iowa Legal Aid, a nonprofit organization that provides legal assistance and education to low-income and vulnerable Iowans. From 2011 - 2013, Gaynor served in the U.S. Attorney General’s Honors Program as judicial law clerk and attorney adviser in the Executive Office for Immigration Review, a unit of the U.S. Department of Justice.

Gaynor graduated Order of the Coif from Iowa Law and served as president of the University of Iowa Campaign for Human Rights. 

Samantha Putterman, PolitiFact Samantha Putterman, PolitiFact

Leave your feedback

• Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/fact-checking-warnings-from-democrats-about-project-2025-and-donald-trump

Fact-checking warnings from Democrats about Project 2025 and Donald Trump

This fact check originally appeared on PolitiFact .

Project 2025 has a starring role in this week’s Democratic National Convention.

And it was front and center on Night 1.

WATCH: Hauling large copy of Project 2025, Michigan state Sen. McMorrow speaks at 2024 DNC

“This is Project 2025,” Michigan state Sen. Mallory McMorrow, D-Royal Oak, said as she laid a hardbound copy of the 900-page document on the lectern. “Over the next four nights, you are going to hear a lot about what is in this 900-page document. Why? Because this is the Republican blueprint for a second Trump term.”

Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, has warned Americans about “Trump’s Project 2025” agenda — even though former President Donald Trump doesn’t claim the conservative presidential transition document.

“Donald Trump wants to take our country backward,” Harris said July 23 in Milwaukee. “He and his extreme Project 2025 agenda will weaken the middle class. Like, we know we got to take this seriously, and can you believe they put that thing in writing?”

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, Harris’ running mate, has joined in on the talking point.

“Don’t believe (Trump) when he’s playing dumb about this Project 2025. He knows exactly what it’ll do,” Walz said Aug. 9 in Glendale, Arizona.

Trump’s campaign has worked to build distance from the project, which the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, led with contributions from dozens of conservative groups.

Much of the plan calls for extensive executive-branch overhauls and draws on both long-standing conservative principles, such as tax cuts, and more recent culture war issues. It lays out recommendations for disbanding the Commerce and Education departments, eliminating certain climate protections and consolidating more power to the president.

Project 2025 offers a sweeping vision for a Republican-led executive branch, and some of its policies mirror Trump’s 2024 agenda, But Harris and her presidential campaign have at times gone too far in describing what the project calls for and how closely the plans overlap with Trump’s campaign.

PolitiFact researched Harris’ warnings about how the plan would affect reproductive rights, federal entitlement programs and education, just as we did for President Joe Biden’s Project 2025 rhetoric. Here’s what the project does and doesn’t call for, and how it squares with Trump’s positions.

Are Trump and Project 2025 connected?

To distance himself from Project 2025 amid the Democratic attacks, Trump wrote on Truth Social that he “knows nothing” about it and has “no idea” who is in charge of it. (CNN identified at least 140 former advisers from the Trump administration who have been involved.)

The Heritage Foundation sought contributions from more than 100 conservative organizations for its policy vision for the next Republican presidency, which was published in 2023.

Project 2025 is now winding down some of its policy operations, and director Paul Dans, a former Trump administration official, is stepping down, The Washington Post reported July 30. Trump campaign managers Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita denounced the document.

WATCH: A look at the Project 2025 plan to reshape government and Trump’s links to its authors

However, Project 2025 contributors include a number of high-ranking officials from Trump’s first administration, including former White House adviser Peter Navarro and former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson.

A recently released recording of Russell Vought, a Project 2025 author and the former director of Trump’s Office of Management and Budget, showed Vought saying Trump’s “very supportive of what we do.” He said Trump was only distancing himself because Democrats were making a bogeyman out of the document.

Project 2025 wouldn’t ban abortion outright, but would curtail access

The Harris campaign shared a graphic on X that claimed “Trump’s Project 2025 plan for workers” would “go after birth control and ban abortion nationwide.”

The plan doesn’t call to ban abortion nationwide, though its recommendations could curtail some contraceptives and limit abortion access.

What’s known about Trump’s abortion agenda neither lines up with Harris’ description nor Project 2025’s wish list.

Project 2025 says the Department of Health and Human Services Department should “return to being known as the Department of Life by explicitly rejecting the notion that abortion is health care.”

It recommends that the Food and Drug Administration reverse its 2000 approval of mifepristone, the first pill taken in a two-drug regimen for a medication abortion. Medication is the most common form of abortion in the U.S. — accounting for around 63 percent in 2023.

If mifepristone were to remain approved, Project 2025 recommends new rules, such as cutting its use from 10 weeks into pregnancy to seven. It would have to be provided to patients in person — part of the group’s efforts to limit access to the drug by mail. In June, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a legal challenge to mifepristone’s FDA approval over procedural grounds.

WATCH: Trump’s plans for health care and reproductive rights if he returns to White House The manual also calls for the Justice Department to enforce the 1873 Comstock Act on mifepristone, which bans the mailing of “obscene” materials. Abortion access supporters fear that a strict interpretation of the law could go further to ban mailing the materials used in procedural abortions, such as surgical instruments and equipment.

The plan proposes withholding federal money from states that don’t report to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention how many abortions take place within their borders. The plan also would prohibit abortion providers, such as Planned Parenthood, from receiving Medicaid funds. It also calls for the Department of Health and Human Services to ensure that the training of medical professionals, including doctors and nurses, omits abortion training.

The document says some forms of emergency contraception — particularly Ella, a pill that can be taken within five days of unprotected sex to prevent pregnancy — should be excluded from no-cost coverage. The Affordable Care Act requires most private health insurers to cover recommended preventive services, which involves a range of birth control methods, including emergency contraception.

Trump has recently said states should decide abortion regulations and that he wouldn’t block access to contraceptives. Trump said during his June 27 debate with Biden that he wouldn’t ban mifepristone after the Supreme Court “approved” it. But the court rejected the lawsuit based on standing, not the case’s merits. He has not weighed in on the Comstock Act or said whether he supports it being used to block abortion medication, or other kinds of abortions.

Project 2025 doesn’t call for cutting Social Security, but proposes some changes to Medicare

“When you read (Project 2025),” Harris told a crowd July 23 in Wisconsin, “you will see, Donald Trump intends to cut Social Security and Medicare.”

The Project 2025 document does not call for Social Security cuts. None of its 10 references to Social Security addresses plans for cutting the program.

Harris also misleads about Trump’s Social Security views.

In his earlier campaigns and before he was a politician, Trump said about a half-dozen times that he’s open to major overhauls of Social Security, including cuts and privatization. More recently, in a March 2024 CNBC interview, Trump said of entitlement programs such as Social Security, “There’s a lot you can do in terms of entitlements, in terms of cutting.” However, he quickly walked that statement back, and his CNBC comment stands at odds with essentially everything else Trump has said during the 2024 presidential campaign.

Trump’s campaign website says that not “a single penny” should be cut from Social Security. We rated Harris’ claim that Trump intends to cut Social Security Mostly False.

Project 2025 does propose changes to Medicare, including making Medicare Advantage, the private insurance offering in Medicare, the “default” enrollment option. Unlike Original Medicare, Medicare Advantage plans have provider networks and can also require prior authorization, meaning that the plan can approve or deny certain services. Original Medicare plans don’t have prior authorization requirements.

The manual also calls for repealing health policies enacted under Biden, such as the Inflation Reduction Act. The law enabled Medicare to negotiate with drugmakers for the first time in history, and recently resulted in an agreement with drug companies to lower the prices of 10 expensive prescriptions for Medicare enrollees.

Trump, however, has said repeatedly during the 2024 presidential campaign that he will not cut Medicare.

Project 2025 would eliminate the Education Department, which Trump supports

The Harris campaign said Project 2025 would “eliminate the U.S. Department of Education” — and that’s accurate. Project 2025 says federal education policy “should be limited and, ultimately, the federal Department of Education should be eliminated.” The plan scales back the federal government’s role in education policy and devolves the functions that remain to other agencies.

Aside from eliminating the department, the project also proposes scrapping the Biden administration’s Title IX revision, which prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. It also would let states opt out of federal education programs and calls for passing a federal parents’ bill of rights similar to ones passed in some Republican-led state legislatures.

Republicans, including Trump, have pledged to close the department, which gained its status in 1979 within Democratic President Jimmy Carter’s presidential Cabinet.

In one of his Agenda 47 policy videos, Trump promised to close the department and “to send all education work and needs back to the states.” Eliminating the department would have to go through Congress.

What Project 2025, Trump would do on overtime pay

In the graphic, the Harris campaign says Project 2025 allows “employers to stop paying workers for overtime work.”

The plan doesn’t call for banning overtime wages. It recommends changes to some Occupational Safety and Health Administration, or OSHA, regulations and to overtime rules. Some changes, if enacted, could result in some people losing overtime protections, experts told us.

The document proposes that the Labor Department maintain an overtime threshold “that does not punish businesses in lower-cost regions (e.g., the southeast United States).” This threshold is the amount of money executive, administrative or professional employees need to make for an employer to exempt them from overtime pay under the Fair Labor Standards Act.

In 2019, the Trump’s administration finalized a rule that expanded overtime pay eligibility to most salaried workers earning less than about $35,568, which it said made about 1.3 million more workers eligible for overtime pay. The Trump-era threshold is high enough to cover most line workers in lower-cost regions, Project 2025 said.

The Biden administration raised that threshold to $43,888 beginning July 1, and that will rise to $58,656 on Jan. 1, 2025. That would grant overtime eligibility to about 4 million workers, the Labor Department said.

It’s unclear how many workers Project 2025’s proposal to return to the Trump-era overtime threshold in some parts of the country would affect, but experts said some would presumably lose the right to overtime wages.

Other overtime proposals in Project 2025’s plan include allowing some workers to choose to accumulate paid time off instead of overtime pay, or to work more hours in one week and fewer in the next, rather than receive overtime.

Trump’s past with overtime pay is complicated. In 2016, the Obama administration said it would raise the overtime to salaried workers earning less than $47,476 a year, about double the exemption level set in 2004 of $23,660 a year.

But when a judge blocked the Obama rule, the Trump administration didn’t challenge the court ruling. Instead it set its own overtime threshold, which raised the amount, but by less than Obama.

Support Provided By: Learn more

Educate your inbox

Subscribe to Here’s the Deal, our politics newsletter for analysis you won’t find anywhere else.

Thank you. Please check your inbox to confirm.

FameLab SA 2024 final competition invitation: 19 September 2024

NRF-SAASTA, in collaboration with Jive Media Africa, is delighted to invite you to a celebration of home-grown science communication talent at the FameLab South Africa National Finals. FameLab, a UK-based initiative of Cheltenham Festivals, has been operating in South Africa since 2013. The program’s objective is to help young scientists enhance their science communication abilities, with a particular emphasis on public speaking. FameLab is renowned for its dynamic format where researchers have just three minutes to present their work in an engaging and accessible way. This competition not only highlights the importance of effective science communication but also inspires the next generation of scientists and innovators.

DATE:   19 September 2024

VENUE:  National Research Foundation (NRF Albert Luthuli Auditorium), Meiring Naudé Road, Pretoria

16h00 – 17h00 : Arrival and Networking (refreshments will be served)

17h00 – 18h30 : FameLab SA Final (the event will be live-streamed)

RSVP   here  by 06 September 2024. For more information, contact  [email protected]

We look forward to choosing a winner for FameLab SA 2024 and engaging with you to nurture science communication talent.

Related Posts

The 2024 NRF International Conference on Public Procurement

Invitation to Cover the 2024 NRF International Conference on Public Procurement

HSRC-NRF Policy Writing Workshop

In memory of Professor Brian O’Connell

Hit enter to search or ESC to close

Writing and Communication Program Enhances First-Year Curriculum

Posted August 26, 2024

Writing is getting a big boost in the introductory composition class taken by about one of every three Georgia Tech students.

ENGL 1101 — the first of the required two-course composition sequence for new Georgia Tech students — will now feature more research, idea synthesis, and revised writing than in previous years after a revamp by Writing and Communication Program in the School of Literature Media and Communication.

The changes will better prepare students for success in college and their careers, said Melissa Ianetta , Class of 1958 Professor in Communication and executive director of writing and communication.

“Georgia Tech students are brilliant and capable, and to lead effectively, they need strong communication skills, Ianetta said. “Our new more writing-focused approach in ENGL 1101 does two key things: it meets students where they are, helping them develop revision and composition strategies, and it ensures that they have the foundation needed to succeed in ENGL 1102 and beyond.”

ENGL 1102 is the second of two introductory composition courses offered by LMC. It is taken by nearly all Georgia Tech students and will continue to offer a broader approach to communication, emphasizing visual and multimedia communication in addition to writing.

Senior lecturer Rachel Dean-Ruzicka piloted the new curriculum last year.

“My students seemed to appreciate the distinct skills they take away from each class, and they’re more engaged with the research projects,” Dean-Ruzicka said.

Some of those projects included work on topics including women in Formula One racing, Japanese rock music culture, cultural appropriation in Dune , and mythological influences on the God of War videogame series, she said.

Andy Frazee , principal academic professional and director of writing and communication in LMC, said the revamped curriculum hones in on the persistently vital role of writing, in academia, business, and personal life.

“Writing also plays a vital role in developing critical thinking and clarity of thought, and the changes we’ve made emphasize writing as the basis for communication, which ultimately helps students in both their academic and professional lives,” he said.

In addition to the new curriculum for students, the Writing and Communication Program is also requiring instructors who teach ENGL 1101 an ENGL 1102 to take an additional postdoctoral seminar on teaching writing. Ianetta will lead the seminar.

Related Media

Students in a School of Literature, Media, and Communication class.

Contact For More Information

Main navigation

• Graduate Studies
• Undergraduate
• Research Centres
• Events & Speaker Series

16 International Development Studies students receive 2024 Faculty of Arts Internship Awards

• Tweet Widget

Please join us in congratulating 16 International Development Studies students -recipients of the 2024 Faculty of Arts Internship Awards.

Simone Poku, U0, International Development Studies

Simone Poku is a first-year student at McGill, eagerly embarking on her academic journey in International Development and Communication Studies. Motivated by the desire to delve deeper into the intricacies of international development, Simone will be interning with CAMFED Toronto this summer. CAMFED is an international NGO dedicated to eradicating poverty and empowering girls through education. Simone aims to conduct meaningful research, refine her skills and broaden her scope on CAMFED’s innovative strategies throughout her internship.

Taïna Dushime, U3, International Development Studies

Taïna Dushime is a third-year student at McGill University majoring in International Development and minoring in Health Geography. Interning at the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR Canada), she will be working with seasoned professionals dedicated to ensuring the rights of refugees, forcibly displaced communities, and stateless people. Fueled by her passion for human rights advocacy and experience in digital marketing, Taïna will be working on different UNHCR initiatives including interviews with previous asylum-seekers, educational projects for younger demographics, and various other storytelling campaigns highlighting contributions of refugees in Quebec and Canada.

Plem Kijamba, U2, International Development Studies and Political Science

Plem will be interning at the UNHCR (Montréal office), which is the UN Refugee Agency, with a mandate to provide international protection to refugees and to work with states for durable solutions to the problem of refugees. As an intern, Plem will contribute to the advancement of research on protection of minors, detention, and border issues, represent UNHCR at awareness-raising events, etc. This is also an opportunity for Plem to learn more about international legal frameworks that protect refugees and how they can be upheld.

Lake Liu, U3, International Development and East Asian Studies

Lake Liu is a fourth-year honours student majoring in International Development and East Asian Studies. This summer, she is interning with the Funding and Outreach Department at CKUT, McGill’s non-profit radio station. Lake will assist with grant-writing to secure funding sources, organize fundraising events and help with donor communications. As a music and pop culture enthusiast, Lake is excited for the chance to further CKUT’s mission to amplify diverse voices in radio.

Lucy Baretto, U3, International Development Studies

Lucy (she/her) is finishing her third year at McGill majoring in International Development Studies and minoring in Indigenous Studies and Social Entrepreneurship. She is excited to be interning with Comm-Un this summer, a Montreal collective/organization committed to empowering housed and unhoused community members in Milton-Parc. Lucy is looking forward to growing both as an individual and a professional at Comm-Un while gaining hands-on experience in community organizing, grant writing, budgeting, and much more.

Sara Saleem Daredia, U2, International Development Studies

Sara Saleem Daredia, a U2 student majoring in International Development with a minor in Environment, will intern with Ibex Media Network (IMN) in Pakistan. As an intern at Ibex Media Network (IMN), Sara will serve as a pivotal link between the media outlet and environmental and social development partners like the Aga Khan Rural Support Program (AKRSP), the Gilgit-Baltistan Environmental Protection Agency (GB-EPA), and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP). Her responsibilities will include assessing and reporting on Community-based Block Plantation Projects' impact, creating educational videos on farming technologies, and advocating for climate awareness through various media. Sara’s role merges academic knowledge with practical application in climate change mitigation and sustainable development.

Sarah Elobaid Ahmed, U3, International Development and World Islamic & Middle Eastern Studies

Sarah is a U3 student majoring in International Development and World Islamic & Middle Eastern Studies. She will be interning at The Upstream Journal, a human rights and social justice magazine based in Montreal. This summer, she will engage in research, interviewing, writing/editing articles, and recording a podcast episode. With a background in activism and NGO experience, Sarah looks forward to applying her skills to the Upstream team while exploring a career in journalism.

Sarah Feng, U2, International Development Studies

Sarah is a second-year student pursuing an Honours International Development degree with a minor in Philosophy. This summer, she will be serving as a Canadian Program Intern for Equitas – The International Centre for Human Rights Education, an organization dedicated to fostering more equitable and inclusive communities through nationwide programming addressing discrimination, empowering youth facing barriers, and engaging decision-makers. Sarah is eager to contribute to Equitas’ program management, communication projects, and the development of educational tools.

Lauren Kandalaft, U3, International Development Studies

Lauren Kandalaft is a third-year student pursuing a Bachelor of Arts with a major in International Development and minors in Communication Studies and Social Entrepreneurship. This summer, she will be serving as a Citizen Engagement Education Intern at Éduconnexion in Montreal. Throughout her internship within this non-governmental organization, she will work towards fulfilling Éduconnexion's mission by participating in projects seeking to support marginalized communities and assisting the organization in its creation of communication and educational tools.

Angela Zhai, U1, International Development Studies and Computer Science

Angela is a first-year undergraduate student majoring in International Development and Computer Science at McGill University. She will be interning with Festival Accès Asie, a Montreal-based festival that promotes Asian cultures and traditions through various art forms. Angela is looking forward to immersing herself in a multicultural environment and she’s excited to witness firsthand the power the arts can have in preserving heritage. She hopes to learn more about event coordination through her internship.

Bhavya Kalra, U1, International Development and Gender, Sexuality and Feminist Studies

Bhavya Kalra is a U1 student majoring in International Development and Gender, Sexuality, and Feminist Studies. This summer, she will intern at Pinay Quebec, an organization that champions the rights of Filipina domestic workers and caregivers. During the internship, she will engage closely with the community, developing tailored capacity-building initiatives and collaborating with stakeholders to design custom training programs. This experience will enhance her professional growth and reinforce a commitment to the arts and social advocacy.

Clio Bailey, U3, International Development Studies

Clio is a fourth year Honours International Development student with minors in Hispanic Studies and Social Studies of Medicine. This summer, she will be interning with the Permanent Mission of Canada to the International Organizations in Vienna (VPERM). She looks forward to learning more about careers in diplomacy and is most excited to work at the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

Julia De Oliveira Lima Gaspar, U3, International Development Studies

Júlia is an upcoming third-year student in International Development Studies, Economics, and Hispanic Studies. Originally from Brazil, with roots from Portugal, Julia is thrilled to enter the diplomatic field. This summer, she will be interning at the Consulate General of Portugal in Montreal.

Marie-Alex Depuydt, U2, International Development and Political Science

Marie-Alix is pursuing a Joint Honors Political Science and International Development Studies degree with a minor in Economics. This summer, she will be interning at Fipra International, a public affair consulting firm in Brussels. With the European elections approaching, she aims to gain experience by monitoring and working with clients to gain a deeper understanding of EU public affairs. Marie-Alix is eager to grasp a more comprehensive understanding of EU regulatory affairs through this internship.

Ava Francin, U1, International Development Ava is a first-year student at McGill pursuing a major International Development and minor in French. She’ll be completing her first internship at the Office of Congresswoman Lois Frankel this summer. Working as an intern for the US Congress provides her a chance to gain firsthand experience in the legislative process and comprehend the impact of domestic policies on international development efforts. Ava is eager to contribute and gain hands-on experience in public policy.

Molly Door, U3, International Development and African Studies

Molly Dorr is in her fourth year at McGill, pursuing a Joint Honours degree in International Development Studies and African Studies. She will be interning with Amplio, a non-profit whose mission is to increase literacy rates in marginalized communities across the world. Molly is thankful for the opportunity to learn from an experienced team and work to better the lives of others

We invite you to have a look at the full list of recipients and their bios at: https://www.mcgill.ca/arts-internships/2024-award-recipients .

• Inst. for the Study of International Development

Department and University Information

Department of anthropology.

• Arts Course Approval Form
• Course calendar
• Important academic deadlines
• Sources of information