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UQ Library»Walter Harrison Law Library»Legal Research Guide» Legal Research Strategy

Legal problems do not always fit into definite areas of law, such as contract law or criminal law. Sometimes more than one area of law can be involved in a legal problem. These steps will help you classify the problem:

• Analyse the facts of the case
• Decide what legal issues they represent.

It is important to research the legal principles involved rather than the facts of the case. This will ensure that your search is focussed upon legally relevant material.

The more care and thought you put into your search strategy, the more relevant your search results will be. As a result, you will also save time.

Consider:

• What are you actually looking for? For example: a case, a piece of legislation, a journal article.
• Which resources will help you find what you are after? For example: a database, digest, the legal research guide etc.
• What are the parameters/boundaries of your search? Think about which jurisdictions are relevant and how far back in time you wish to look.
• Which search terms will you use and how will you combine them to give you the best results?

Planning Steps

• Step 1. Identify the key concepts in the problem. These become your search words. Remember, you need to research the legal issues not the facts of the case.
  
  
• Step 2. Consider synonyms and related terms.
  Think laterally. Use a legal dictionary or encyclopaedia to find alternate words with the same meaning. Legal dictionaries and encyclopaedias will provide you with a basic overview of the legal issue and give you an understanding of the vocabulary before you start to research. They will also indicate where you will need to look for answers, by identifying key cases, legislation and commentaries.
• Step 3. Construct a search query using Boolean operators (such as AND, OR) and where relevant other search options such as truncation, wildcards, phrase searching and brackets (nesting).

Search Options

Try out the Search Strategy Builder using Boolean logic, from the University of Arizona Library or download our search strategy planner which will help you to properly map out your search.

Find

Proceeding from general information (secondary sources) to more specific, authoritative information (primary sources) is a good approach to use.

Secondary sources of law consist of material that provides commentary and background information on the primary sources of law or assist in locating the law. They may provide you with a quick overview or an in depth analysis of the general law relating to a topic, with references to leading cases or relevant legislation. They include:

	Legal dictionaries	Books	Looseleaf services	Case citators
	Legal encyclopaedias	Journal articles	Reports	Digests

Primary sources of law are the authoritative sources of law as made by law making bodies. They include:

• Case Law, also known as Common Law or Judge-made Law in Australia and overseas
• Legislation, also referred to as Acts of Parliament or Statutes and Subordinate Legislation or Delegated Legislation.

Methodically recording the materials you have found and the research steps you took to get there means you won't have to repeat searches or search again resources that you've already searched.

Read and Evaluate

Acts and cases can be difficult to interpret. Remember that secondary sources such as journal articles and textbooks, and related materials (such as bills, second reading speeches, and explanatory memorandum) may help further develop your understanding of the law.

Learning how to critically evaluate is an essential skill for law students. You will require extensive knowledge and understanding of the topic and the legal issues involved to write analytically. Detailed analysis of the law is required to critically examine and synthesise opinions, arguments, facts and evidence and to formulate an argument which relates back to your particular problem or scenario.

On a continual basis you should evaluate your research methodology. Be flexible. Consider alternative approaches and refining your search topic.

Update

The law is constantly changing. As a result it is important to update the law, which is historically referred to as noting up.

This involves determining:

• Whether a case is still good law.
  To do this, use a Case Citator to research the judicial history of the case (how the case has been treated by later cases). It is important to determine whether a later case has doubted, disapproved, overruled, distinguished or not followed your case. Definitions of case annotations are available here.
• Whether an Act has been recently amended.
• Whether an Act (or a section of the Act) has been judicially considered (interpreted in the courts). Case Citators, TimeBase LawOne and looseleaf services can help you with this.

It is time to stop searching when:

• The commentary becomes repetitive.
• You have read the same point in a number of sources.
• You notice that the same cases/legislation/articles keep appearing.
• You have discovered updated primary authority and must revise your ideas.

In a positive manner apply the law to the facts. Using plain English to express your thoughts, you will need to indicate the best course of action to take and the likely outcome of taking that course.

• Deal separately with each issue specifically raised by the facts.
• Refer to the points of law extracted from the various cases, legislation or texts.
• List authorities for and against the argument.
• Always reach a conclusion.

Statements setting out principles of law should be supported by authoritative resources, preferably primary sources. Secondary sources may be cited, if authoritative.