Types of Legal Research
In practice, there are three categories of legal research tasks assigned to paralegals. While each of these categories have different purposes, the legal research must be performed in the same manner for each of them. The three categories of assignment are legal research performed to obtain background in an unfamiliar area of the law; legal research in preparation for an upcoming meeting, hearing, or deposition; and legal research in preparation for writing a opinion letter for the client or a memorandum of law to the court.
Background Legal Research
Background legal research is the most general of the legal research assignments. It is research to determine what the law is in a particular field. The research is broad in scope and designed to determine the general legal principles that apply in that area of the law. In this sense, it is much like the law studied in paralegal education classes — very broad and not tied to any specific aspect of the client's legal problem.
Background legal research is performed out of academic interest. It is a necessary step in determining what advice to give the client if the field of law is unfamiliar to the lawyer. The lawyer must first understand the broad issues of the field before deciding on more specific legal research tasks. This may include gaining an understanding of the policies and goals underlying a particular area of the law.
Just because background legal research is broad in scope does not mean that you should not have a thorough grasp of the client's legal problem. Knowing why the background legal research is necessary helps narrow your research. An assignment to research the insurance requirements for registered vehicles traveling on public streets is more easily performed if you know that the client is charged with operating a moped without insurance.
Event-driven Legal Research
This type of legal research is performed because it is likely an issue will come up at a court hearing or client meeting. You will perform this type of legal research any time there is a discrete issue requiring a specific answer. A common example is an evidentiary question — you might be asked to conduct legal research to determine if a witness can testify about a conversation with your client. Event-driven legal research is designed to determine the answer to a very narrow and specific question.
Event-driven legal research requires detailed knowledge about the specific legal problem. The results of this kind of legal research are always determined by the facts of the client's problem. If your legal research discovers alternative solutions, these will also depend on the facts. It is imperative that the results of this type of legal research be placed in a specific factual context.
This kind of legal research is narrowly focused and looks for results. Your research should not address issues of policy or effects of other laws unless those questions are appropriate for the client.
Alert
Staying focused on the client's problem is essential when conducting legal research. The scope of the law is very broad — there is always another court opinion or another statute that might affect the results of your research. If you follow every trail, you will delay your conclusion and run up a big bill for the client. Be thorough, but do not overdo it.
Legal Research in Preparation for Writing
Lawyers often use the results of legal research to present written advice to clients or to prepare written arguments to a court on behalf of a client. The writing usually has a specific purpose. The opinion letter will discuss the effect of a contract provision so that the client can decide whether to agree to the provision; the written argument will support the client's position concerning enforcement of a settlement.
Since only lawyers can write letters to clients giving legal advice and only lawyers can file written arguments with the court, this kind of research is not a final product but is used to formulate a final product. The results may be supplemented or supported by other legal research as necessary.
This kind of legal research is somewhat broader than event-driven legal research. Although the result is important in this kind of legal research, it is often necessary to understand why the result was reached. Questions of policy and relationship to other laws are valuable context for the results of this type of legal research.
