Legal Research Information in the United States

Electronic Legal Research

This section provides a brief overview of legal resources in electronic format. Electronic legal resources play an increasingly important role in legal research. What is meant by electronic legal resources are those non-print materials such as: commercial online legal databases (including Westlaw and Lexis-Nexis); Internet subscription services (including CCH) and the Internet.

Advantages And Disadvantages Of Electronic Legal Resources

Online legal databases offer a number of advantages over print legal resources. Some of these advantages include full-text searching by keyword, the ability to access current and consolidated information, the ability to note-up case law directly from the original case, the ability to access material such as unreported cases that would otherwise be difficult if not impossible to access, and 24-hour availability in most cases.

Although there are a number of advantages to electronic legal resources, there are also a number of potential disadvantages. Some of these disadvantages include the cost of online services, difficulty in using online services and the fact that many online resources do not keep historical, archival or older information in their databases. In addition, with publishers moving toward an online model as a means of delivering law-related information to end-users, an access issue may arise for those users (particularly members of the public) who may not be able to afford the cost of online databases. For such users, if publishers eliminate print publications in favour of online resources, access to the law may be denied. While much law-related information the Internet may in theory be free by comparison to the cost of online legal databases, not all information on the Internet has the same reliability factor.

Teaching of Legal Research

Secondary resources, case law, statutory research are more taught than other sources.

“Secondary resources, case law, statutory research, legislative history, and administrative materials are taught by a majority of the responding institutions.

Sixty-seven percent continue to teach print research skills, with digests, reporters, statutes, and secondary sources all being taught by a significant majority of those responding. Of those who teach print research skills, large majorities report teaching statutory research (ninety-three percent) and secondary sources (seventy-nine percent). The question also permitted comments as to other resources taught. Practice materials, state materials, jury instructions, and legal forms were all cited in comments.”

Steven A. Lastres, in “Insights Paper: Rebooting Legal Research in a Digital Age”, said:

“Law school faculty should consider updating their curriculum to better align with
modern legal research practices. They can do this by adjusting the time allocated for hard copy vs. online
research, reducing emphasis on legal classification systems, offering more comprehensive training with
both paid and free online legal research services, including mastery of search and filtering functionality that
these systems embody. Additionally, students will be better prepared if they can master the use of treatises,
practice guides, and other highly used sources such as legal news and regulatory materials, and provide
greater emphasis on primary law materials such as statutes, case law and public records. With a modern
curriculum focused on modern research tools, law schools and legal research departments in particular, can
help their students develop the research skills necessary to produce a high quality work product expected of
them in the workplace.

Law school reform has taken center stage. Schools need to integrate more “legal skills” training. Considering
that new associates spend one third of their time conducting legal research, additional legal research
instruction is a good start. This survey will help administrators become aware of the importance of legal
research skills and support the case to enhance this part of the curriculum, not only for first-year students
but upperclassmen as well. Offering mandatory advanced legal research courses may be an effective way to
equip students as they prepare for summer associate positions or internships.”