Research Refresher
March 19, 2013
Catherine Cotter
Research Refresher
Approach your topic / issue /
question / task strategically – not as
how to use a particular product.
Research Refresher
Leverage the effectiveness of
editorial enhancements!
Research Refresher
1. Can we register a builders’ lien against a
building partially owned by the federal
government?
2. Draft the builders’ lien.
Research Refresher
1. Can we register a builders’ lien against a
building partially owned by the federal
government?
2. Draft the builders’ lien – Use a form or
precedent (handout available)
Research Refresher
1. Can we register a builders’ lien against a
building partially owned by the federal
government?
WHAT DO YOU DO?
2. Draft the builders’ lien.
Research Refresher
Strategy:
1. Think about the question
2. Plan your research
3. Choose your sources
Research Refresher
The legal research process starts very early – before you
actually sit down to do the research
Five steps (FILAC):
analyze the facts
determine the legal issues
find the relevant law
analyze the law and apply it to the facts
communicate the results of your research & analysis
From: Maureen Fitzgerald, Legal Problem Solving: Reasoning, Research and
Writing, 4th ed (Markham: LexisNexis, 2010), chapter 1.
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Once you’ve spent a bit of time thinking
about the issue and developing a plan, how
should you start your research? Where do you
begin?
By using secondary sources!
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Two types of secondary sources:
1. Those that explain the law
2. Those that help you find the law
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Example types of secondary sources to
help you understand the law:
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Encyclopedias
Loose-leafs
Books (beware of casebooks) – look at
the bibliography in The Practical Guide to
Canadian Legal Research
Annotated statutes (if any)
CLE materials (often overlooked) – for
example: http://www.lawsociety.mb.ca/
Bar ad materials (often overlooked)
Dictionaries/Words & Phrases
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• Journals
• Law Reform Commission materials
(often overlooked)
• Newspapers, magazines, &
newsletters
• Conference papers
• Law blogs
• Law firm websites
• Etc.
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Example sources to help you find the law
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Canadian Abridgment
Canada Digest (within QL)
Maritime Law Book key number system
Law Reporter Indexes
Other specialty digests/indexes
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Remember – you have to read the legislation
/cases the authors have referenced! So find
them and read them.
Then start searching for legislation/cases
yourself. Author will never reference
everything.
Note up all legislation/cases to find other
legislation/cases and find out their history!!
VERY IMPORTANT!!
Research Refresher
When using QL or WC:
Always remember – the costs you rack up
searching in these systems OFTEN get passed on to
your client!! This will be on top of the time you
are billed out at.
These systems are EXPENSIVE - $$$$$$!!
Research Refresher
LexisNexis Quicklaw cost saving tips:
•
The homepage is the least expensive way to
get a document or information.
•
Browsing – much more cost effective than
searching.
• Whenever you click on a blue hyperlink, a cost
will be incurred.
Research Refresher
LexisNexis Quicklaw cost saving tips con’t:
•
Start with a broad search then use ‘Narrow
Search’ to refine it.
•
If you conduct a search and get no results,
that results in a cost. So watch your spelling!
•
Use the History component of QL
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LexisNexis Quicklaw useful tips:
• Study the Source Directory
• Use document segments
• Use ‘My Bookshelf’ for sources you use frequently
• Don’t print out each document separately
• View your results by keywords or terms in
context
Research Refresher
Westlaw Canada cost saving tips:
•
The homepage ‘Find/Keycite’ search is the
least expensive way to a document.
•
Limit using the “All __Source Content’
search – these searches are extremely
expensive.
•
Browsing is much less costly than searching.
Research Refresher
Westlaw Canada cost saving tips con’t:
•
Start with a broad search then use ‘Locate in
Result’ to refine it.
•
You can run a search from your Research Trail
up to 2am for no extra cost.
•
If you conduct a search and get no results,
that results in a cost. So watch your spelling!
Research Refresher
Westlaw Canada useful tips:
•
Get used to using the directory to find
sources.
•
Beware – they do not house regulations for
all statutes.
•
Boolean searching is more dynamic than the
search template WC provides. Use natural
language searching as a last resort.
•
Use their concordances and thesaurus
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Input my chart.
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Input my chart.
A space in Quicklaw means a
different thing in Westlaw.
Compare the ‘Phrase’ example in
QL with the ‘Or’ example in WC
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Statutory Research
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To find older versions of statutes, you will
likely have to use print products.
•
CanLII, QL (only the bigger jurisdictions),
Department of Justice, Ontario’s e-Laws, etc.
allow you to look at an act as it appeared on
a certain date in the past, but only for the
last few years.
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Statutory Research: Two things you may need
to do:
1. Find an act as it was first passed and
printed in the annual volumes.
2. Find what an act looked like at a certain
point in time.
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First thing you should do when you start working
(in terms of legal research):
•
Check out your firm’s library and resources.
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Know where the local law library is – academic
or law society or courthouse library.
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Learn about the free resources to which you
have access online.
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•
Ask what portion of your research costs will be
passed on to the client.
•
Pool your resources with your fellow articling
students.
•
Join the local public library.
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Read newspapers and blogs!
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TIPS
• Always ask to see the file
• Take a notepad and pen (or iPad) everywhere
• Have your checklist/research plan close at hand
and have several copies available
• Know how to conduct legislative research
• Check out academic law library & law society
library websites (for example:
http://www.courthouselibrary.ca/training/links.aspx).
• Check out various law-related apps that may be
helpful; eg: WiseLII http://www.wiselaw.net/wiselii.html
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Finally:
DON’T BE AFRAID TO ASK QUESTIONS!!!
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Websites
Blogs and tweets:
• www.slaw.ca
• www.thecourt.ca
• www.lawtweet.ca
• www.lawblogs.ca
• http://micheladrien.blogspot.ca/
Law Reform:
• www.worldlii.org/int/special/lawreform
• www.bcli.org/search/law-reform
Searching law firm websites (and more):
• www.feefiefoefirm.com/ca
• http://tinyurl.com/canadianlawfirms (appears that you
now have to sign in)
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Websites
Other helpful sites:
• http://rc.lsuc.on.ca/library/research_periodicals_practi
ce.htm
• www.legaltree.ca
• http://legalresearch.org
• www.courthouselibrary.ca/training/AskedAndAnswered.a
spx
• http://www.courthouselibrary.ca/training/videos.aspx
• http://fli.canadalawbook.ca
• http://www.legalresearchandwriting.ca/index.htm
(includes the custom Google search engine mentioned in last slide – the
tinyurl reference)
• http://scholar.google.ca/ (click radio button to search legal
documents – is mostly American, though)
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Websites
Other helpful sites continued:
• http://eco.canadiana.ca/?usrlang=en Early Canadiana Online
(has historical legislation and cases from some jurisdictions; may have
other documents such as Hansards)
• http://archive.org/index.php - Internet Archive (has some
legislation & cases; may have other law-related documents. Also has
the WaybackMachine so one can look at an older version of a website)
• http://www.aplic-abpac.ca/aplic_home.html GALLOP
(provides access to over 320,000 provincial, territorial, & federal
government publications and legislative materials dating back to 1995)
• http://www.ssrn.com/lsn/index.html (access to free journal
articles/working papers; some will have a cost but many are free)
• www.parl.gc.ca (can search & trace federal bills & access Hansards)
• www.mlb.nb.ca (a cost efficient way to access cases; even if your
firm does not subscribe, they offer a free version – Raw Law)
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Websites
US and Foreign law:
• www.law.justia.com - US
• www.findlaw.com/casecode - US
• www.lexisnexis.com/community/portal/content/lexison
elandingpage.aspx - US
• www.law.cornell.edu - US
• www.commonlii.org - laws from commonwealth
countries, including the English Reports
• www.worldlii.org – most countries listed here
• www.nyulawglobal.org/Globalex
• http://www.un.org/depts/dhl/index.html - UN library
• http://www.legislation.gov.uk/browse - UK legislation
• http://scholar.google.ca/ (click radio button to search
legal documents – is mostly American)
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Links to Handouts Available on Law Library Website:
• Determining Authoritativeness of Websites
• Legal Writing Resources at the UNB Law Library
• Forms and Precedents
• Westlaw Canada Search Tips
• LexisNexis Quicklaw Search Tips
• Tracing a Statute Historically Using Print Products
• Boolean, Proximity, and Frequency Operators
Research Refresher
Where you can find this PowerPoint:
http://www2.unb.ca/lawlibrary/documents/R
esearchRefresher2013PPdartforwebsite.ppt