TexasLawHelp’s Guide to the Legal Research Process
Legal research is a process. This guide gives you a general overview of the process of conducting
your own legal research. Legal research and analysis is the process that lawyers use to
determine what laws apply to the facts of their case, which facts are relevant to their claim,
what type of remedy they can ask for in court, and what other cases might impact the judge’s
decision.
The process of applying the law that to the facts of your case and arguing for a specific outcome
requires more training than any single guide can provide. For this reason, this guide cannot
replace the expertise of an attorney, particularly when presenting the findings of legal
research to a judge in court.
This guide is a good fit for people who:
1. Have generalized questions about the law.
2. Want to educate themselves about the law before using pro se
forms.
3. Want to do preliminary research to decide whether to pursue a
claim or seek legal representation.
4. Have been turned down for services from legal aid, cannot
afford an attorney, and have no other option but to represent
themselves. If you find yourself in this situation, consider
contacting an attorney for limited scope representation.
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Note: Limited Scope Representation
If you plan to represent yourself, consider hiring a private attorney to provide you with limited scope
representation, also known as unbundling. This can make contacting a private attorney substantially
more affordable.
Click here to watch our video about how to find an attorney and Limited Scope Representation
Click here for an Informational Packet on Limited Scope Representation
Step 1: Gather and Understand the Facts of Your Case
The first step to conducting legal research is to write a Statement of Facts. You should do this so that
you have a complete understanding of everything that has happened or is happening in your case. You
should sit down with a few sheets of paper and write out everything that has happened so far and
everything that is currently going on. Make sure to even include those facts you consider unimportant.
Sometimes facts that seem unimportant can make a big difference in the court process. Revise it to
make sure is accurate and reflects the facts of your case.
Make sure to include dates when each action took place as well. It is a good idea to use those dates and
your Statement of Facts to make a Case Timeline as well. On the Case Timeline put a listing of dates from
the start of your issue until the present day along with the events that occurred on those dates. This
easy visual reference will help you keep important dates in your case straight as you go through the legal
research process.
Step 2: Determine Your Legal Problem and Your Desired Outcome
The second step is to get an idea of the legal problem you are facing, and your ideal outcome at the end
of the legal process.
You should sit down and write out the issues you are facing, and what would be your ideal outcome at
the end of the legal process, as well as what would be a good compromise if applicable.
The legal issue you are facing will guide what type of law you research.
For example, if you are currently the non-custodial parent, according to a court order, but would like to
become the custodial parent you are seeking to modify the prior court order and have a Family Law
issue involving modification. Thus, your legal research would be focused on family law and modification.
Simply figuring out where to start your legal research can often be a very hard part of the process.
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Contact Live Help Specialists on TexasLawHelp from 10:00 AM to 3:00 PM , Monday through Friday,
for help figuring out where to start your legal research. – Click HERE!
Step 3: Finding Legal Information and Reading about the Law
Finding General Legal Information
Texas Law Help (Online): TexasLawHelp.org includes a variety of summaries, guides, self-help
forms, information sheets and external links to information about a wide variety of legal topics.
These guides and forms are written by licensed legal aid and government attorneys. These
topics are arranged by area of law and include:
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Families and Kids
Domestic Violence or Abuse
Consumer Protection and Debt Relief
Health Law
And more!
TexasLawHelp’s mission is to provide free and reliable legal information to low income Texans.
The information on TexasLawHelp can give you a general idea about the law before starting
more intensive legal research. This information can also help you figure out where to start
your legal research.
A good place to start is TexasLawHelp’s Find It Here section. This section contains the most
commonly accessed guides.
Finding Specific Legal Information
Treatises, Handbooks, and Practice Guides are commonly referred to as secondary resources.
Secondary Resources are a good place to start finding specific legal information, because they
summarize the current state of the law and tell you what specific cases and statutes are
important. This is where attorneys commonly start their legal research as well.
After looking through the appropriate secondary resources, look through the case law, statutes, and
other resources mentioned by the secondary resources to do further legal research.
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Before applying the law to your case it is a good idea to read up on the state of the law to develop a
general understanding of the law surrounding your case.
In the next section we will give you an idea of the common places you can find specific legal information
online and offline.
Online
Texas State Law Library: Accessing their electronic databases online – For Free!
A selection of the Texas State Law Library’s databases and e-books can be accessed online as
long as you have a Texas State Law Library card, number, and password. If you are a Texas
resident you can register for a library card for free and get access.
Their digital collection includes a wide range of legal treatises, handbooks, and practice guides.
These types of resources explain the law, and are what lawyers use to understand the law.
Click HERE for a listing of their digital collection
Click HERE to register for a library card.
Google Scholar: A Good place to look up Case Law and Legal Journals online.
From their official website:
Google Scholar provides a simple way to broadly search for scholarly literature. From one place, you can
search across many disciplines and sources: articles, theses, books, abstracts and court opinions, from
academic publishers, professional societies, online repositories, universities and other web sites. Google
Scholar helps you find relevant work across the world of scholarly research.
http://scholar.google.com/intl/en/scholar/about.html
Click HERE for a guide from the University of Texas School of Law Tarlton Law Library for a guide to
using Google Scholar for case law and legal research.
It is not enough to just read through a case, you will need to understand why the court decided
the way it did and how that affects your case.
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Click HERE for a guide to reviewing case law written for law students, but which should be useful to
you.
U.S. Courts Glossary of Legal Terms: A general guide to understanding common legal terms.
Often, one of the hardest parts of conducting legal research can be simply understanding the words
commonly used in legal writing. The glossary of legal terms put together by the U.S. Courts can shed
some light on this for you as you conduct your legal research.
Click HERE for a Glossary of Legal Terms.
Offline: Law Libraries
Law libraries are generally open to the public and have staff available to help patrons find the
right kind of book or legal volume to begin their research. At the law library you can find seven
basic types of books: treatises, handbooks, practice guides, statutes, case law reporters, rule
books and form books. If there is no law library near you, then university libraries, city libraries,
or county libraries may have some legal resources as well. Click here for a list of law libraries
throughout Texas.
Treatises, Handbooks, and Practice Guides
Treatises, Handbooks, and Practice Guides are commonly referred to as secondary resources.
Treatises, Handbooks, and Practice Guides are a good place to start your legal research,
because they summarize the current state of the law and tell you what specific cases and
statutes are important. This is where attorneys commonly start their legal research as well.
Treatises are books that provide
summaries of the law by topic. Treatises
may be easier to understand than a
statute because treatises are usually
written in less formal language. Both
law students and practicing attorneys
use treatises to understand the
fundamental principles of an area of law. Click here for a list of Treatises Recommended by the
Texas State Law Library.
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Handbooks are a good secondary resource to use as well. Handbooks do a good job of
summarizing the law for a specific area of the law. Some Handbooks such as the O’Connors
series goes in depth on specific issues concerning specific areas of the law.
For example, if you are researching an issue involving divorce, child support, visitation, and/or
custody you should look at O’Connors Texas Family Law Handbook 2015 for a great guide. This
book may be available at your local law library.
Practice guides provide legal commentary on different areas of the law. Usually, these guides
provide a shorter summary of the law than treatises. This is because practice guides are used by
attorneys who already know the law but need specific information that goes beyond their basic
understanding.
Statutes
Statutes are written copies of the law. Because there are so many different laws, statutes are
divided by topic into a collection of books. Statutes are generally very complex and may make a
number of references to other laws found in other books. Be careful when reading a statute
because they may use common language that has a different, special meaning in a legal
context. To understand a statute, be prepared to:
1. Read the statute three times and then read it again out loud.
2. Make a copy of the statute and circle the words “and”, “or”, “may”, “shall”,
“except”, and “excluding”.
3. Assume that every word in the statute has meaning. Keep a legal dictionary on
hand and look up any word that you do not know or that seems out of place.
4. Note any cross-references to other statutes, sections and cases then read those
statutes, sections and cases as well using steps 1-3.
One example of statutory volumes or book collection that you are likely to find at your local law
library is Vernon’s Civil Statutes. You may also click the next links for an electronic copy of the
Texas Constitution and state statutes indexed by topic or for the administrative code.
Case Reporters
Case reporters include compilations of cases that determine the law in a specific jurisdiction.
Case law records the ways that judges have interpreted statutes and applied them to the facts
of other people’s claims. Case law research depends on an understanding of jurisdiction and
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court structure. In each jurisdiction, some courts will have more authority than others. For an
diagram of the Texas Court system, click here.
NOTE: It is not enough to just read through a case, you will need to understand why the court
decided the way it did and how that affects your case.
Click HERE for a guide to reviewing case law written for law students, but which should be useful to
you.
Click HERE for a guide to the difference between BINDING and PERSUASIVE Authority as well.
It is written with Virginia in mind, but can serve as a general guide on the subject.
Rule Books
The Texas Rules of Civil Procedure and the Texas Rules of Criminal Procedure establish the
procedural rules for Texas’s justice, county and district courts. Civil procedural rules deal with
the specific ways in which people file and present their non-criminal case to their opponents
and the court. There are over 800 rules included in this book including rules for discovery, filing
motions, presenting evidence and requesting a jury. The Texas Rules of Criminal Procedure are
like the rules for civil procedure, but address the different standards that apply when a person
is accused of a crime. In addition to the print copies of this book, you can find online copies of
the rules here:
 Texas Rules and Standards
Form Books also known as Practice Manuals and Litigation Guides
Lawyers use form books to find templates for writing legal documents that will be submitted to
court or an opposing party. Typically there is a short explanatory section before each template,
but you should be careful because these sections do not give a full explanation of the law and
are only meant to help attorneys determine whether the template is appropriate for their
situation, what to include with their paperwork, and what further research needs to be done.
Because these books are written for lawyers, they may use legal jargon that makes them
difficult to understand and may require you to look up unfamiliar terms in a legal dictionary.
Electronic Databases
Electronic databases such as Westlaw and LexisNexis sell subscriptions that allow users to
quickly sift through electronic versions of treatises, statutes, cases, rules and regulations.
Searching these databases may require some training and subscriptions are usually too
expensive for individuals to purchase. However, if your local law library offers access to patrons
this is an excellent resource for legal research. Through these databases you can search for
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specific terms or read up on an entire area of law. Specific terms can be searched using the
database search engine.
Lexis and Westlaw are very useful for making sure that the law you are relying on is still current
and good to base your case on.
Click HERE for a guide to doing this in Lexis Nexis
Click HERE for a guide to doing this in Westlaw
Step 4: Legal Analysis/Legal Writing and beyond
Once you have located the law of your case, made sure it is binding and current, and have read up on it,
it is time to start your legal analysis/writing. During legal analysis you apply the law to the facts of your
case.
This short guide cannot tell you everything you need to know about legal analysis. Indeed, attorneys
take an entire series of classes on legal analysis/writing at law school. You should consider checking out
a book on legal analysis/writing at your law library or buying a low cost e-book online or at your local
discount book store.
Normally, attorneys will write a document known as a Legal Memorandum at this stage. A Legal
Memorandum summarizes the facts, states the issue, applies the laws to the facts, does a counter
analysis from the other side’s perspective and says what the likely outcome of a case will be. A Legal
Memorandum is complex and tough to do on your own. Consider contacting a private attorney for help
doing this through limited scope representation.
Once done, a Legal Memorandum is very useful. It provides you with a fundamental understanding of
the law of your case at a glance. A guide to writing a Legal Memorandum should be present in a book
you check out or by on legal analysis/writing, make sure to check that it is there.
To know what to do at each state of your case, again consider contacting a private attorney for limited
scope representation, and also refer to Practice Guides, Handbooks, and Form Books also known as
Practice Manuals.
For a general guide to the Texas Civil Litigation process, please click the following link.
Click HERE for a guide to Civil Litigation in Texas.
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Conclusion
Always keep in mind that there are many methods for conducting legal research that may yield good
results. The key to good research is to be patient, careful and thorough as you read. For other legal
research methods, you may consider reading through other published research guides posted by the
Texas State Law Library.
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