Legal research
1946773
225335177
2008-07-13T04:02:03Z
Senator Palpatine
7357381
Reverted edits by [[Special:Contributions/68.42.132.94|68.42.132.94]] to last version by Famspear (using [[WP:HG|Huggle]])
'''Legal research''', according to one source, is "the process of identifying and retrieving information necessary to support legal decision-making. In its broadest sense, legal research includes each step of a course of action that begins with an analysis of the facts of a problem and concludes with the application and communication of the results of the investigation."<ref>J. Myron Jacobstein and Roy M. Mersky, Fundamentals of Legal Research, 8th ed. (Foundation Press, 2002) p. 1.</ref>
The processes of [[legal]] research vary according to the country and the [[legal system]] involved. However, legal research generally involves tasks such as: 1) finding primary [[sources of law]], or [[primary authority]], in a given [[jurisdiction]] ([[Case law|cases]], [[statutes]], [[regulations]], etc.); 2) searching [[secondary authority]] (for example, [[law review|law reviews]], [[Law dictionary|legal dictionaries]], [[legal treatise|legal treatises]], and legal encyclopedias such as [[American Jurisprudence]] and [[Corpus Juris Secundum]]), for background information about a legal topic; and 3)searching non-legal sources for investigative or supporting information.
Legal research is performed by anyone with a need for legal information, including [[lawyers]], law [[librarians]], and [[paralegals]]. Sources of legal information range from printed books, to free legal research websites and information portals to fee database vendors such as [[LexisNexis]] and [[Westlaw]]. [[Law libraries]] around the world provide research services to help their patrons find the legal information they need in [[law school|law schools]], [[law firm|law firms]] and other research environments. Many law libraries and institutions provide free access to legal information on the web, either individually or via [[collective action]], such as with the [[Free Access to Law Movement]].
==See also==
* [[Legal Research In the United States]]
* [[List of sources of law in the United States]]
===External links===
* [http://www.plol.org The Public Library of Law]
* [http://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/index.php/Legal_research Legal Research], from [[Wex|WEX]], Cornell Law School [[Legal Information Institute]]
* [http://www.iall.org International Association of Law Libraries]
* [http://www.aallnet.org American Association of Law Libraries]
* [http://www.worldlii.org World Legal Information Institute]
[[Category:Legal research|*]]
[[Category:Legal occupations]]
== References ==
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