Transitioning to a Legal Researcher
Nada Khirdaji has an interesting piece on her transition from legal research skills in law school to research skills in practice in CCH’s law student monthly,
Law school helped me to think like a lawyer, but it was only in practice that I began to appreciate the essential role of legal research. In fact, much to my chagrin, I remember derisively dismissing an optional course in advanced legal research on the assumption that it would be of little use to me.
I am now a research lawyer. Everything that I know about legal research I learned in practice. I am a generalist (with a growing specialization in class actions) and I provide legal advice in all areas of my firm’s practice. I write opinions, memoranda and facta, among other things. I am constantly asked to provide answers in areas of law that I know virtually nothing about.
Her tips are pretty useful, considering how quickly students and recent grads turn to databases and resources that are not always the most cost-effective or efficient. The implications of a more streamlined research work process is better service for the client, and less stress on the young associate.
There are some internal practice memoranda that law firms, especially big Toronto firms, would be well advised not to allow to be made public, regardless of whether the memoranda are perceived to be internally necessary.
Nice article–thank you for pointing it out, Omar. And thanks to CCH for finding it and reprinting it for us.
I think her general hints are great, especially don’t jump into expensive databases without checking out a good treatise on the subject. But does her firm have a law librarian? A good law librarian can help greatly. I hope she has one nearby.