WHY

Legal Research is a complex and time consuming for all lawyers and Judges. In these days many High Courts have been appointing research assistants to judges. For advocates to do research activity, it needs patience and lot of reading. Employing such personnel in law offices for a case which comes in rare occasion is also problematic in many offices. 

Legal research is required in order to perform all legal services. Even before litigation research is needed to identify it and avoid it. In a litigation matter, legal research is required at each stage, right from the moment a case is filed in the court till the final disposal of the matter and even after that if an appeal is to be filed on the decision then even in that stage legal research is required. Legal research forms the basis on which an advocate formulates or arrives at a Legal opinion or advice.

Legal research is what supports the legal decision making. The process wherein the issue is identified, the regulations governing the issue is researched upon, relevant case laws are referred to, and current status of law is looked into. The complete process of recognizing and collecting relevant legal information is known as Legal research. Legal research is thus the very foundation of a sound legal advice. Legal problems are encountered by all, be it an individual or a company. The first step in all the legal problems is to perform legal research.

It is apt to say that Legal Research is the heart of all the legal services. Legal research is mandatory in all legal issues be it a legal advice, be it a litigation matter, even if it is related to drafting an agreement legal research is required.

Legal research in the practice of law is time-consuming, difficult and often times expensive-both for the lawyer and certainly for the client. Because the law is anything but clear-cut and simple, good and effective legal research takes time. While efficiency is an essential characteristic of a good lawyer, legal research requires both efficiency and thoroughness. Often times, an advocate will have to research an issue a number of times before he/she feels comfortable with the result of his/her research.

Research also requires adequate tools to be effective and efficient. A basic subscription to standard journals is usually not sufficient and advocates need specialized databases to find answers to complex questions in a timely manner.