By | Did You Know? Recent psychological studies claim that strong research skills give students independence, elevate academic performance, and prepare them for future careers. |
For law assignments, I always say one thing: “Strong research is just as important as strong writing.”
(Well, this statement applies to all areas of study, but here we will keep the focus strictly on law coursework.)
Good research skills (or you can say “research habits”) help you understand the complex nature of existing laws and statutes.
Finding valuable legal sources is very important to proceed with developing impactful arguments to support your claims. You can’t simply defend a case when there’s nothing to back up your claims or without understanding how evidence is relevant to your topic or case.
And if you’re thinking of using general information available on Google, I would say you must stop just right there. All types of legal assignments, whether it’s a case study or a dissertation, require accurate legislation, rules, and judgments from expert lawyers and policymakers.
In this blog, I’ve shared my personal research hacks that were really practical and useful in building my career as a lawyer.
Hope it will help you too!
Get Underneath Your Law Assignment Question:
The first step to begin your law assignment research is reading the assignment brief not once, not twice, but thrice carefully.
When you read the question repeatedly, you’ll easily identify the command verbs that instruct you what your exact task is. It also saves you time fixing mistakes later.
How to Identify the Command Verbs:
Here is a list of possible command verbs that are usually present in a law assignment brief:
| Command Verbs | How do I interpret them? |
|---|---|
| Analyse | I break down the legal issue and explain its different parts. |
| Evaluate | I consider the strengths and weaknesses of legal arguments. |
| Discuss | I explore different views and explain their importance. |
| Assess | I examine the evidence, question assumptions, and develop my own supported opinion. |
You must pay attention to such command words because they tell you how to approach the question.
Defining the Legal Issues and Their Scope:
Once you’ve recognized what you’re required to do, identify the legal topic, important laws, and concerning issues.
Let’s take it this way, if you’ve a research question that is mainly concerned on negligence, what I would do in your place is divide it into smaller questions such as duty of care, breach, and causation.
What I did here is make the big task manageable. This type of research method will help you stay focused and understand how to conduct research without wasting time.
Develop a Clear Legal Research Strategy:
In my student life, I have found that planning things makes the ongoing task much easier. So goes for a law assignment research.
Don’t rush to collect random information by opening several websites relevant to your keyword.
Just prepare a simple research plan like this:
- List all the main legal issues and possible arguments
- Look out for relevant legislation, cases, textbooks, and journal articles
- Create clear deadlines for each task, such as finding sources, reading textbooks, or writing each section
For example, if you’re researching negligence law, organize your research into four key areas or sections:
- Duty of care
- Breach of duty
- Causation
- Case laws
Next, save useful citations that you find during your research and organize them logically according to each topic. You can do this by using smart reference manager tools like Zotero or Mendeley.
Make Authoritative Legal Sources Your Priority:
While doing your research, you will come across several websites and articles providing interesting legal information. However, you must not trust every legal source out there for an assignment. This is because it is important to support your claims with accurate authorities to build academic credibility.
Another essential step is differentiating between what comes first and what comes later. It simply means identifying primary and secondary legal sources.
You must be able to evaluate them clearly and then give priority to the primary one first.
What is a Primary Legal Source:
Primary sources provide the actual law that is created directly by the government or any official authoritative body. These laws represent what was actually said or passed rather than a detailed analysis or background of that law.
You can use the following primary sources if they are relevant to your topic:
- Acts of Parliament: These establish statutory rules.
- Judicial decisions: Court judgments explain how legal principles are applied.
- Regulations and statutory instruments: These provide detailed legal requirements under relevant legislation.
What is a Secondary Legal Source:
The secondary sources of law are written materials that help you explain, analyze, describe, or criticize a primary law. Instead of establishing binding legal rules, they help you understand the legal concepts and also explain how a primary source works or what it means.
These include:
- Legal textbooks such as Chitty on Contracts
- Academic journals such as the Oxford Journal of Legal Studies
- Law reviews and research papers such as “The Modern Law Review”
- Legal commentaries and practitioner analysis such as Law Commission Reports and Hansard
Always Browse Reliable Databases:
One thing I do whenever I read or search something is check the website’s authority. This is especially crucial for conducting legal research. This results in your information being more organized and trustworthy. I do not depend entirely on general Google searches because they may not provide complete or authoritative legal information.
Here are some resources I find useful:
| Legal Databases | How I use them |
|---|---|
| Westlaw UK | I use it to find cases, legislation, journals, and legal commentary, subject to subscription access. |
| Lexis+ | It provides access to judgments, legislation, and legal commentary. |
| HeinOnline | I use it to locate academic journals and historical legal materials. |
| legislation.gov.uk | It helps me check official legislation and amendments. |
| BAILII | It offers free access to many UK and Irish judgments. |
| Google Scholar | I use it as a starting point for finding academic research. |
For more improved and more accurate search results, use the following tips:
- Use filters by typing your main keywords/phrases
- Use Boolean operators such as AND and OR
- Use the date range slider to get search results of an exact publication date
Analyse Your Case Law Effectively:
If you think reading case summaries is enough to understand the reason or logic behind a court judgment, you’re mistaken. I have found that effective legal case research requires looking at the court’s reasoning and the legal principle behind its decision.
Reading Cases Using a Structured Method:
When I study a case, I look for the following objectives:
| Material facts | What actually happened in the dispute? |
| Procedural background | How did the case reach the court? |
| Legal issue | What question did the court need to decide? |
| Decision and reasoning | What did the court decide, and why? |
| Ratio decidendi | What legal principle or reason was necessary for the decision? |
| Obiter dicta | What additional observations did the judge make? |
Another important thing I do is that I only use cases when their reasoning and legal status genuinely support my argument. This improves critical analysis in law assignments. In case of advance guidance on this section, you can seek law assignment help UK from expert academic writers who have legal-matter expertise.
Evaluate and Compare Your Legal Sources:
So far, I have learned that finding information is only the first step. Strong legal research also means checking whether different sources agree and whether their arguments are convincing.
For example, a court may support a particular legal interpretation, while an academic writer may criticise the judgment for overlooking an important issue. Here you must consider and compare both views to understand the strengths and weaknesses of the decision.
Furthermore, you should also distinguish between binding authority, persuasive authority, and academic commentary. That means before using any source, you must find out whether it is current, relevant, and reliable.
Applying Critical Thinking to Legal Research:
Critical thinking which to me means “food for thought” helps your research information to turn into a convincing legal argument.
How can you use it?
Instead of simply repeating what a textbook or judgment says, you should question the reasoning behind it.
If you take my approach, I consider alternative interpretations, identify weaknesses in arguments, and look for evidence that challenges my initial opinion. I also include counterarguments so that my discussion remains balanced.
Also, make sure to use OSCOLA referencing style because it provides a consistent system for legal referencing.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs):
1. How to research effectively for a law assignment?
First, understand the assignment question and identify its main legal issues. Then, explore legal databases for sources. Lastly, organise your findings, compare different arguments, and use evidence to support conclusions.
2. What are the best sources for legal research?
These include Westlaw UK, Lexis+, HeinOnline, legislation.gov.uk, and BAILII.
3. How do you find relevant cases for a law assignment?
First, identify the legal issue and search for relevant keywords in Westlaw, Lexis+, or BAILII. Then check case summaries and read the full judgments when necessary.
4. Why is critical analysis important in legal research?
It allows us to think outside the box by comparing judicial decisions, questioning legal arguments, identifying weaknesses, and considering alternative interpretations.
5. How does OSCOLA referencing support a law assignment?
It allows lecturers and readers to verify your information and locate relevant sources. Accurate referencing also helps us to maintain academic integrity and avoid plagiarism.