LEGAL RESEARCH, WRITING & ANALYSIS

Legal Research , Writing and Analyses

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Law is not only a noble profession but it is also an indicator of intellectual superiority and leadership skills . Society looks up to lawyers and often consults them first before they make their decision They are expected to know everything and as such they often serve in high positions in the government and in private corporations . The reality however is that though they may know a great deal about the law they do not know everything

The edge of lawyers is

that they know the importance of research . Law school ensures that law students appreciate the importance of legal research and develop this crucial skill . It bears stressing that debate and argumentation may be vital skills to acquire , but this oratorical skills and rhetoric do not have a place in court as the magistrates and judges look for jurisprudence as basis for every assertion in court . It is because of this reason that legal research and writing are perhaps the most powerful tools of a lawyer in court . Oral communications skills and debate skills , rhetoric and argumentation skills inside the courtroom are merely secondary . It is possible that cases may be won by a lawyer from the time when the pleadings and legal briefs are being prepared and even before the trial starts

Legal research and writing are also important for non-lawyers . It would be more convincing and more impressive if the memoranda , simple letters to clients and letters of opinion prepared by paralegals make use of legal decisions , laws , or statutes as their basis

The practice of law also involves an understanding of the court systems . One of them is that courts adhere to the doctrine of stare decisis or the doctrine of precedents . In essence it states that when the court is faced with a case bearing the same facts and issues it must rule the same way it did in the previous cases . Unless the old jurisprudence is formally abandoned , it must adopt the same jurisprudence in the previous case

It is because of this court system that the lawyer must develop the skill of gathering data and information from as many sources in as little time as possible . Consider this scenario : a lawyer can gather enough data within 2 hours while another takes 20 hours to finish his research . The first lawyer definitely has distinct advantage over the other (Rod Borlase , 1997 ,

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Conducting a research on a particular however is not easy . It requires constant learning and practice and the lawyer needs to follow certain steps . The first step will be to read and analyze the problem The researcher must first read the facts of the case very carefully for him to gain an understanding of the subject matter and the issues involved

The second step will be to browse the possible resources to have a complete understanding of the issues involved . The lawyer will have to refer to the Shepard Citations for a review...