Legal research is the cornerstone of both studying and practising law. Meticulous, rigorous and accurate legal research is essential for crafting sound legal arguments. It can also feel formidable.

Students frequently approach librarians at the Inner Temple Library in a panic over legal research. But fear not! Researching doesn’t have to send you into a tailspin. Empower yourself with these top tips to research with confidence:

  1. As a Bar student, you possess a secret weapon: access to all four Inn Libraries and their extensive print and online resources. Make the most of these collections.
  2. Give some thought to your research question and ensure you understand exactly what you have been asked to do. Identifying the relevant legal issues will help you form your research strategy.
  3. If you are new to a legal topic, Halsbury’s Laws can provide an excellent introduction. This is available in print or online via Lexis+.
  4. The optimal starting point for your research often lies within a textbook. These invaluable resources will provide the specific terms and phrases you need to continue your research.
  5. Textbooks are also great places to find leads to primary sources, such as relevant legislation and case law. A librarian’s top tip – always read the footnotes!
  6. When it comes to finding case law and choosing what to cite, opt for law reports over transcripts of judgments, especially when citing cases in court. Familiarise yourself with the Practice Directions on citing authorities – they’re incredibly helpful when it comes to selecting the right law report and determining how much material to bring to court. Read the Lord Chief Justice’s Practice Direction: Citation of Authorities 2012, [2012] 1 WLR 780 and the Criminal Practice Directions 2015, [2015] EWCA Crim 1567.
  7. When you find useful cases, it’s essential to check that they are good law. Case Analysis on Westlaw or Case Overview on Lexis+ should be your first stop. You can also use Westlaw and Lexis+ to track appeals. The websites of the Supreme Court and Court of Appeal (Civil Division) also provide useful information on appeals.
  8. Make sure that any legislation you are citing is in force. Acts will have a commencement section just before the Schedules. Commencement dates for statutory instruments are found under the title. In addition, you can find commencement information on Westlaw and Lexis+.
  9. Always keep a note of the resources you have used, even those that were not helpful. This will form part of your research trail and ensure you don’t waste time revisiting dead ends.
  10. Recognise that not every research query has a definitive answer. Knowing when to halt your search is crucial. Maintaining a thorough research trail guarantees that you’ve exhaustively explored all resources.

Bonus database tips

  1. Use the help icons on Westlaw and Lexis+ as these will give you pointers on how to construct searches so you don’t have to remember the truncation and wildcard symbols.
  2. Refine your searches and apply filters where possible. This is essential if your search retrieves too many hits.
  3. Don’t rely on one database even if you have a favourite. One database will not have everything.
  4. Both Westlaw and Lexis+ adopt a traffic light system to simplify judicial consideration information. As useful as the traffic lights are, you should not rely on these alone.
  5. Most importantly, all the Inn Libraries run training sessions on the databases. Check out what your Inn library is offering.

Hopefully having read this, legal research won’t seem quite so daunting. It takes time to become a proficient researcher, but the Inn libraries are there for all their members and can help at every stage of your legal career. 

A note on the artificial elephant in the room

It can be very tempting to skip over the research bit and go straight to your Generative AI application of choice. Some of these tools are genuinely impressive, even more so when you have deadlines looming. However, there are many pitfalls in this approach. You run the risk of compromising on the accuracy and currency of your research. Your research trail will be opaque, if not non-existent, and you will be left with the nagging doubt that you have missed something key.

Read the Bar Council’s guidance on generative AI for the Bar