legal-research

name	Legal Research
description	Answer a legal question with authority behind it, and record the answer where it will be found again.
category	Research

Legal Research

Answer the question that was actually asked, with the authority that actually supports it, in a jurisdiction that is actually named.

When to use

• A matter turns on a question of law.
• A draft depends on a term meaning what somebody assumes it means.
• A client asks whether they may do something.

Steps

1. Read positions first. The firm may already have settled this, with the confidence and the authority attached. Re-deriving a settled position is the cheapest waste available here.
2. Fix the jurisdiction and the date before searching. An answer that does not name both is not an answer.
3. Find primary authority — statute, regulation, decided case. Commentary locates authority; it is not authority.
4. Check it is still good. Superseded, distinguished, appealed, amended. An overturned authority cited confidently is worse than no answer.
5. State the answer plainly first, then the qualifications. An answer that opens with five caveats is one nobody reads to the end of.
6. Record it. If the question will recur, record_entry on positions with the authority, the jurisdiction, the confidence, and what would change it.

Output

The answer, its authority, its jurisdiction, and an honest confidence — settled, arguable, or untested. Anything reaching a client is reviewed by a licensed human first; this pass produces the research, not the advice.