| 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
- 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.
- Fix the jurisdiction and the date before searching. An answer that does
not name both is not an answer.
- Find primary authority — statute, regulation, decided case. Commentary
locates authority; it is not authority.
- Check it is still good. Superseded, distinguished, appealed, amended. An
overturned authority cited confidently is worse than no answer.
- State the answer plainly first, then the qualifications. An answer that
opens with five caveats is one nobody reads to the end of.
- 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.
