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LEGAL RESEARCH

Ade yinka - August 6, 2019, 7:07 pm


 

 

ARTICLE 5

HOW TO CONDUCT LEGAL STUDY, RESAERCH AND WRITING

 

Helping people solve problems is the essence of what advocates do. The expertise of the lawyer is to use the law to solve any peculiar challenge that a client has. Legal problem solving is about identifying and diagnosing problems and generating strategies or tactics to achieve client objectives. Most legal problem-solving activity involves legal analysis. 

What is legal analysis? It is the identification of major issues in a particular fact, and the application of the law to the facts of a case to reach a legal conclusion or decision. 

An awareness of the process of legal analysis helps you analyze your own approach to solving problems, making it easier to develop your ability to do legal analysis. 

 

The first step in legal analysis is to gather the facts from a client interview. You must listen well to the client to identify the client objectives and priorities, as this is a major part of the fact gathering.

 

The second part of the legal analysis process is identifying the part of the fact that is legally sufficient to form the crux of the case. If during legal analysis, you discover that there are some facts gap, you need to gather facts or do further discovery which means simply asking the clients for more information. Additional facts may change or modify an initial analysis, and the facts and disputes must be re-analyzed in the light of new information.  

Once you have identified the issues in a fact, you must now clearly develop legal theories/principles and applicable or relevant laws to the facts of the case in such a way that entitles the client to his relief and subsequently drafts briefs and  motions which are written representations of the arguments of advocates based on issues and applicable laws to resolve issues in favor of client. 

To find the applicable principles of law relevant to issues of fact and law in a case, you must have deep research skills.  Legal research is searching for the law to solve legal problems. It is not about finding the correct answers; it is about discovering ambiguities that can be clarified and manipulated to form arguments that further client objectives. Researching the law requires analytical skills. Finding the law that governs a particular legal problem requires concentrated effort.  

Besides analytical reasoning, researchers must understand some essential characteristics of law and the object of their research. Researchers must develop research strategies to find appropriate law effectively and efficiently.  

Legal writing is the analysis of facts and presentation of such in legal memos and briefs and motions. Every legal writing must be a persuasive and advocates in favor of a legal position. The most effective lawyers are the ones who appreciate the importance of great legal drafting, and actively implement strategies to improve their drafting skills. Legal drafting requires knowledge of your audience, it is not about the writer or drafter, it is about the having a precise understanding of what your client wants. The more you know about your client’s need, the better you are able to draft for their benefit. The best legal writing is an expression of authenticity, this is not to say that precedents cannot be followed, however, true drafts and agreements that are clear, concise and straightforward are very authentic. Avoid the use of ambiguous words or plagiarism while drafting documents and avoid errors. 

 

The summary of legal study, research and writing involves obtaining information from client and other sources necessary to fully understand the clients goals and objectives, preparing a rough draft expressing basic agreements the client contemplates, analyzing the rough draft to identify the legal issues that impact each term of the rough draft, researching all legal issues to identify applicable laws, apply the applicable laws to reach client desired goals, editing and revising the document to ensure the deal is stated a format or language that is clear, concise and functional. 

 

The ultimate goal of this process is to ensure that for every single detail of the document reflects the disposition and merits of the client. The drafting process is the same regardless of any type of document. The principles and goals are identical whether drafting a contract, conveyance, letter, settlement, interrogatory or petition. In each situation, the attorney must know that what they desire to accomplish is to state clearly and succinctly facts or law to reach a legal conclusion that is favorable to the client. In whatever case it might be, the client’s objective is the radical goal that must be met!

 

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