Legal Research is..... Fun ??!?
So I am currently engaged in the open memo, which is a particular form of hell for first year law students. Basically you are given a fact pattern and two issues of law to answer and told to find the answer. It's a somewhat realistic assignment in that it's likely the kind of thing you'd be expected to do as a summering student, an articling student or a rookie lawyer in a firm.
However, we've never really done legal research before so it can be quite a laborious prospect. I know that many people in the class are already getting frustrated, and I had a moment or two of frustration last night, but today has been much much better.
There is something really exciting about needing to find some principle of law or some case with similar facts and sifting through millions of secondary sources, trying different combinations of keyword searches, reading dozens of cases that point you to hundreds of other cases and then finally coming across that perfect case that gives you exactly what you need.
The thing I really like about it is that you have to go wherever the law takes you. Unlike in Political Science where I could decide what I wanted my conclusion to be and then find academic articles that supported that conclusion, in law there is only so much you can do. Obviously, lawyers are paid to try to find there way around any precedent or principle that stands in there way, but depending on the issue that just may not be possible. And for an assignment like this, which is based on impartially assessing the outcome, it's completely a matter of going where the law takes you.
Man, I am a dork. But I am a dork who is content that the decision to come to law school was the right one - must be if I like the worst assignment of the year.
However, we've never really done legal research before so it can be quite a laborious prospect. I know that many people in the class are already getting frustrated, and I had a moment or two of frustration last night, but today has been much much better.
There is something really exciting about needing to find some principle of law or some case with similar facts and sifting through millions of secondary sources, trying different combinations of keyword searches, reading dozens of cases that point you to hundreds of other cases and then finally coming across that perfect case that gives you exactly what you need.
The thing I really like about it is that you have to go wherever the law takes you. Unlike in Political Science where I could decide what I wanted my conclusion to be and then find academic articles that supported that conclusion, in law there is only so much you can do. Obviously, lawyers are paid to try to find there way around any precedent or principle that stands in there way, but depending on the issue that just may not be possible. And for an assignment like this, which is based on impartially assessing the outcome, it's completely a matter of going where the law takes you.
Man, I am a dork. But I am a dork who is content that the decision to come to law school was the right one - must be if I like the worst assignment of the year.