Legal research is a vital part of a law firm’s work. It has been my experience that legal research is one of the top training needs of the average legal support team. To me this makes perfect sense, considering attorneys leave law school experts in legal research, they may not be as inclined to rely on their support staff as much as they could to complete this task. There are many successful paralegals that have been getting by seemingly fine by doing minimal legal research.

PARALEGALS NEED THIS SKILL
However, I always say paralegals need to know everything their attorney knows and everything their attorney doesn’t know. Sure, your attorney is the expert at legal research and you are the expert at electronic filing. And maybe it’s unnecessary for your attorney to know everything about electronic filing. But as all paralegals know, the same rules do not apply to you that apply to the attorneys, and vice versa. It is my opinion that paralegals must strive to know everything their attorneys know to truly provide the well-rounded support that attorneys need. 

Legal research can be daunting considering we are working in a field and at a time where we have an overwhelming amount of information. Then on top of that, a simple case is further complicated by a series of numbers and letters that can look like hieroglyphics to a novice legal professional. But don’t be at all intimidated. In fact, legal research today is easier than ever. If legal professionals of the ’80s could do it without the access to information we have today, you can surely master the skill. 

THROW SOME D’S ON THAT BRIEF
One of the attorneys I used to work with would layout his brief and ask me to put “spinners on it.” He is referring to big, shiny rims that spin, but what he means is “add good case law.” He refers to the case law citations as spinners because they give the brief its finishing touch and impress the attorney’s argument. 

But in order to truly impress, it must be done correctly. The case law must be current and that is something that a lot of free online legal research tools do not provide. Additionally, the citation must be correct. Your attorney will review your citations before submitting the brief, nonetheless, make sure you double check the citation to make sure that it is spelled out correctly before you hand it over to the attorney. 

I hope you find this quick reference of abbreviations for commonly used reporters helpful when you are putting spinners on your pleadings. And our legal research tools don’t stop there, check out this blog to learn the basics with an easy to understand infographic that breaks down legal citations in a number of different ways.