Legal Research

Question 1

What are the first two things that you need to outline when doing legal research?

Answer 1

1. Find the client’s objectives
2. Narrow these down to search terms.

Question 2

What three questions must you answer in the Introduction?

Answer 2

1. Who is the client?
2. What are the key facts?
3. What do they need advice on?

Question 3

How you should format your Findings section?

Answer 3

Use headings

Question 4

What is the main focus in the Findings section?

Answer 4

Giving a summary of legislative framework.

Question 5

How much case law do you need to include?

Answer 5

1 or 2, or none if not easily found.

Question 6

How specific do you need to be with legislation?

Answer 6

You must use specific references to sections etc.

Question 7

What format should you follow when talking about legislation?

Answer 7

1. Reference the section
2. Explain the law
3. Apply the law to the client’s situation

Question 8

What should the Conclusion do?

Answer 8

It should be a summing up.

Question 9

What two things must be covered in the Conclusion?

Answer 9

• A summary of how the law applies to the client
• Any next steps

Question 10

When referencing, what titles must you include?

Answer 10

Primary Sources

Secondary Sources

Question 11

What are primary sources?

Answer 11

Legislation
Case Law
Others that establish the law

Question 12

What are secondary sources?

Answer 12

Gov.uk
Law blogs

Question 13

What 3 things do you need to give per reference?

Answer 13

1. Name of source
2. Web link
3. Evaluation of reliability

Question 14

When evaluating reliability, what two things must you speak about?

Answer 14

1. Authorship (are they reliable?)
2. Date (is the info still reliable?)

Question 15

What is a good evaluation of a reference for an Act?

Answer 15

Government website where all legislation is accurate and regularly updated.