Legal Research is the process of identifying the legal information that applies to a specific fact pattern or problem. It involves learning the necessary new skills to locate and understand the various types of information that may be relevant. Finding the appropriate laws, cases and rules can be time consuming and it can be frustrating because the ultimate answer could be ‘maybe’.
There are many books and websites which can teach non-lawyers the basic process of digging in and finding answers to the question “Isn’t there a law that…. ?”. These days the resources to do legal research may be available digitally or in print; for free or at a cost; in a library or on the Internet. Do not be lulled into complacency believing that if the information is not available on the Internet for free, that it is not necessary to your search. Actual books in libraries are still an essential part of the research process.
The focus of this page is not teach the process of legal research but to direct people to sources of information about how to do research and possible sources of primary and secondary materials. Sources about how to do legal research are below while sources of general legal information and primary law are in the side bar.