5 Essential Research Tips To Use After Law Clerk Training

A busy female law clerk reading legal documents in an office after completing her law clerk training

Completing your Law Clerk training at Algonquin Careers Academy equips you with the knowledge, skills, and confidence to enter the workforce with a solid foundation in legal principles and procedures. However, the real test comes when you need to apply that knowledge in a practical setting.

One of the most critical skills you will need to master is legal research. To help you excel in this area, we’ve compiled five essential research tips to ensure you are efficient, accurate, and thorough in your legal research endeavours.

1. Understand the Hierarchy of Legal Sources

Legal research involves navigating a vast array of information, and it’s crucial to understand the hierarchy of legal sources. As you’ve discovered during your law clerk training, primary sources, such as statutes, regulations, and case law, are binding and hold more weight than secondary sources, like textbooks or legal commentaries, which are persuasive but not authoritative.

A male law clerk picking a book in the law library after completing his law clerk training
As learned during your law clerk training, primary sources are binding

2. Master Legal Databases and Tools

Today’s legal research is done primarily through online legal databases, such as CanLII (Canadian Legal Information Institute), Westlaw, and Quicklaw.

CanLII: This free, comprehensive legal database provides access to Canadian case law, statutes, and regulations. It is a valuable resource for any law clerk researching Canadian law.
Westlaw & Quicklaw: Both platforms are industry-standard paid legal research tools that offer extensive legal databases, including case law, statutes, and legal journals.

A smiling female law clerk carrying out legal research online after her law clerk training
Legal research is done through online legal databases, as you’ll learn in law clerk training

3. Utilize Boolean Search Techniques

When researching legal databases, search terms alone won’t always yield the most precise results. Boolean search techniques are essential for law clerks, allowing you to refine your queries to pull up the most relevant legal materials.

AND/OR: Use "AND" to narrow your search by combining terms. For example, searching for "contract AND breach" will yield results that contain both words.
Quotations: Use quotation marks to search for exact phrases, such as “duty of care,” to ensure the database finds results containing that specific phrase.
Wildcards: Use wildcards, such as the asterisk (*), to account for variations in terms.

4. Keep Track of Your Research Process

Developing a system to track your research process is key to staying organized and avoiding redundant efforts.

Bookmark Important Sources: Use bookmarking tools or database features to save relevant cases, statutes, or articles as you conduct your research.
Take Notes: Keep detailed notes on what you’ve researched, discarded, and why. Tools like OneNote or Evernote can help you organize your findings, annotate key points, and record where you found specific pieces of information.
Stay Consistent: Be consistent in tracking citations. Always record the full citation details as soon as you find them to avoid confusion when drafting documents.

5. Verify the Currency and Validity of Legal Precedents

As our law clerk courses emphasize, a key part of your research process must involve ensuring that the sources you use are current and valid.

Citators: Use legal citations like "KeyCite" (Westlaw) or "QuickCite" (Quicklaw) to verify the validity of a case. Citators will tell you if a case has been overturned, upheld, or affected by subsequent rulings.
Legislative Amendments: Check for updates or amendments to statutes and regulations. Websites like the Department of Justice Canada and provincial legislative bodies frequently publish updated versions of statutes and regulations.

Kickstart Your Legal Career With ACA’s Law Clerk Training

Algonquin Careers Academy’s Law Clerk Training program gives you the practical skills and knowledge needed to excel in the legal field. From legal research to documentation, you’ll be prepared to confidently enter the workforce with a strong foundation in legal procedures. Start your career today with ASC!

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