Difference between revisions of "Learning To Love Legal Research"

The Legal Research Masterclass

Legal Research is the essential foundation for success for both law students and professional lawyers alike. We therefore decided to create this brief series of educational videos to introduce law students and aspiring lawyers to some of the key underlying principles of legal method, fact management, authority analysis and case preparation. We hope that they will prove to be valuable resources to kick-start a life-time love of legal research.

...Or at least to help students to create their own method of thorough, reliable and sustainable case preparation which they will be able to take into a successful practice of law.

The videos are best watched sequentially but can also be viewed as standalone introductions to varying aspects of legal research. Do get in touch with any questions, comments or feedback.

Emily Allbon & Andrew Worthley

The Brief

Read the judge’s expression. Take a hint and gauge whether your argument is holding water. If the judge does not appear to be accepting your argument, move on!

It would be foolhardy to pursue a line of argument that is not convincing the judge.

It is advisable that you move on to another argument which is most likely to be stronger or finish your submissions altogether if you have nothing more to add.

The Facts

The Research

The Authority

Here we look at one of the leading authorities around relief from sanctions, Mitchell v News Group Newspapers [2014] 1 WLR 795.

Andrew takes us through the case, showing his thought processes and research strategy - here you get an insight into what you are looking for when you read through a case.

The Skeleton

Following on from the research steps seen in the previous films - this one covers how you take what you've gleaned (e.g. CPR r 3.9 and the 2 cases, Mitchell and Dentonand draft these into a skeleton argument.

To give you some idea of what such a skeleton might look like we've given you an edited version.