Legal Research

Belle Lettre, who blogs at Law and Letters, has a thoughtful post on her research experiences and the importance of libraries.  She notes that online databases like Lexis, Westlaw, and JSTOR are "not so awesome" and that she's rediscovered the efficiency and usefulness of print resources over the past few months.  Her post reminds me of my "Golden Rule of Research":  if you're searching for particular information, and you don't find what you're looking for within 10-20 minutes in the resource that you're using, it's time to switch research strategies and try something new. Clients hate it when new attorneys rack up lots of billable hours on research that should have taken an hour or two, so it's a good idea to get into the habit of stopping yourself when you're spinning your wheels.  If you have no idea where you should look next, ask a librarian!  We can suggest some alternative research strategies and try them out for you to see if they work.