What is legal research?
Why do I have to go to the Public Access Law Library? Isn't everything on the Internet?
Answer
The purpose of legal research is to help you prepare a written statement that will provide the court with the facts and legal issues necessary to make its decision. The facts are what happened. Legal issues are principles of law as defined in cases and laws that support your request for the judge to rule in your favor. Court rules and laws state the requirements for filing papers and following procedures.
The legal research services, Westlaw, LexisAdvance, and E-books, help you find laws and cases that define legal issues. Since legal research requires coordinating common legal principles and the facts that happened to you, organizing your research is essential.
You must come to the Public Access Law Libraries to use Westlaw, LexisAdvance and E-books because only recent cases and laws are on the Internet. Books that explain the laws and services that update cases are laws are only available in the Public Access Law Libraries.