A Paralegal’s Primer for Research and Paperwork

The nature of the practice determines the nature of the research. In general, paralegals do factual research and write up factual memoranda, then turn over the fruits of their labor to attorneys for interpretation.

Research takes many forms. At the discovery phase of litigation, paralegals may play an important role, checking up on laws to find what is discoverable. They search laws and precedents to learn what types of documents it is permissible to request from the opposing side. Paralegals who have been granted the necessary autonomy may then contact attorneys for the opposing party and request document production. They may have to justify their requests with details of the laws that they have searched.


When the documents come in, paralegals may join with attorneys in checking the submitted documents for completeness. They may categorize and index the documents. They may even read, analyze, and summarize some of the less complex documents.

Another task of the paralegal is to set up the documents and their information on a database in a modern, automated office. In fact, paralegals remain active in the discovery phase right up to interpretation of the documents. Then attorneys take over and relate the facts to laws and precedents.

A supervising attorney may also ask a paralegal to do some initial research at the earliest stages of preparing a matter, or later on as the attorney marshals a plan toward winning the case. This research may be conducted in law libraries, in public libraries, or sitting at a computer using a WESTLAW® or LEXIS® program.

If you have taken a paralegal training program-and more and more paralegals are undergoing formal classroom training - you will have received instruction in the use of various legal research tools and methods of legal research. If you come to a paralegal position without formal training, the firm will give you more limited training with the books and journals it uses and the computer programs to which it subscribes, This more narrow training limits your initiative in re searching other sources.

On the other hand, it may well whet your appetite to go further by enrolling in in-service courses or in a paralegal training program.

As a paralegal, you are never expected to work entirely alone. You are not required to know the law nor to act as a lawyer.

Orientation, guidance, and direction will steer you toward the methods that are accepted in your office.

Legal research can be fascinating. It may involve consulting indexes that send you to books and journals. It can lead you to secondary authorities that define terms and give you an overall picture of the legal issues involved. The secondary authorities offer commentaries, restatements of laws, and the very latest legal philosophical thought. The secondary authorities in turn can steer you towards the proper primary authorities: constitutions, statutes, judicial cases, rules of court, and administrative decisions and regulations. Finally, you must "shepardize"®, that is, follow the subsequent history of the laws and cases to be certain that decisions have not been overturned, that the law which you uncovered is still "good law."

There is a vast array of resources from which you may draw your legal research. At the earliest stages of your career, you will begin using only a few. As your skills and expertise mature, you will probably expand the number of tools you use. The nature of the practice also will determine the nature of the research. In some types of matters-personal injury, medical malpractice, or product liability, for instance-you might find yourself consulting medical journals, popular magazines, or newspaper clipping files as well as the more traditional legal sources.

Much of orthodox legal research involves following up on cross- references. Thus, as you read a case report you find that footnotes refer you to constitutional verities, to various laws and rulings, and to other cases. Law review articles and legal newspapers and journals may also send you to many other sources by way of footnotes. You will need a firm grasp of the
"Uniform System of Citation" in order to follow the footnotes to their sources and to zero in on the appropriate pages.

The same "Uniform System of Citation," also known as the "Blue Book," will serve as your guide in writing citations when you are called upon to draft preliminary briefs. And the Blue Book will be your standard when you proofread completed manuscripts or documents for accuracy of citations and proper form. The Blue Book is a worthwhile sourcebook for you to purchase for your own reference and for private study at home. You can buy this inexpensive book in any law school bookstore.

The citation form in the Blue Book will not help you when you consult print indexes, computer indexes, or Shepard's Citations. Each index has its own system, and Shepard's has a detailed codification method all its own. The front pages of print indexes or citators and the first few screens of their computer counterparts give detailed instructions for their use. Shepard's/McGraw-Hill publishes an entire booklet entitled How To Use SHEPARD'S CITATIONS. Learning to use any of these is not a do-it-yourself project, but once you have received instruction and have gotten some practice, you can become a pro.

The indexes and citators are only finding tools. You must follow through by going to the sources to check for yourself whether or not the specific laws are relevant and whether the facts of the cases cited are "on point" or peripherally related to the facts of the case you are researching. Case reporters include a syllabus-which is a brief description of the facts, issues, and resolution of the case and carry the full decision. As a non-lawyer you will not be making the final determination, but you can be extremely useful to your attorneys by eliminating irrelevant rulings and decisions, in highlighting the most likely precedents, and in listing and possibly summarizing the cases to which they should direct their attention.

You will probably find it useful to do your research at both print sources and major computer sources, either WESTLAW or LEXIS. The computer sources are often quicker to use and, in some cases, more up-to-date than print sources. The print sources may be more complete and almost certainly go back further in time, giving better background and history. Some sources include constitutions, statutes, administrative materials, rules of court, digests, case reports of various jurisdictions, law reviews and law journals, legal newspapers, case report updates, restatements, and loose-leaf services.

This somewhat daunting list need not be overwhelming. You will learn to use these sources one at a time in their relation to specific research. As you look over the list of what you will eventually need to learn how to use, you can readily recognize that a paralegal is indeed a professional and that the position of paralegal is a career position and not just a job.

Other vital paperwork/research in which many paralegals are involved is cite checking. Cite checking is especially important on appellate briefs. The cite checker goes through the brief, to the indexes, and even the laws and casebooks themselves, to be certain that each case is accurately cited. Deciding whether or not the case cited actually is relevant and proves a point is the domain of the attorneys. However, determining that the source is accurately described, that the citation is in approved style and form, and that all numbers are accurate (watch for transpositions of digits) is often the assignment of the paralegal. The paralegal must be certain that the brief is ready for presentation and must alert the attorney to any potential problems in the body of the brief or in the cases cited.

And finally there is shepardizing. Some very large law firms reserve shepardizing for their young associates because it is so important. Other equally large law firms turn this crucial task over to paralegals. Shepardizing is the last step before trial. It involves consulting Shepard's Citations to identify all references to the statute, constitutional point, or landmark case that your attorney is citing as authority. The purpose of the shepardizing search is to be certain that the precedent has not been overturned, and that it is still a good and valid law. Notation in a Shepard's Citator indicates at a glance if there is any question.

The letter "o" appears before a reference if the precedent was overruled in any way. The person doing the shepardizing can refer directly to those cases preceded by an "o." A quick glance at the syllabus should indicate whether the entire ruling was upturned or whether the precedent did not hold because of a matter of fact. Then a comparison of the facts of the current case and the case cited by Shepard's can guide your attorney as he or she goes off to court. Just think of how embarrassing it would be for your attorney to cite a law or precedent that no longer is valid!