Legal research is a process that involves looking for answers to a legal question or a legal precedent that can be sited on a brief or a trial. The legal research determines whether a legal issue is a case of first impression that has no legal precedent or not. Every criminal case, lawsuit, appeal and legal process require some amounts of legal research that is contained in the legal information. The legal information is divided into primary law that bides law that are codified in statute, case law and regulations and also divided into secondary sources that involves legal that are not binding and it explain the primary law and legal theory such as treaties, journals, legal digests among many others. The legal system of U.S. involves using decided court cases as its precedent and it also uses the statutes and the common law, click here!

The function of a legal research is to find how the previous courts have decided their cases either using similar facts of pattern. Legal research is performed by anyone who is need with legal information and the sources of this legal information ranges from printed books to free legal research websites such as Martindale Hubbell. The legal information may also be contained from portal to fee database vendors that provide the research service in order to help their patrons to find the legal information they require in law schools, law firms and other research environments. There are many law libraries and institutions that provide a free access to legal information that is contained in the website either providing to them individually or through collective action such as the Free Access to Law Movement.

The legal research is used to take much of its time and effort in order to access online legal research database such as LexisNexis and Westlaw which is usually costly. Due to consideration that is given to the ethical concerns, practitioners and law firms turn the third-party legal research providers who outsource the need of legal research.

The commercial services that are offered by the legal research include both primary and secondary sources and they can be country-specific, international or comparative. The commercial legal research tools in the United States have generated $8 billion out of the legal research in revenue per year. There are also other government that provides the access to certain resources through paying them databases such as United States PACER law system. Get more facts about lawyers at https://www.britannica.com/topic/common-law.