Providing a clear and concise guide to the practicalities of legal research, this informative book presents a methodological framework for law-in-context research design. It argues that legal scholarship relies on the interpretive and argumentative methods of the humanities, but also requires empirical input due to its focus on social reality. Contextualising Legal Research discusses core topics including research questions, methods, theoretical frameworks, evaluations and recommendations. It demonstrates how the contextualisation of doctrinal research is a gradual process: while sometimes researchers may include only the output of other disciplines, their research questions often require them to undertake more interdisciplinary research themselves. Ultimately, the book advocates for a combination of doctrinal research, empirical disciplines and theoretical-normative perspectives, with extensive discussion on the contribution of the humanities to legal research. Promoting a practical examination of interdisciplinary doctrinal research, this book is an essential resource for master students and PhD candidates on research methods in law. It is also beneficial for researchers conducting doctrinal and interdisciplinary research.
Providing a clear and concise guide to the practicalities of legal research, this informative book presents a methodological framework for law-in-context research design. It argues that legal scholarship relies on the interpretive and argumentative methods of the humanities, but also requires empirical input due to its focus on social reality.
Until quite recently questions about methodology in legal research have been largely confined to understanding the role of doctrinal research as a scholarly discipline. In turn this has involved asking questions not only about coverage but, fundamentally, questions about the identity of the discipline. Is it (mainly) descriptive, hermeneutical, or normative? Should it also be explanatory? Legal scholarship has been torn between, on the one hand, grasping the expanding reality of law and its context, and, on the other, reducing this complex whole to manageable proportions. The purely internal analysis of a legal system, isolated from any societal context, remains an option, and is still seen in the approach of the French academy, but as law aims at ordering society and influencing human behaviour, this approach is felt by many scholars to be insufficient. Consequently many attempts have been made to conceive legal research differently. Social scientific and comparative approaches have proven fruitful. However, does the introduction of other approaches leave merely a residue of 'legal doctrine', to which pockets of social sciences can be added, or should legal doctrine be merged with the social sciences? What would such a broad interdisciplinary field look like and what would its methods be? This book is an attempt to answer some of these questions.
The book is written in a conversational style, and the language is accessible and simple, with flowing examples that users can relate with. Practical legal questions are raised and application of individual research methods, strategies, approaches and philosophies are demonstrated. The book starts with a clear definition of legal research method to justification and importance. It spans the research process, theoretical positions and justification for research, the writing up process and the defence of research output either in seminars, conferences or for PhD defence. It also prepares researchers and academicians for discussion and interaction with peers at conferences and seminars.
The empirical study of law, legal systems and legal institutions is widely viewed as one of the most exciting and important intellectual developments in the modern history of legal research. Motivated by a conviction that legal phenomena can and should be understood not only in normative terms but also as social practices of political, economic and ethical significance, empirical legal researchers have used quantitative and qualitative methods to illuminate many aspects of law's meaning, operation and impact. In the 43 chapters of The Oxford Handbook of Empirical Legal Research leading scholars provide accessible and original discussions of the history, aims and methods of empirical research about law, as well as its achievements and potential. The Handbook has three parts. The first deals with the development and institutional context of empirical legal research. The second - and largest - part consists of critical accounts of empirical research on many aspects of the legal world - on criminal law, civil law, public law, regulatory law and international law; on lawyers, judicial institutions, legal procedures and evidence; and on legal pluralism and the public understanding of law. The third part introduces readers to the methods of empirical research, and its place in the law school curriculum.
Legal Research Demystified offers a real-world approach to legal research. The textbook guides law students through eight steps to research common law issues and ten steps to research statutory issues. These research steps are demonstrated through many hypotheticals and visual aids. Students have praised the textbook for its screen captures, checklists, and descriptive charts, such as charts demonstrating Boolean searching and comparing features of citators. Professors have appreciated that the book educates students on how to do legal research instead of discussing finding tools and resources in a vacuum. The second edition includes multiple updates. The chapters on research plans and secondary sources have been moved to their own section because these initial research steps apply to all legal issues. The chapters on secondary sources, citators, and keyword searching have been revised and expanded. New assessment questions on research tools and concepts have been added to almost every chapter. The revised introductions and additional cross references make it easy to assign the chapters out of order. With the purchase of a new book, students gain free access to the assessment and teaching platform of Core Knowledge for Lawyers. That online platform contains interactive questions and exercises that map to Legal Research Demystified. Almost 200 auto-grading questions from the end of each chapter. Hundreds of interactive questions and explanations that walk students through the steps for researching common law and statutory issues on Westlaw and Lexis+. Instant feedback after each question--similar to Core Grammar and MBIE. Robust instructor dashboard--professors can view individual and class performance.
This exciting textbook introduces the basic tenets and methodologies of empirical legal research. Explaining how to initiate and conduct empirical research projects, how to evaluate the methods used and how to analyze and engage with the results, Kees van den Bos provides a vibrant and reliable primer for students and practitioners looking to engage actively in legal research.
Professor Bintliff explores the changing context of legal research results occasioned by the shift from the defined and hierarchical legal research world of digests and print resources to the unlimited information available electronically. Basic communication theory is used to understand how the changes affect our shared context.
Introduces students to legalistic, theoretical, empirical, comparative and cross-disciplinary research methods, grounded in working examplesNew for this editionNew chapter on inter- and cross-disciplinary research essential reading for international students and students with a non-law first degree undertaking research in the areas of law, criminology, psychology and sociologyResearch ethics has been expanded to a full chapter that includes current plagiarism and imperfect disclosureBrings existing chapters up to date with the newest thinking in legal researchDrawing on actual research projects, Research Methods for Law discusses how legal research as process impacts on research as product. The author team has a broad range of teaching and research experience in law, criminal justice and socio-legal studies, and give examples from real-life research products to illustrate the theory.
A time-tested, proven introduction, The Process of Legal Research acquaints students with all of the sources and relevant vocabulary and shows how each source works, how to combine sources into a cohesive research process, and how to resolve legal problems through effective techniques. Extensive illustrations and examples quickly engage students in actual research problems, as the text carefully demonstrates how research and writing are interrelated processes. The authors focus on teaching the best research practices, illustrating how to choose the appropriate source and media for each type of problem. Electronic research is completely integrated into the text. Students are given solid guidance for every type of situation, learning when and how to choose between paper and electronic research, and how the choice among different media can result in different access means, scope, and currency of materials. The Process of Legal Research offers extensive, well-researched problems sets, ideal for large programs that need plenty of exercise options for their students. Pages with problems sets are perforated for easy use. The Eighth Edition finds a sharper focus on the basics, asking and answering the questions, "What are the various forms of legal authority?" and "How does each contribute to resolving a client's legal problem?" A greater emphasis on how to choose the optimal research options for various authorities includes a mix of print and online as well as public and commercial resources. Each chapter includes a table of optimal research options. The Eighth Edition skillfully interweaves smaller employment law problems faced by a firm throughout the text, rather than the single mega-problem of previous editions, and new flow-chart style charts illuminate much of the denser text. Citations are covered in citation boxes, reflecting both the Bluebook and ALWD. In a leaner writing style designed appeal to modern students, the Eighth Edition confronts some of the most current hot topics, such as how people think about research today and what firms find wanting in new lawyers research abilities. Hallmark features: Provides a complete introduction to the process of legal research the sources and vocabulary of legal research how each source works how to combine sources into a research process how to resolve legal problems through effective research techniques Extensive illustrations and examples of actual research problems Teaches the best research practices how to choose the appropriate source and media for various types of problems Integrates electronic research discusses when and how to choose between paper and electronic research shows how the choice among media results in different access means, scope, and currency of materials Includes extensive, well-researched problems sets
