Help a 0L with legal research (plz)
Posted: Wed Apr 12, 2017 4:57 pm
Hi all.
I just need some tips on doing legal research as a 0L. I'm a legal assistant at a *very* small firm, and my boss just asked me to do some research for a case. Great. But he told me to use Google Scholar to do it -__- Maybe I'm missing something, but Google Scholar does not seem like the best website to do legal research, because it's really hard to limit the search terms as you would on sites that are specifically dedicated to legal research (a previous attorney gave me his login credentials to a site called Caselaw (? I think?) which was super helpful).
Are there any alternative (free) sites I can do case research on, other than Google Scholar? Is there a better way to use Google Scholar for case research? Should I tell my boss to suck it up and to do the research himself?
FWIW - the case he wants research on at this moment is whether our client can sue a trucking company for modifying the engine of a vehicle (which our client subsequently purchased) so that the engine no longer meets EPA standards and our client was not informed of this before the sale.
Please remember I'm not a lawyer and not even a law student yet so I know this all sounds really dumb. My boss is being ridiculously unhelpful so I came here to the internet land of lawyers.
I just need some tips on doing legal research as a 0L. I'm a legal assistant at a *very* small firm, and my boss just asked me to do some research for a case. Great. But he told me to use Google Scholar to do it -__- Maybe I'm missing something, but Google Scholar does not seem like the best website to do legal research, because it's really hard to limit the search terms as you would on sites that are specifically dedicated to legal research (a previous attorney gave me his login credentials to a site called Caselaw (? I think?) which was super helpful).
Are there any alternative (free) sites I can do case research on, other than Google Scholar? Is there a better way to use Google Scholar for case research? Should I tell my boss to suck it up and to do the research himself?
FWIW - the case he wants research on at this moment is whether our client can sue a trucking company for modifying the engine of a vehicle (which our client subsequently purchased) so that the engine no longer meets EPA standards and our client was not informed of this before the sale.
Please remember I'm not a lawyer and not even a law student yet so I know this all sounds really dumb. My boss is being ridiculously unhelpful so I came here to the internet land of lawyers.