Library Skill and Legal Research

MTC 038

LEGAL RESEARCH (part 2)

Research Planning

Research planning is the first stage in conducting legal research. It is a preliminary

step of effective and efficient research. This skill must be mastered by all future
practitioners.

The objective of this stage is to:-

i) help in developing systematic techniques that assist the identification and
analysis of the material facts;
ii) promote creative thinking to assist the analysis of the materials, legal
issues that were ascertained and possible resolution and finally incorporate
that practice of generating effective and alternative search terms for
purposes of the research.

You need to plan your research because every fact situation presented to you is quite
general and broad as it contains a bulk of information. Some of the information given
might be immaterial for legal purposes. Therefore, by planning your research
properly, you can extract the precise significant facts which initiate the law. Planning
your research will assure good result and also can save yourself and your client time
and money. This is because, by planning a research you will evaluate alternative
techniques to assist you in analyzing the facts and legal issues also in identifying
alternative resolutions.

There are four steps in research planning, namely;-

i. fact collection;
ii. fact analysis (and identification of relevant legal principles);
iii. identification of factual and legal issues; and
iv. formulating a research plan.

i) Fact collection is a process of collecting relevant facts from all possible

resources. In collecting fact from the facts you need a systematic application such as
5W 1H questions to avoid any serious omission in gathering facts. The systematic
method of 5W IH questions is as follows:-

a) WHO?...are the parties involved in a particular case

b) WHAT?...is the case all about
c) WHEN?...did the incident happen
d) WHERE?...did the incident occur
e) WHY?...did the incident happen
f) HOW?...did the incident happen

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MTC 038

Once you have gathered all the necessary facts from the information you have, you
must examine your facts carefully constantly. You can conduct further follow-up
enquiries and investigation if you feel the facts collected are insufficient.

ii) Fact analysis is the second step in research planning. After collecting the
relevant facts from the information, then you have to analyze the significance of the
facts as to extract and select the relevant facts. It is important to start analyzing by
knowing what you are looking for. You need to initiate the process by formulating
your legal questions to ensure that you can develop sub problems from the facts.
Again, in analyzing facts, there is a systematic method you can follow, namely:

a) Brainstorming; or
b) Mind-mapping; or
c) Using the West System.

a) Brainstorming is where a group of people sit down together and through a

discussion gives an ideas and opinions on the subject matters which are
relevant to the facts of the case.

b) Mind-mapping is a kind of diagram constructed based on the central theme or

main idea of the facts.

c) West System is a system that uses the collected facts which are then be
organized and categorized into sub topics as follows:

1) PARTIES. The status of person(s) involved and their relationship to

identify the relevant area of law and legally significant aspects of the case.
- You need to identify the parties of the case, for example; the plaintiff and
the defendant for civil action; or Public Prosecutor and the accused for
criminal cases.
2) OBJECTS. The generality or specificity of objects in the fact situation is
analyzed.
- You need to know and understand the facts of the case.
3) PLACES. The locations stated in the facts are evaluated as they might
affect the basis of the case.
4) BASIS. The reason(s) the case was brought to the court.
5) DEFENCE. The possible arguments to disrupt the foundation of the case
by the opponent party(s)
6) RELIEF. The resolution request by the client or any order by the court.

iii) Identification of factual and legal issues

Once you have gathered your facts and distinguished the relevant from the irrelevant,
you can organize them and relate the facts to the legal principles and vice versa. One
way to do this is by organizing them under the following headings. (some you can
take from your west system chart).

1) Causes of action

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Identify the main legal basis of the action and the facts which support
your client’s case.
Are there facts which obstruct your client’s case?
Are there any alternative courses of action, legal or non-legal?

2) Special facts
Identify facts, if any, which may serve to distinguish your client’s
claim from existing authority.

3) Defence
Identify potential defences which might be raised.
What facts supports these defences.

4) Relief
Identify what potential relief your client might obtain.
Are there any barriers to relief being granted?

5) Threshold issues
Identify any facts which may dispose of the case (e.g. has a statutory
limitation period expired?)
Are there facts which make it very undesirable or unnecessary to
proceed?

iv) Formulate a Research Plan

This is just one of the methods to assist you at this planning stage. You may adopt
these or adapt them. You should ultimately develop your own personal method of
research planning. The method itself is less important than the end result.

The next step after this is research implementation. And we will start in the law
library.