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Me. Every single day. Since I started practicing.
What is the lateral hire process like?
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I’ve never done it but I’ve heard the companies have free research assistants you can call that will help you refine your searches and find what you’re looking for. Maybe someone else can chime in.
Each service has a live chat feature. They will help build a good search for you. Can also serve as a second researcher while you do your own search.
Things that I do that helps for me:
-Google concepts/issues to see if there's any easy articles, especially from firms, I can look into
-also secondary sources as primers/tools.
to get into further case law/sources
-citing references/case notes for the case law/statutes/regs I already know about/am looking into.
Are you also a newer attorney OP? Sometimes it'll just take a while, especially starting out. It's just part of the process.
This right here is the way.
Other replies have mentioned the AI tools but I would be careful when using them. I have had more than a couple times where Precision AI and Lexis+ AI returned cases/resources on the wrong area of law … the AI results looked great at first but after deeper review they weren’t solid.
OP, feel free to DM. I help my firms attorneys and staff become more efficient at research. I am happy to share some recommendations.
Yes I use the live chat on westlaw (bottom of page) every single time, always find what I’m looking for
Just want to say that I love this question and the answers 🥰
Try Westlaw Precision. Has an AI feature that jump starts your research. And your Westlaw rep can help w training or reach out to the reference attorneys. 1-800-REF-ATTY
Call the Lexis or Westlaw reference attorney hotline and have them craft searches for you. You will learn from their searches how to most efficiently find what you’re looking for.
You need to use Boolean search terms to be more specific and precise. If you don’t know what this means Dm me!
If your law firm has a Lexis or Westlaw rep, that helps. You can speak with them about how you’re doing your research and they can direct you on different techniques for legal research and/or probably database tools for better efficiency in your research. Both companies are constantly updating their toolkits for research.
Use a Practical Guidance search to get the key statutes and target language, then narrow to applicable target. Shepardize the case law that was referenced in the guide, and check the Cited WITH in addition to going up and down the citation history. I struggle with boolean searches, too.
Westlaw / Practical Law AI is a game changer if your firm has it.
Agreed. I find what it actually writes is less useful than the cases and practice notes it links to
Westlaw has a staff of research attorneys who are always happy to help with requests. Give them a try.
At this point, you should be integrating perplexity pro or some other LLM deep research into your workflow. I’m not saying it should replace, but you’re going to start falling behind the times if it’s not at least part of your process.
Do you mean perplexity pro or other LLM deep research tools instead of or in addition to Westlaw Precision AI, Lexis+ AI, vLex Vincent AI, etc.?
Genuinely curious. Thanks for sharing!
It DOES take time. You have to become an expert in a mini-area each time.
A good way to start is call about 6 attorneys about your issue. About half will give you 5-10 minutes. Ask for their take. If you hear the same thing - that is likely solid ground.
Most legal areas developed over time and there are a few key places, sometimes just one sentence that is the nutshell. Look hard.
Technique on search engines helps, persistence helps more. You can ask a law librarian for help too - there are some great resources other thsn Westlaw/Lexis.
What are you doing currently?
Start with the key numbers and narrow down by topic as a good start. You can also use quotation marks for exact phrases and connectors (such as “ /s” for the search terms to be in the same sentence or “/p” for the same paragraph). Whenever there is a space between words the search engine will read it as “or”. So the quotation marks will help narrow results a lot.
Co-Counsel via Thompson-Reuters.
Use a legal encyclopedia like CJS or state encyclopedias like Florida Jurisprudence (Westlaw) those were always my secret weapons
Use appropriate connectors and think about what you want the judge to say and type up an answer that can get you there. It is already stated above but start broader and narrow it after. As an example, if you are searching for a fraud case that dismissed a matter on SOL grounds for a motion to dismiss then you can search something like: ("stat!" /s "limit!") /250 "fraud!" /250 "dismiss!"
Then narrow it by your jurisdiction (or judge would be best), and see if you can narrow it by the type of case / procedural posture. If you're out of options then Google for articles discussing your set of facts, try the AI in westlaw, or just type in a sentence (you would be surprised how often that works).
But really, nothing beats putting in the time on research. My first two weeks of being an attorney i spent literally 2 weeks searching for something that would now take me a few hours tops. You'll get the hang of it.
Use 2ndary resources first especially on new or unfamiliar topics. Eg I go to LexisNexis Halsbury/Westlaw CED or the law encyclopedias for topic related info to get an idea or scope and then it'll direct me further to more primary sources or the Westlaw legal memoranda are pretty good and then can go further from there or I look at Google articles and then dive deeper.
I always look at treatises first on Lexis but I am in California so we have tons of them.
We just got Westlaw and I am growing fond of the AI option since it links to sources directly for easy double-checking.