First-year associate here. I’ve gotten research assignments where, even after hours of research, I haven’t found a clear answer. I know this can be normal, as there’s not always an answer to a research question, but I can’t help feeling bad for not having an answer to bring back to the partner/assigning attorney. Sometimes I worry that I’m just not a good legal researcher/working efficiently. How do you all approach this situation?

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Find cases applicable to bits and pieces of your fact pattern, and then try to cobble together a guess of what would happen in your specific case based on those individual decisions. Make sure the partners know you didn’t find anything directly on point, state any assumptions, and explain why you think each case is relevant and will lead to the result you are predicting. Basically—do what the judge would have to do if presented with your novel issue.

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Legal research is a time and practice honed skill. I never research "a question" research a fact patten. Many times the law doesn't exactly fit your question and answer that you would want. It's a maybe.

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A mentor once told me, all valuable research renders one of four answers: probably yes, probably no, maybe, and it is a crapshoot. I was told that the latter two require a lot of explanation and diligence to be of any use to clients. So if you can’t find an answer, try to explain why.

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Agree totally. And the first two are rare.

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Are you using Westlaw? I know they have a customer service line that will help you research something if you can’t find it. They usually have some creative ideas about what key words might point you to a helpful case or memo.

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While it is hit or miss, I always feel better knowing that, in addition to me striking out on my own, the Westlaw rep alway couldn’t find anything. I’ve had more success with them than not!

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Also not sure if you’ve expanded your jurisdiction which is usually my last resort- to explain that I didn’t find any clear case law in my state but this how other jurisdictions have handled.

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And thanks in advance! Your advice and insight is much appreciated.

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Make sure you know your assignment and understand your role. Look through your firm's database for other memos on similar types of questions, and see if associates are giving pure legal memos. Is your partner really giving you a pure research question that has a right answer, in the context of litigation?

If they're giving it to you, it's not just for their knowledge. There's usually going to be an argument both ways. Depending on how they're using it, it's either going to be a question of 1) whether this is a legal argument we should be making (like, in an MSJ), or 2) is there a reasonable counter to this argument OC made?

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As a follow-up, I did an externship for a judge in law school. He'd give me very broad assignments to draft orders with opinions for him for simple matters, without telling me which way he was going to rule. I drafted orders denying and orders granting every single one. I'd look at the arguments when I was done, and present the better argument to him. He'd read it and either agree or tell me where he though my logic was wrong, and I'd fix it (or use the other one). I didn't explain to him that I was doing this until my exit interview. It really helped me in private practice understand how to advocate, and how to draft MSJs and responses to MSJs.

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And start with a general google search!

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To piggyback off this, I find that looking at articles or blogs on the topic I am researching, if they are available, are immensely helpful in getting to the core of the state of law, which helps with efficiency. This is also helpful if I need to get to an answer quickly. Of course, this doesn’t work with every research assignment.

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This happens to me all the time. I realize that because I’m at a premier biglaw firm, the clients aren’t coming to us with the “easy” questions and after a while you get used to everything being kind of murky. I’ve spent hours on research assignments only to come to the conclusion that the circuits are split, or it depends on the facts, or that whatever we’re looking for doesn’t exist. If that’s the case, I usually contact the person who gave me the assignment after a few hours or once I start feeling like I’m going in circles, and I tell them my conclusion and give a few examples. Sometimes if they know I have time to spare they’ll tell me to keep looking for another few hours just to be sure, but that hasn’t happened often.

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I think of research as finding the end of a thread and pulling until I find the answer. Trouble is, if you don’t know where to start, you’ll never get there. Ask your supervisor/project assigner for a broad overview of the subject areas they think might be relevant (if you don’t know), or maybe if they have seen some terms of art in their own research on the issue. The key is often finding the “magic words.” Once you get the correct phrase, it often leads you in the right direction.

Do you have any good jurisdiction specific treatises at your firm? In the jurisdiction where I primarily practice, we a 20 volume treatise that covers a wide variety of practice areas from civil procedure to probate administration. I find it to be more helpful than Westlaw at times, especially when I’m treading into uncharted territory.

I find that there is rarely a clear answer to most legal issues I encounter. It’s frustrating, but it’s just a fact of life for us associates in the trenches.

Everyone has given great advice. I would also say your Lexis or Westlaw rep is your best friend. Find out who that person is and set up a training session with them. Lexis and Westlaw have a ton of products that aren't taught or highlighted while in law school. For example, Lexis has a litigation navigator tool that can help you find pertinent case law, experts, jury verdicts, etc.

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