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How are hours at Simpson Thacher LA?
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Yes, you should but also be prepared to summarize what you found. Don't show up empty handed. Sure there may be that luck where you do later find something on point after a few more hours but it's diminishing returns at this point. The partner likely told you to stop at 1-2 hours because he suspects there is nothing on point.
I assume partner only recommends 1-2 hours since most carriers only pay for 2 hours of research time. Anything over needs approval from the carrier.
I was always told, and have followed, if you don’t have what they asked for or the answer is no you better have an alternative or something else to offer. Think of it as “no, but…” never just be the no person. Usually I’d also add something like currently I’ve done xyz and there doesn’t appear to be anything on point, but here are some xyz that might be helpful. Let me know if you’d like me to keep researching this topic or how I can best assist moving forward.
Well put. Sometimes research is just data points for triangulation, which ultimately provides something of an answer but not really the answer.
Ask Westlaw's AI. It might tell you if you've missed anything. Ask it the question like you would put as the question at the top of a memo. It's surprisingly good.
Oh yeah, it's completely different. You should see a link or tab on the Westlaw home screen once you've logged in. It's called "Westlaw's AI-Assisted Research"
Just start apologizing and crying
Make sure to keep a research diary of what search terms and conditions you’ve tried—in addition to giving a summary of what you did find as someone else suggested, and ideally a reference to something closer to what they wanted though not exactly what they wanted, you should tell them which terms and conditions and search parameters you have used. That is always my first question to juniors—“please send me your search history,” so I can see whether the search was ill-crafted.
I agree with this comment, as well. When you tell the partner there wasn’t anything on point, their first thought may be to consider how thorough you were, so a research log will be helpful for them to know what you did, or did not, search for.
Did you try Google and Chatgtp just to get the wheels turning?
If you still can’t find anything then try to offer a different avenue for your partner. “I couldn’t find a case on point but maybe these statutes may help”
I agree with everything that has been said already. I am adding that if you limited your scope to just your jurisdiction, expand it to see if you get answers in different states/courts. You may have already done this but just throwing it out there!
I struggle with knowing when to stop researching. 🫠
I usually stop when I am starting to see the same cases again
Depends on practice area and what time table you have to work with to drive solutions on the X.
Yes
Story of every associates life
You should have stopped at 2 hours, gone back to the partner and said “I haven’t found anything on point in the time allotted. Here’s what I have found: XYZ. Would you like me to keep going?”
If I was your supervisor, I would write off the other 3 hours and not give you credit for it.
There was a clear instruction to take 1-2 hours. They already took 5. Why would they receive credit for work not authorized?