What do you do when you’re given a research assignment for a very specific question but you’re not finding any case law one way or the other?

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Personally, I enter into a self-hate spiral and begin to question my intelligence and worthiness.

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There is some way you can farm out research to west law - try that

Don’t laugh but ALR or a detailed treatise has gotten me out of similar jams in the past.

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Seconded!

We have one senior associate who is notorious for asking these kinds of questions. It's a running joke now. You'll find a near perfect on point case for an unbelievably narrow fact pattern, and he'll be like, "Yeah but I'm really looking for something where the accident occurred on a Tuesday." It was infuriating when I was new. Mostly now I just tell him that I found everything I could and that he can check himself if he doesn't believe me.

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Are you in a large firm? Send the question to the research librarians telling them all of the searches you completed and ask them to confirm the negative!

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Co-signing AA2.

Document where you’re looking and how. Check in with the person who gave you the assignment before you’ve burned through the allotted time for the assignment—well before. If possible, call them on the phone. If not, send a short email that restates the assignment in your own words and briefly describes the where and the how. Ask for feedback on your approach and suggestions on how you can course-correct. (The exercise of writing the email may be worthwhile even if you can call, both to self-check and to prep for the phone discussion.) Follow up as appropriate, depending on the time-sensitivity of the assignment.

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Google it. Then go verify that through actual legal research.

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If all else fails, closest application by analogy

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