What is the best way to do legal research?

[gwen]

tl;dr: if a court filing is not available on LexisNexis or the county's website, do lawyers and legal researchers have a better way of getting it than physically visiting the clerk's office and/or the court archives?

I’m trying to get out of the office daily grind so a friend of a friend of an attorney has hired me freelance to do some research for him. Before you say, “Ask him.” I have. I’m actually surprised how little a graduate of law school and legal practitioner knows about this stuff.

I’d ask if you don’t know what you’re talking about to refrain from even trying to answer this. But, this is yahoo so I know that’s going to happen. Also, this question is NOT about whether malpractice occurred in the following hypothetical scenario.

What follows obviously aren’t the material facts of the case I’m working on.

Suppose Sarah visits Acme Hospital which is located in First County complaining of a stomach ache. The ER physician refers her to Dr. Smith who performs at CT scan, who reviews it and finds nothing wrong with it. The slides are sent to Best Medical Image located in Second County where Dr. James reviews them. Smith and James both agree that nothing is wrong.

Three months later, Sarah goes back to the ER complaining of abdominal pain again. A subsequent CT scan is ordered. This time, a malignant tumor is noticed. The cancer is terminal. Sarah believes malpractice has been committed and her attorney’s experts review the original slide and indeed find that the original physicians could have and should have noticed the course of treatment.

So, the attorney asks me to research the legal history of Acme Hospital and Best Imaging in First County State and Superior Court and Second County State and Superior Court. Easy enough, but LexisNexis only carries files on First County State and Superior Court back to 2002. It does not carry anything for Second County and the County’s government website hasn’t even bothered to put such information online.

Acme Hospital and Best Imaging have been incorporate since 1980. In this case, is the standard course of business in this line of work to drive to First County State and Superior Court Clerk’s office, then their archives, and the same process for Second County?

As I said, the guy I’m working for doesn’t even seem to know and I’m largely training myself.

I’m trying to get out of the office daily grind so a friend of a friend of an attorney has hired me freelance to do some research for him. Before you say, “Ask him.” I have. I’m actually surprised how little a graduate of law school and legal practitioner knows about this stuff.

I’d ask if you don’t know what you’re talking about to refrain from even trying to answer this. But, this is yahoo so I know that’s going to happen. Also, this question is NOT about whether malpractice occurred in the following hypothetical scenario.

What follows obviously aren’t the material facts of the case I’m working on.

Suppose Sarah visits Acme Hospital which is located in First County complaining of a stomach ache. The ER physician refers her to Dr. Smith who performs at CT scan, who reviews it and finds nothing wrong with it. The slides are sent to Best Medical Image located in Second County where Dr. James reviews them. Smith and James both agree that nothing is wrong.

Three months later, Sarah goes back to the ER complaining of abdominal pain again. A subsequent CT scan is ordered. This time, a malignant tumor is noticed. The cancer is terminal. Sarah believes malpractice has been committed and her attorney’s experts review the original slide and indeed find that the original physicians could have and should have noticed the course of treatment.

So, the attorney asks me to research the legal history of Acme Hospital and Best Imaging in First County State and Superior Court and Second County State and Superior Court. Easy enough, but LexisNexis only carries files on First County State and Superior Court back to 2002. It does not carry anything for Second County and the County’s government website hasn’t even bothered to put such information online.

Acme Hospital and Best Imaging have been incorporate since 1980. In this case, is the standard course of business in this line of work to drive to First County State and Superior Court Clerk’s office, then their archives, and the same process for Second County?

As I said, the guy I’m working for doesn’t even seem to know and I’m largely training myself.

[Henry]

In order to research effectively, you must determine if the issue involves federal or state law and what type of primary law applies.