Canadian Legal Research Manual

There is no secret to good legal research. There is also no one way to do it effectively. But there are some tips and tricks that can help you find the relevant legal information more efficiently and effectively.

As you review the 6 Stages, keep in mind the following tips.

1. Always keep jurisdiction and currency in mind.

Jurisdiction and currency are crucial in legal research. Jurisdiction is important because the law in one province, territory, or country is not necessarily the same as in another. Currency (the date of a source) is important because the law can change very quickly. 

• Always look first for sources from your specific jurisdiction.
• Depending on the area of law, sources from other jurisdictions may be persuasive, but remember that foreign case law is not binding on Canadian courts.
• Pay attention to the date of all sources, including legislation, case law, and secondary sources.
• Update all of your sources (check to see if they reflect the current law) by following the steps described in each Stage.

►See Canada's Court System for more information on the hierarchy of the courts.

2. Be prepared to move forwards and backwards between Stages. 

The legal research process is not necessarily an orderly process. While the Stages are designed to provide some overall structure to the process, you may need to jump backwards and forwards depending on your knowledge of the area of law.

Legal information is not all available in one central online location. While Westlaw, Lexis, and CanLII have overlapping content, they also contain unique legal information.

• Search in multiple databases to ensure you don't miss information.
• Be prepared to search and re-search, then re-search again using a variety of strategies (keywords, Boolean, filters, etc.). 
• Pay attention to whether your strategy is too broad (pulls in too many results) or too narrow (too few results) and adjust accordingly.

►See "Fundamental Search Techniques" in Christa Bracci & Erica Friesen, Legal Research Online (eCampus Ontario Open Library, 2024).

3. Stay organized to keep your research efficient. 

Legal research can be messy. Without an organization system, you may conduct the same searches over and over again or lose track of resources you've found. Organization helps eliminate these risks. Strategies include:

• Keep track of citations as you go (not just case names, article titles, etc.).
• Use features like folders and search history in CanLII, Westlaw, and Lexis. (On CanLII, you need a free MyCanLII account to do so). 
• Use a free citation manager like Zotero to keep track of sources.
• Use an Excel spreadsheet to document which searches and keywords you've done on different databases, or to document your results.

►See Legal Citation Management with Zotero to get started with Zotero.

►See Elaine Gregersen, "How I Use Excel to Manage my Literature Review" (2016) for an example of a spreadsheet tracker.