1 What is Legal Research?

Legal research can be summarised as the ability to find, evaluate, and use sources of legal information to:

  • solve a legal problem.
  • suggest reform of the law.
  • compare the laws of different jurisdictions.
  • understand the role of law in society.

Understanding legal research skills is important

Understanding these skills will not only improve your effectiveness in university assessment but will also prove valuable in your future career. Those who study law will continue to use legal research skills once they graduate and are in practice or other workplaces.

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Legal Research Skills: An Australian Law Guide: 2024 Edition Copyright © 2024 by The University of Queensland, James Cook University, the University of Southern Queensland, Charles Darwin University, Southern Cross University, Queensland University of Technology, Deakin University and University of South Australia is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.