Paralegals wear many hats in a law office, but one consistent and primary responsibility is to research case law and facts. Whether your attorney is considering a new case, drafting a complaint, writing a brief or fact checking another party’s allegations, your research skills are a critical component to the success of the project.
Case law research has remained mostly unchanged over the years using Lexis and Westlaw. Any paralegal worth their weight in Post-It notes should have a firm grasp on case law research skills. Factual research, on the other hand, is more complicated because some facts change frequently, while other facts remain the same. For instance, if you needed to know the high temperature in Tampa, Fla., on Sept. 23, 1990, a quick search of the National Weather Service will provide that information, and that fact will stay the same forever. It will not change. In contrast, in 1970 Pluto was, in fact, a planet.
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