A Short & Happy Guide to Advanced Legal Research

Compares free and fee-based legal research resources for each stage of civil litigation, including the initial case assessment; discovery and investigation resources to find information on judges, attorneys, experts, and companies; and resources to find pleadings, motions, and briefs for pretrial action.

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Legal research can be costly for students and practitioners in two ways: time and money. A Short & Happy Guide to Advanced Legal Research, 2nd identifies available free and fee-based legal research options as good, cheap and/or fast. This book compares free and fee-based legal research resources for each stage of civil litigation, including the initial case assessment; discovery and investigation resources to find information on judges, attorneys, experts, and companies; and resources to find pleadings, motions, and briefs for pretrial action. Although this book is designed for law students taking an Advanced Legal Research course with unlimited access to Bloomberg Law, Lexis+, and Westlaw Edge, it is also a valuable reference for anyone who graduated from law school prior to 2019, interested in learning about the new litigation analytics and artificial intelligence features.

Ann Walsh Long is the Head of Research & Digital Collections/Associate Professor of Law at the Lincoln Memorial University School of Law and teaches Legal Research, Advanced Legal Research, and Competitive Intelligence. Ann also worked at the Environmental Protection Agency's Headquarters Library and in four "Big Law" firms. As a former law firm librarian, Ann taught hundreds of summer and new associates how to conduct cost-effective legal research, and advised firms on how best to recover those costs from clients. This book may also serve as a valuable reference when renegotiating your next legal research license and offers guidance on evaluating content to add to your flat-rate contract that will lead to a more cost-effective practice.