Legal Research Services
Professional legal research services — case law research, statutory analysis, regulatory research, and written legal research memoranda — delivered by someone with 25+ years of legal experience and the analytical skills to find what matters.
Legal Research Education
Legal research is the process of finding and analyzing the legal authorities — statutes, case law, regulations, and secondary sources — that govern a particular legal issue. Every legal argument, every court filing, and every legal document rests on a foundation of legal authority. An argument without legal support is opinion; an argument backed by controlling legal authority is advocacy.
Legal research involves two distinct challenges: finding the law that applies to your specific issue, and understanding how courts have interpreted and applied that law. A statute may appear to clearly answer a question, only to have been interpreted in an unexpected way by the courts. A court opinion that seems on-point may have been reversed on appeal or distinguished so many times that it no longer represents good law. Professional legal research locates the controlling authorities and verifies that they remain good law.
The output of legal research is typically a legal research memorandum — a structured written document that presents the issue, summarizes the applicable law, applies that law to the specific facts, and reaches a conclusion. Legal memoranda are used to brief lawyers on an unfamiliar area of law, to support motions and briefs, to educate clients on their legal rights, and to analyze legal risk before taking action.
The Juris Institute provides legal research services for individuals, pro se litigants, attorneys seeking research support, and anyone who needs to understand what the law says on a specific issue. We do not provide legal advice — our research identifies what the law says, not what you should do about it. That distinction is fundamental to what we offer.
Primary legal sources are the law itself — constitutions, statutes, regulations, and court opinions. Secondary sources are materials that explain and analyze the law — law review articles, legal encyclopedias, treatises, and practice guides. Effective legal research begins with secondary sources to understand the legal landscape, then moves to primary sources to find the controlling authority. Our research identifies and cites both, giving you a complete picture of the legal landscape on your issue.
Legal research is always jurisdiction-specific. The law governing your issue depends on which court would hear your case — federal or state, and if state, which state. A legal principle that is well-established in one jurisdiction may be an open question in another. We research the specific jurisdiction you identify and clearly distinguish between controlling authority (courts in your jurisdiction whose decisions must be followed) and persuasive authority (courts in other jurisdictions whose reasoning may be cited but is not binding).
Legal Research Services
We provide legal research across virtually all areas of civil law, delivered as written research memoranda, research briefs, or annotated source collections based on your needs.
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We research court opinions from federal and state courts on the specific legal issues you identify, organized by hierarchy of authority and jurisdiction. Case law research includes Shepardizing or KeyCiting each case to confirm it remains good law and has not been overruled.
Controlling Case Law Research — Federal Circuit Court Research — State Appellate Court Research — Persuasive Authority Research — Case Law Verification (Shepard's / KeyCite) — Annotated Case Summaries
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We research federal and state statutes governing your specific issue, including the text of applicable code sections, amendment history, and any legislative history materials relevant to interpreting ambiguous provisions.
Federal Statutory Research — State Statutory Research — Legislative History Research — Statutory Interpretation Analysis — Cross-Jurisdictional Statutory Comparison — Pending Legislation Research
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Federal agencies — the IRS, FTC, CFPB, SEC, HUD, and many others — issue regulations that have the force of law. We research applicable federal and state regulations, agency guidance documents, and administrative interpretations on your specific issue.
Federal Regulatory Research — State Regulatory Research — Agency Guidance and Advisory Opinion Research — Administrative Code Research — Regulatory History and Comment Research
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A legal research memorandum presents your issue, summarizes the applicable law in a logical framework, and reaches a conclusion about how the law applies to your specific facts. We prepare formal legal research memoranda in the standard IRAC (Issue, Rule, Application, Conclusion) format.
Full Legal Research Memoranda — Short-Form Research Memos — Issue Spotting Memoranda — Comparative Law Analysis — Multi-Issue Research Projects — Research Update Memoranda
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Pro se litigants need to understand the legal standards that apply to their case — what the law requires a plaintiff to prove, what defenses are available, what the standard of review is on appeal. We prepare research memoranda tailored to the specific legal issues in your case that you can use to draft your own briefs or understand your position.
Research for Civil Litigation Issues — Research for Family Law Matters — Research for Landlord-Tenant Issues — Research for Consumer Rights Matters — Research for Administrative Appeals — Research for Contract Disputes
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Attorneys with high-volume practices, overflow research needs, or matters in unfamiliar areas of law can use our research services to produce a well-organized, properly cited research memorandum for their review and use. All research is delivered in the standard memo format with full citations.
Overflow Legal Research — Specialized Practice Area Research — Multi-Jurisdictional Research — Research for Brief Support — Quick-Turn Research for Time-Sensitive Matters — Research Updates for Developing Law
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Anyone who needs to understand what the law says on a specific issue — from pro se litigants to small businesses to attorneys seeking research support — benefits from professional legal research delivered in a clear, organized format.
Individuals representing themselves in court need to understand the legal standards that govern their case. A research memo that identifies the controlling law, explains the elements of each claim and defense, and cites the key cases gives a pro se party the foundation to argue their position effectively.
Business owners face legal questions regularly — employment law compliance, contract interpretation, regulatory requirements, lease terms, and more. Professional legal research on specific business law questions provides actionable information without the cost of retained legal counsel for every inquiry.
Whether you are deciding whether to sue, responding to a legal threat, or trying to understand your rights in a dispute, knowing what the law actually says — not just what you assume it says — is the foundation of every good decision.
High-volume legal practices frequently need research support on specific issues. We provide well-organized, properly cited research memoranda in a format that attorneys can use directly in their work.
Sometimes people are told they have no legal remedy — by the other party, by someone they consulted informally, or by their own reading of the situation. A thorough legal research memo on your specific issue may identify legal theories or rights that were not initially apparent.
Legal research services are appropriate for academic research projects, law school research assignments (where the assignment is to find and understand the law, not to conduct the research personally), and non-legal academic research that requires understanding applicable legal frameworks.
Simple & Straightforward
Three clear steps from your first contact to receiving your completed documents. No hourly billing. No retainer. No surprises.
Contact us with the type of documents you need. Provide the relevant facts, names, terms, and specific instructions. We will confirm scope and provide a flat-fee quote.
Your documents are professionally prepared and formatted based entirely on the information and instructions you provide. Revisions within scope are included.
Receive your completed documents, review them for accuracy against your instructions, and execute, file, or deliver them as directed.
Common Questions
What is the difference between legal research and legal advice?
Legal research identifies and explains what the law says on a specific issue — the statutes, cases, and regulations that apply. Legal advice applies the law to your specific facts and circumstances and recommends a course of action. For example, legal research might identify that Georgia courts require fraud claims to be pled with particularity and explain what that standard requires. Legal advice would tell you whether your specific facts are sufficient to survive a motion to dismiss. We provide the research; applying it to your specific situation and deciding what to do about it is the advice that requires a licensed attorney.
How long does legal research take?
The time required for legal research depends on the complexity of the issue, the jurisdiction, and the depth of analysis requested. A targeted research question in a well-developed area of law — what are the elements of a breach of contract claim in Georgia? — may be completed in a few hours. A multi-issue research project covering an unsettled area of law or multiple jurisdictions may take several days. We provide a timeline estimate with every project quote.
What format do you deliver research in?
Legal research is delivered as a written research memorandum in the standard IRAC format — Issue, Rule, Application, Conclusion. The memo identifies the issue you asked about, states the applicable rule of law with full citations to primary authority, applies the rule to the facts you provided, and reaches a conclusion. For simpler research requests, we deliver an annotated case list or statute summary with explanatory notes. We discuss the best format for your specific project at the time of the quote.
Can you research issues in any state?
Yes. We conduct legal research for all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and federal law. Every research project is jurisdiction-specific — we identify which jurisdiction's law applies to your issue and research the controlling authority in that jurisdiction. For issues that span multiple jurisdictions or that involve both federal and state law, we address each separately and explain how the different bodies of law interact.
Can you verify whether a case is still good law?
Yes. Case law verification — confirming that a case has not been overruled, reversed, or so heavily criticized that it no longer represents good law — is part of every case law research project we deliver. We use citator services (the equivalent of Shepard's or KeyCite) to verify the current status of every case we cite. Citing overruled precedent is one of the most damaging errors in a legal brief; we verify each citation before delivering the research.
Understanding Our Legal Research Services
Important Notice
The Juris Institute provides legal document preparation and legal education services only. Engaging our services does not create an attorney-client relationship. We do not provide legal advice, legal strategy, or court representation of any kind. All information on this page is provided for general educational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Legal research identifies what the law says — it is not legal advice and does not predict how a court will apply the law to your specific facts. Research reflects the state of the law at the time of delivery; the law changes and research may become outdated. All research is delivered for your review and use — how you apply it is your decision. All documents are prepared based solely on the information and instructions provided by the client. The Juris Institute is not a law firm. All fees are due upon project initiation and are non-refundable.
Tell us your legal question and jurisdiction and we will provide a flat-fee quote for a complete research memorandum — typically within one business day.
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