your senior said “research this.” what exactly are you supposed to send back?

Welcome to legal research during a law firm internship.

The biggest difference between college research and law-firm research is simple:

1. understand the question before opening SCC.

Suppose you're asked to research whether an arbitration clause survives termination of an agreement.

Don't immediately search every combination of “arbitration”, “termination” and “agreement”.

First reduce the task to the actual legal question:

Does termination of the underlying agreement also terminate the arbitration clause?

That's what you're trying to answer.

If the instruction is genuinely unclear, clarify it early. Two minutes of clarification beats three hours researching the wrong issue.

2. start with the law. not 47 cases.

Classic intern sequence:

task received → SCC opened → cases searched → mild existential crisis.

Try this instead:

• Find the governing legislation.
• Identify the relevant section.
• Check definitions, provisos and exceptions.
• Check whether the provision has been amended.
• Then move to case law.

Judgments interpret the law. You should probably know what law they're interpreting.

3. famous judgment ≠ current law.

Law school trains us to remember landmark cases.

Legal research for an internship requires another question: what is the current legal position?

A useful order is:

recent Supreme Court decisions → relevant High Court decisions → older landmark authorities

The old landmark case may explain where the principle came from. A much newer judgment may tell you how courts apply it today.

4. read the facts before stealing the perfect paragraph.

You find it.

The paragraph that says exactly what you wanted it to say. 😭

Before putting it into your research note, check:

• What were the facts?
• What issue was actually before the court?
• Was the statement part of the ratio?
• Was the decision based on unusual facts?
• Has a later court distinguished it?

A fantastic quote from the wrong factual context is not fantastic research.

5. your senior probably doesn't want all 17 judgments.

Finding authorities is only half the job.

Filtering them is the actual skill.

Instead of dumping every case you found, identify:

• The governing provision: what does the statute say?
• The strongest authority: what has the Supreme Court said?
• The closest factual case: which case looks most like your matter?
• The problem case: is there authority going the other way?

That final category matters.

Legal research isn't about proving the answer you hoped to find.

6. put the answer before the explanation.

Please don't make your senior reach paragraph seven before discovering what you concluded.

Start with the short answer.

Clean. Useful. Easy to scan.

7. do the five-minute check before sending.

basically?

Good legal research is not:

“look how much I found.”

It's:

“I found what matters, checked whether it's still good law and made it easy for you to use.”

That's the shift from researching like a student to researching like someone actually working on the matter.

Nobody really explains that before your first internship.

so yeah. survival kit to the rescue 😭🧡

quick questions.

How should a law intern send legal research to a senior?

Start with a short conclusion, followed by the governing provision, strongest authorities and any relevant caveat or contrary position.

How many cases should a legal research note contain?

There is no fixed number. Prioritise authoritative and directly relevant judgments rather than including every case you find.

Should law interns research statutes or cases first?

Usually, identify the governing legislation and relevant provisions first. Then examine how courts have interpreted and applied them.

Can law students use Google for legal research?

Yes, for discovering terminology and potential sources. Verify legal propositions through reliable databases, legislation and primary authorities.