One of the most important skills a successful paralegal can develop is legal research.

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Clients expect their legal counsel to use the latest law in advising them. The paralegal is expected to be able to understand the relevant facts and find the current statutory law and case law.

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The frequent changes in court decisions and statutory enactments present a challenge to the legal profession. Traditional law libraries consisting of printed texts may not provide the latest case, statute, or regulation for some period of time. Computer technology allows for more rapid distribution of legal information.

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Many courts now issue the electronic version of court opinions at the same time as the printed version. While the ability to obtain the most recent case law is important, in many cases an older common law case may still be precedent. This can present a problem inasmuch as some computerized legal research services may not have included the older cases in their database of available cases. As such, being able to find the case the old-fashioned way by checking through the books is a valuable skill.

Criminal Sentencing Legal Research