“A Short & Happy Guide to Advanced Legal Research” (West Academic Publishing, 2020) by Ann Walsh Long.
Ann Walsh Long has a message for lawyers:
Over the last five years, legal artificial intelligence tools such as data analytics and natural language processing have moved from science fiction to practical tools. Versions of these powerful tools are available in Fastcase, Judicata, Casetext, and sections of Lexis Advance, Westlaw Edge and Bloomberg.
Long’s book, “A Short & Happy Guide to Advanced Legal Research,” contains good ideas for balancing quality, speed and expense, along with a wealth of other insights on improving online legal research.
“A Short & Happy Guide to Advanced Legal Research” by Ann Walsh Long
AI and Data Analytics
These increasingly sophisticated tools can give lawyers who know how to use them large advantages. In an age when each year’s paper volumes containing U.S. District Court opinions take up a new 13.5 feet of linear shelf space, we need all the help we can get. The threshold problem has been that it has not been simple to learn how to use these new tools — especially for lawyers more than a few years away from law school.
How can AI and sophisticated data analytics help lawyers? It could be something as simple as automatically adding the synonym “physician” to your research request concerning “doctor.” It could be as useful as quickly obtaining a sophisticated analysis of jury verdicts and settlements in the relevant jurisdiction. It could be something as powerful as generating an extensive, easy-to-use analysis of the decision pattern of the judge who is hearing your case — one that takes into account the 98% of decisions that are not published.
Long analyzes the strengths and weaknesses of these tools and explains exactly how to use them.
Balancing Quality, Speed and Cost in Advanced Legal Research
As valuable as the book’s artificial intelligence sections are, I like another feature even more: the emphasis on considering the cost and speed of various automated legal reference tools. I’ve never been comfortable with two tacit assumptions that pervade much legal research instruction:
- The researcher will always have access to unlimited use of the most expensive resources.
- Every issue deserves the same amount of time as the critical issue in a Supreme Court case.
I’ve never met Ann Long, but she won my heart when she wrote “Legal research is costly in two ways: expense and time.”
Engineers joke about clients who insist “This project must have very quick completion, minimal expense and the highest quality.” The engineer’s punch line is, “Well, between quick, cheap and good, you can only have two.”
This concept is sometimes called “the triple constraint triangle.” Things can be quick and cheap. They can be quick and good. They can be cheap and good. They can’t be quick and cheap and good. Every day, in so many fields we juggle quality, speed and cost. Legal research is no different.
Legal ethics rules require our work products meet reasonable quality standards. They have to be “good.” This means that in the real world lawyers must weigh time against expense. Can you compile a legislative history using only free tools like the U.S. House of Representatives version of the U.S. Code? Sure, but it will take longer than using proprietary legal research tools. Long understands this.
A key feature of the book is the many charts analyzing research tools, first explaining why the resource is valuable (“good”) and then explaining how each is “cheap” or “fast.” Some of the best examples are charts on pages 53-57 analyzing the good, cheap and fast options for statutory research.
The triple constraint triangle.
Serendipitous Benefits
One of the best things about this book is the author’s habit of almost casually dropping useful ideas that may be nothing new to good law librarians but will be welcome novelties to most practicing lawyers.
For example, absent this volume, I likely would not have learned about Ken Svengalis’ “Legal Information Buyer’s Guide & Reference Manual,” an excellent consumer guide that I wish I’d had in hand when negotiating with the “big three” online legal research services.
Long’s recommendation of the browser extension Pocket may give me even more long-range benefits. Many lawyers will find this utility for organizing web research results quite valuable.
This volume is one of many books in West Academic’s “Short and Happy Guide” series. A copy of the table of contents is available online.
Though originally intended for academic audiences, “A Short & Happy Guide to Advanced Legal Research” is a valuable tool for lawyers, especially for nonexperts. It is the best $22 investment practicing lawyers are likely to find. Highly recommended.
Available from Amazon in paperback or Kindle versions, as well as directly from the publisher (paperback and ebook).
About Ann Walsh Long
Ann Walsh Long is a lawyer and former law librarian. She is the current Head of Research & Digital Collections and Assistant Professor of Law at the Lincoln Memorial University Duncan School of Law. Her work experience includes stints at some of the country’s largest law firms as well as the Environmental Protection Agency’s headquarters library.
Illustration ©iStockPhoto.com
Other Voices
You might also like:
- Nicole Black’s review of “A Short and Happy Guide to Advanced Research” at Above the Law has additional thoughts about this fine book.
- “Internet Legal Research on a Budget: Free and Low-Cost Resources for Lawyers” (ABA, 2020) by Carole A. Levitt and Judy K. Davis makes a great companion to this book. Read my review on Attorney at Work, here.
Subscribe to Attorney at Work
Get really good ideas every day for your law practice: Subscribe to the Daily Dispatch (it’s free). Follow us on Twitter @attnyatwork.
