Law Technology Today From the ABA Legal Technology Resource Center
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The legal research and writing process comprises of immense complexities which need an adequate amount of time and skillful expertise for its successful execution. Irrespective of the level of complexities as per the nature of the topic and legal problem, having an expert team for legal research is vital.
If we talk of the complexities and challenges involved in the legal research and writing, the list can comprise of tasks requiring the minimal efforts to an enormous amount of efforts. It depends on how skillful the law firm and its team is and how much time they can devote for the same. However, there are certain challenges which every law firm, irrespective of its size and caliber has to go through with every legal research.
Common Legal Research and Writing Challenges
- Immense data management
- Time-consuming and labor-intensive
- Deviates focus from other priorities
- Hiring a separate team of experts which costs thousands of dollars
- Poor client satisfaction
Legal research and writing is an inevitable part of the legal practice which helps you to find the “root cause” of any problem related to the legal case and prepare yourself as an attorney for the trial in the law of court. As per your business needs, choosing one of the following tools for the above challenges will help you in enhancing your legal research and writing “workflow efficiency” to a great extent.
Legal Research Tools
Casetext: This tech startup provides access to a plethora of legal cases, regulations, and statutes commented on by the legal community members. The library of Casetext includes federal cases of the district court, supreme court, and appellate.
Casemaker: This legal research tool is available for free of cost to the subscribers of the bar associations who become a member of the Casemaker Consortium. It provides a “search engine” search, useful management features, and error-free citation services.
Fastcase: Through Fastcase, lawyers can gain access to state and federal statutes and case law. Apart from this, it provides great insights into tax court decisions, bankruptcy cases, and the Board of Immigration Appeals’ decisions.
Questia: The search engine of Questia is easily accessible and provides options for advanced search. One gets access to a huge database including more than 10 million posts written by experienced and skilled publishers by paying a minimal amount of fee.
Google Scholar: This tool provides full text for articles, federal case statues and law, and patents completely free of cost. With the advanced search option, one can limit the searches to specific state and district courts, publications, terms, authors, and more.
These tools surely assist the lawyers in the most professional manner but fail to replace the professional expertise completely. This problem is met by the legal outsourcing companies which provide the following benefits…
Cost-Saving
The overall financial status of your business gets a boost with outsourcing. You save a considerable amount of money on the expenditure like infrastructure, tools, costs of hiring and training, salaries of the employees, and more. With outsourcing, the quality of work which you receive is far better than the work done by your less experienced and skilled team along being cost-effective at the same time.
Technological Edge
The technological evolution is changing the way problems are addressed and solutions are met in the legal industry. The right tools and software can reduce the daunting task of legal researching and writing quite a bit. Outsourcing firms are equipped with the latest technology and provide you with the most appropriate and advanced legal research solutions.
Core Business Activity Focus
Legal research and writing is a tedious task and requires an adequate amount of time and efforts. When lawyers manage the research tasks on their own, they are left with very little time to prepare themselves for the trial and client interactions. Outsourcing lets them focus on their core business activities, eventually increasing their work productivity and business growth.
Time Zone Benefits
The time difference between the USA and the developing countries like India is around 10 hours. This means you get the work completed in India when it is still night in the USA. India is a leading LPO (Legal Process Outsourcing) nation and outsourcing to India enables Indian experts to deliver you the completed tasks a day before you reach your office.
Expertise Access
Outsourcing provides you with access to expertise outside your team. You get highly skilled and experienced professionals who might be able to deliver better than your own team. The outsourcing professionals conduct legal research on a regular basis and can provide you with the most efficient results in the minimum time.
Conclusion
The legal research and writing process is demanding in nature. Lawyers need not spend their precious time on the same as outsourcing provides them with the most accurate research results at the minimum costs. They can utilize the same time in making their business grow by leaps and bounds and foster the work productivity of their team.
