Defining Research Value

A Slaw.ca post by Lynn Foley last week provided the inspiration for today’s tip.

Lynn asked Slawyers to consider what their clients perceive as value using the lens of the ACC Value Challenge. I ask Slaw Tips research readers to consider how the discrete piece of legal research they are doing adds value for the client.

One of the most important skills a legal researcher can bring to a project is the ability to focus on the question they are trying to answer. There are a ton of information sources available that any question can be filtered through, so the value part of research is knowing which parts of that ton should be set aside and which must be reviewed in order to fully answer the question without doing extra steps that are unnecessary and occasionally costly.

Today’s tip: stay focused on the question you are researching to add value.