If you have visited a law office recently, there may have been something missing from their library: Books! Legal research was always predicated on a system of highly organized and indexed books that would lead the researcher to the legal issue for which they were looking. The firm’s library would have wall upon wall of books that required expertise in finding cases on a particular issue. It was so complex that law schools taught their students how to navigate the thousands of volumes of books and periodicals. Today, an entire library of thousands of books, articles and journals has been condensed into the computer on your desk. And for that matter your phone! Legal research is now done by using search words and terms typed into the database. And you can research cases from all 50 states, and in all federal courts. Every issue involved in a criminal defense case, an automobile accident case, or any type of litigation can be researched in real time without the need to have a single book. So the next time you go to a law office, remember, most of the books you see are just for show!.
CATEGORIES: Litigation