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Legal skills

Conducting Legal Research and Ethical Considerations

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Effective legal research is fundamental to preparing advocacy for clients. This course will support practitioners to develop the skills to make best use of key electronic resources to research relevant legislation and case law.

Through easy-to-understand chapters and practical activities, you will learn about the doctrines of stare decisis and ratio decidendi, and how these legal principles operate. This course also explores some of the ethical issues involved in legal research, including the use of AI and associated regulatory guidance.

Whether you’re new to advocacy or want to update your research skills, this course is for you. Enrol now!

You might also be interested in our other advocacy courses.

What this will cover

This course will cover:

  • sourcing and researching legislation and case law
  • understanding court reports
  • the principles of stare decisis and ratio decidendi
  • additional resources for legal research
  • ethical issues in legal research
Learning outcomes

By the end of this course, you will be able to:

  • identify the key sources of law
  • understand how to research case law
  • understand how to research legislation
  • identify the key resources that can be used for legal research and their limitations
  • navigate the advanced search functions of two key non-subscription resources
  • understand the need to be aware of ethical issues in legal research
How you will learn

Course format

This online course consists of the following elements:

  • an interactive course presentation, with a variety of knowledge checks spaced throughout to test understanding of the material as the learner progresses
  • an end-of-course assessment consisting of 10 questions

Our courses conform to Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1. However, some members may require an alternative version for accessibility purposes. This is available upon request via our contact us form.

Assessment

In order to pass the assessment, you must achieve a pass mark of 70%.

The knowledge checks included in the course presentation are intended to aid your understanding of the content and offer the opportunity to apply your knowledge. They do not form part of the assessment.

No. of items Discount
11 – 19 15%
20 – 29 20%
30 – 39 25%
40 + 30%
£115.76 ex VAT
Type of training
CPD
Format
Online course
Level
Intermediate
Who is this for?
Solicitors
Course length
1 hour
Assessment type
MCQs (Multiple Choice Questions).
SRA Competence
A1
B2

The experts

Aine Maxwell

Expert
Facilitator

View expert bio