Research Skills and Outlets

By

Emmanuel E. Okon, LL.B (UniUyo); LL.M, MBA (Ife); MILR (Ibadan); PhD (Wales); BL

Professor of Law and Director of Studies

Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, Lagos.

Presented at NIALS Training Course on Legal Writing Skills for Lawyers. Held at Ayo
Ajomo Auditorium, NIALS, Lagos 1-3November 202
Structure of Presentation
 Introduction: Why the training in research skills and outlets?
 Clarification of concepts
 Core Research Skills - research planning, using the library, computer and
information technology, networking/teamwork, English language: good legal
writing and critical thinking, and identifying ways of doing research.
 Research Skills – What are required?
 Outlets – Types
 Outlets for legal practitioners
 Outlets for academics
 Grey literature outlets
 Conclusion

2
 Introduction - why the training in research skills and outlets?
 Research is the bedrock of writing sound briefs (court processes), legal opinions, legal
instruments and academic publications.
 Understanding the legal or socio-legal issue/problem and the right solution requires
engaging in pain-staking research to supplement basic knowledge of a lawyer.
 Ensure professional and academic writings are functional, result oriented, socially useful
and evidence based – Berger pedestrians bridge case; Terrorism Act 2011 and the
Amendment of 2013.
 Understand the choice of available research methods in a world of inextricable
interconnection between legal and socio-economic issues.
 Acquire the necessary skills and gain confident to engage in professional and academic
writings.
 Know where to find the relevant legal and non-legal information.
 Know how to engage and be visible in the academic and professional communities.
 Get promotion - publish or perish (academics). Contested cases and contribution to the
development of the law (legal practitioners). See Awala JCA in Adebayo v. State [2007] All
FWLR (Pt. 365) 469, 512.
 Reduce workload and stress of the courts. See Late Kayode Eso JSC in Engineering
Enterprises of Niger Contractor Co. of Nigeria v. AG Kaduna State (1987) 2 NWLR (Pt. 57)
3
381, 397.
Clarification of concepts

 Research- research is a systematic search for truth and understanding of new

knowledge about a formally defined topic or problem that is being investigated.
 Skill – as an uncountable noun skill is the knowledge and ability that enables a
person to do something well. Such knowledge and ability are acquired through
training and experience.
 Outlet - A place, platform or opening through which something is let out or a
medium of expression or publication. The medium which legal researchers and
lawyers publish or present the outcome of their research.

4
COVID 19/Global Economic Depression and the
Changing World of Research and Research Outlets

 Where do we come from?

 Where are we?
 Where are we going to?

5
Core Research Skills - Research Planning
 Critical Thinking – it is a cognitive, analytical and evaluative process done in the form of
questions and answers – issue(s) or problem(s), objective(s), research questions,
methodology, etc
Writing is think, good think must be critical, critical thinking is argumentative and
logical – This the major difference between legal and non-legal writing
 Breaks down big and complex research task into manageable bits of task – issues
(problems) identification
i. Legal and non-legal
ii. Unit of analysis
iii. Nature of the research
iv. Outlets to be consulted
v. Best research methodology/design
vi. Research processes - drafting, revising, final write-up and editing
vii. Adequate time
vii. Challenges and how best to address them
Chapterisation, themes, subthemes, parts, sections, etc. are evidence of breaking down big
and complex research task into manageable bits. 6
Core Research Skill – Using the library

 A brilliant lawyer is one who knows where to find the law.

 An all embracive collection of outlets can only be found in a good and
equipped library.
 Nature of modern library - Hard copies/shelves and electronic or internet
(online) resources and databases.
 Have knowledge of where materials are located especially electronic
resources and database i.e. Heinonline, Westlaw, Law Pavilion, Legalpedia,
etc.
 know when to engage in print or online research.
 Understand the key resources available for specific practice, subject and
issue areas.
 Use card catalogue, indexes and table of content, abstract, preface, etc.

7
Core Research Skills - Computer and Information Technology

 Computer and information technology has revolutionised legal research.

 Section 258 of the Nigerian Evidence Act 2011 defines computer as any device
for storing and processing information.
 Interconnectivity of libraries.
 Use of large database such as the LexisNexis, Westlaw, Hein Online,
LawPavilion and Legalpedia.
 Explore internet chat rooms and online forum (Zoom, WhatsApp, etc.)
discussions. More imperative now because of COVID-19
 Management of vast information available online.
 Verify reliability, correctness and currentness of online resources.

8
Core Research Skills - Networking/Teamwork

 Reasons for Networking: Financial constraint, lack of knowledge of the existence of certain
legal materials and no law office has experts in all areas of the law.
 It involves creating useful linkages within and among communities, organisations, societies and
professionals in order to mobilise resources and achieve various goals.
 It is an art of building alliances, sharing resources, knowledge and information, engaging in
collective action, and creating reciprocal productive relationships with other members of the
law and non-law professions.
 Examples are inter-library loan and getting professional advice from a colleague.
Teamwork:
 Teamwork is a cooperative process that allows people to achieve common goal. It involves
sharing of knowledge and skills.
 Success of teamwork depends on:
Commitment to team success and shared goals;
Interdependence;
Honesty, trustworthy and supportive to team members;
Open communication and positive feedback;
Knowing specific team role, expectation and contribution to the team; and
9
Commitment to team processes, leadership and accountability.
 Core research skills – English language

 Basic rule of English writing

Aputa JSC, summarised this as the basic principles in writing English Language in
Shell Petroleum Development Co. Nig. Ltd. v. Federal Board of Inland Revenue thus:
“The lawyer confronted with the task of preparing a brief would do well to
remember what may be called the ABC of all legal writing, namely Accuracy, Brevity
and clarity”.
Comply with the basic English rule of having an introduction, a body and conclusion –
applicable to the whole text and each paragraph.
Comply also with the rules of punctuations, sentence structure, paragraphing and,
importantly, ensuring coherence or logical arrangement of legal writing.
 Edit
Nobody is perfect; even eagles at times do miss their targets.
Edit and edit – multilayer editing structure.
Get a colleague or a paid proof reader to edit your final copy.
10
Critical Thinking and the ‘Three Inters’ in Legal
Writing

1. Intertextuality
2. Interdiscursivity
3. Interdisciplinarity
Core Research Skills – Identify Ways of doing Research

The major ways of conducting research by lawyers and legal scholars are (i)
doctrinal or black and white research and (ii) socio-legal research.
Major Determining Factors
a. Nature of the issue(s)/problem(s) which the researcher intends to
address;
b. Nature of research question(s) - couched from the objective(s) of the
research;
c. The possibility of having human participation in the research;
d. Time and availability of fund; and
e. Will the research outcome(s) address or contribute to addressing the
researched issue(s) or problem(s)

12
Doctrinal research
 The concern of doctrinal research is on legal prepositions and doctrine. The
sources of data for doctrinal research are statutes and judgements of courts
as well as academic commentaries on these sources.
Major disadvantages
 It is devoid of social realities (people, social values and social institutions) of
the people, which the law is meant to regulate.
 Meanwhile, compliance with law and the effectiveness of law are
inextricable tied to these variables.

13
Ignorance of doctrinal researchers

Like culture people create rule continuously. Since no two situations are
alike, the rule solutions available to them are only approximated. No set
of rule understanding, then, provides a perfectly applicable solution to
any problem people have to solve in the course of their day, and they
therefore must remake those solutions, adapt their understandings to
the new situation in the light of what is different about it.

14
Socio-legal research

Socio-legal research entails utilisation of both the internal evidence

offered by statutes, treaties, case law and legal commentaries, as well
as data and methodologies from the sciences and social sciences. Besides
documents, socio-legal research is also concern with people, social
values and social institutions. The cardinal distinguishing features of
socio-legal research are human participation and field work, which is
aimed at collecting primary data.

15
Research Skills – What are required?

 Willingness and ability to learn in both formal and informal environment.

 Capacity for persistent and independent research, while not neglecting the
importance of teamwork.
 Willingness to learn lessons from reasonable and relevant day experiences.
 Appreciate the need for effective and purposeful communication in the art and
science of law making.
 Appreciate the paradigm shift in contemporary legal research from doctrinal
research to socio-legal research .
 Know the relevant research tools, where to locate them and the most effective
ways to use them.

16
Outlets - Types

 Mega - traditional library and internet

 Large - LexisNexis, Westlaw and Creative Commons
 Small – books, journals, newspapers, conference proceedings, law reports,
and case Citators
 Legal – Law journals/periodicals
 Non-legal – Newspaper, magazine (non-academic), journals of other
disciplines (academic) etc.
 General – United Nations documents webpage
 Specialised or subject specific – NIALS Journal of Environmental Law,
American Journal of International Law, Nigerian Bar Journal, etc

17
Outlets for Legal Practitioners

Forms of Outlet – Hard copy and online

 Courts, Tribunals, etc.
 Bar journals
 Government gazettes - legal instruments i.e. Acts, Laws, Regulations, etc.
 Proceedings of Bar Conferences, seminars, and workshops
 Project reports
 Newspaper columns
 Blogs

18
Outlets for Academics
Forms of Outlet – Hard copy and online
 Types of Outlets
i. Books
ii. Edited book
iii. Review
iv. Journal
v. Thesis
vi. Proceedings of Academic Conference, etc.
vii. Blogs
Form of output - conference abstracts, papers in conference proceedings, book
reviews, articles, case analysis, legislative analysis and invited chapters in books.
The major advantage is that output are peer-reviewed before publication. For
journal, one way of determining its quality is the use of journal impact factor.

19
 Grey literature outlet
Outlets that are outside the traditional professional or academic publishing and
distribution channels.
Reports – Technical report and project reports
Chief Executives or Board rooms’ files (legal opinion/advice)
Working papers and government white papers
Distribution can be to the public or individual, it can also be in print form or
electronic
Publishers – government department and agencies
- Inter-governmental organisations
- International organisations
- Civil societies
- Non-governmental organisations
- Academic centers
- Private companies and consultants
Disadvantages – Difficult to access, evaluate and low awareness, and most of them
20
are not published.
 Conclusion

The predominant focus of universities and law school is to train law students to
pass law degree (especially first degree students) and bar examinations and not to
research and think like attorneys. The long-standing understanding is that law
firms and other employers of lawyers will then teach or train their new associates
and employees on how to be good lawyers. Ways of conducting result oriented
research and identify the relevant outlets for research outcomes are part of such
trainings.

This is exactly what your various employers have done by sending each of you to
attend this training course.

21
Thank You for Listening

22
Group Exercise

Sharing and discussing personal experiences in legal writing by the participants.

23