An Overview of Legal Analysis
Legal analysis is one of the cornerstones of practicing law. It is generally defined as the systematic examination of a legal problem or document by identifying the relevant facts and principles of law, and then applying the law to the facts and reasoning logically and articulately to determine a conclusion. Understanding how to conduct a thorough legal analysis is the key to being able to conduct legal research efficiently, and to ensure that one has identified all relevant principles of law to address the issue in question .
When conducting legal analysis, you "dissect" the law, applying logical deduction and reasoning to deduce the major principles and rules (and exceptions to rules) contained within decisional law or statutes. Effective legal analysis relies on the synthesis of legal principles, and questions involving their application to particular facts or situations, to give context to the situation at hand. While principles of law are logical components of the law that can be applied independent of facts, the synthesis of the law into a formula or method to arrive at a conclusion is what makes legal analysis so important.
Steps in Legal Analysis
A logical progression exists for conducting a legal analysis. In this section we shall illustrate initial steps in conducting a legal analysis. The following steps are general ideas. Law varies between jurisdictions. Further, the application of a general idea in a specific case varies. Finally, the law is dynamic evolving over time.
The first step is to read the facts very carefully. Beyond the obvious facts a lawyer generally looks for the unknown in the facts. What are the unknowns? Who is responsible for what? How did the accident happen? Were there any duties violated? Has any of the known law been violated? Exactly how has the law been violated? Has there been a breach of a contract if applicable? How much damage was produced? Again, there may be unknowns because the law does not define these unknowns. Question marks concerning unknowns remain until a comprehensive analysis is performed.
The next step is to review the law. Carefully read the applicable statutes. Read the applicable case law, if any. This means looking for a body of local law which applies exactly to your case. For example, it would certainly include laws governing motor vehicle accidents in Michigan if our Michigan law applies. It may involve a study of Michigan precedent on a specific point. For example, Michigan law defines causation in auto accident cases. Michigan case law is reviewed to know how Michigan judges and juries will interpret causation. If Michigan law were to provide alternative negligence causes, that would have been another question concerning the applicable law.
Next, apply the law to the facts. In a negligence motor vehicle accident case, the standard is to consider whether one or both of the parties involved breached and violated their respective duties of care as a matter of law. This is what the court decides. As part of this equation, recently courts appear to be referring many questions of fact to the jury to decide absent a legal issue.
As discussed, misconduct may involve breach of contract. A clear factual question arises concerning whether or not the contract has been violated. Even when an obvious duty has been breached, there remains a factual question concerning how the damages arose.
Much of this has variable answers. For example, the duty of care may be higher in one situation than in another. The importance may vary. Damages may vary. There may be insurance involved, providing different answers for different reasons. Generally, a thorough analysis goes far beyond the scope of the discussion above, which merely attempts to outline the process of conducting a comprehensive legal analysis.
A Sample Case Study in Legal Analysis
Here is how a simple set of facts might result in a different legal conclusion based on the application of different legal principles:
Facts: A truck driver was injured in an accident while working for a privately owned trucking company on I-75. The driver was killed upon impact. His estate sued the trucking company.
Legal Principles:
Application of Legal Principles to Facts:
In order to recover, plaintiff must establish that defendant violated the requirements of the FMCSR by allowing a driver to operate a vehicle under inappropriate conditions. Here, plaintiff failed to meet his burden because he presented no evidence of how much material was on I-75 prior to 11:30 PM on the night in question. According to the defendant’s owner, the defendant used no road salt, as traffic had kept the pavement clear and there was no freezing rain until approximately 11:30 PM. The accident occurred at 11:45 PM. No other witnesses were presented by the plaintiff who could testify as to the road conditions prior to 11:30 PM on the night of the accident. Therefore, plaintiff is unable to establish that defendant violated the requirements of the FMCSR and, as such, he cannot establish the proximate cause of his client’s death.
Common Pitfalls in Legal Analysis
Legal analysis is not without its challenges, though. Conflicting laws, ambiguous legal language, selective or biased interpretations of case law, and the failure to separate legal from non-legal issues are just a few of the dilemmas a practitioner may have to grapple with before arriving at a conclusion. I’ll touch briefly on the things I have listed above, and I’ll leave more detailed or nuanced explanations for perhaps a future law tip or article.
To begin, let’s talk about conflicting laws. Depending on your jurisdiction, there may simply be more than one statute or regulation that deals with the issue you are researching. For example, in North Carolina, N.C. Gen. Stat. § 160A-362 and§ 160A-382 both govern the zoning process. If you do not know what to do with this issue, I recommend reading both statutes and determining what actions, if any, are implicated by each.
Another example: the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act has been amended a number of times over the years, sometimes with conflicting or even contradictory language. There have even been some different approaches from federal circuit courts. Thus, it is the job of the practitioner to sort through the amendments and the case law in each circuit to determine the most reliable precedent.
Next on our list is ambiguous legal language. This can come in the form of statutory language, but it can also be the language of a contract or even simply a question presented. Using again our example of a contract, consider the question: Are you entitled to ownership of an automobile taken out on loan? This question is ambiguous because nothing is specified . What happens if I’m still paying off the loan but I’m no longer in possession of the car? Or what if I did not take out the loan but I regularly drive the car to work? You can see there’s no simple answer to that question. The practitioner must read the pleadings to determine the issues involved in the lawsuit, and then he or she must analyze the facts of the case to determine the best answer.
Third, we have selective or biased interpretation of case law. Case law is not as black and white as written opinions from courts might like to suggest. Just like statutes, not every specific fact pattern will fit cleanly into the holding of a case. So you must know your case law. And not just one set of cases, either. For example, you don’t just look up "work product doctrine." You actually look up work product doctrine in your federal district, in your state trial court, and in your state supreme court. And any intermediate courts in between.
Finally, we have the issue of separating legal matters from non-legal matters. Sometimes the problem is not whether a fact fits into the law, but rather whether the fact is material or not. Or whether it even exists. Case law is littered with evidentiary issues that simply have no bearing on the case at hand. It is not uncommon for a lawyer (or law student) to get sidetracked by their own theories about the case-or what other lawyers or even judges have said-without clearly determining whether a certain fact is material and therefore relevant to the outcome of the matter.
Tools and Resources for Legal Analysis
The tools and resources that are available to aid in legal analysis are nothing short of astonishing. They offer points of view that are both comprehensive and specific, depending on the needs of the analysis. As I write this, we are in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, so there may be some restrictions on your use of these tools and resources. Usually, for instance, a visit to a law library will give you a lot more perspective into the issues. If you have a specific client base — say, a large business or non-profit — you may be able to gain access to some of these tools and resources through them, either directly or by public access programs offered by the law library or organization.
Legal databases
You probably have access to Westlaw or Lexis, resources reviewed here. Westlaw’s offerings include access to some of the best secondary sources available in law, such as National Law Journal and American Law Reports, general legal encyclopedias, and highly specific collections that might relate, for instance, to construction law, product liability, or intellectual property. Lexis offers similar but different secondary sources in a broad area of theories and practices, as well as an even wider array of primary and secondary state and federal resources. Often, cases, statutes, and regulations are available in both Westlaw and Lexis (though this isn’t always the case, so check both).
In addition, you have access to a variety of online catalogues, including the US Law Library catalog, that are focused on law-related materials made available by way of a specific organization.
Research tools
In addition to the legal databases, you may have special access to research tools typically provided by law libraries and other organizations. For instance, many law schools offer free access to important research tools used in legal analysis. A few of these are discussed below. First, you can search for member libraries of the Legal Information Preservation Alliance (LIPA). LIPA libraries, most of which are law school libraries, are searchable by type of institution, type of library, on-site accessibility, and more. Nicholson Baker’s oblivion is not dead, which is also available through a library catalog, provides free access to some of the most influential works of the past, with an emphasis on works that might be of particular interest to legal analysts. America: History and Life, America History and Life, those two databases —searchable through the library catalog— may track entire areas of your legal analysis, such as interpretations of historical documents, speeches, and more. ProQuest Dissertations and Theses, available through both the library catalog and ProQuest, covers a wide array of major areas of scholarship, with particular emphasis on those that focus on the human experience. You may find it to house some of the most directly relevant discourses, perspectives, and interpretations relating to your legal analysis. Through the library catalog, it may be possible to tap into a free resource such as the World Religion Database, which offers extensive resources across disciplines dedicated and related to the world’s religions.
Case law libraries
You probably have access to some of the best free databases of case law, through the library catalog or even through Google, such as Justia. For instance, Justia provides full text state and federal court opinions, Maryland statutes, and the paralegals’ survival guide for summaries of Maryland case law.
Ways to Improve Legal Analysis Skills
Legal analysis is a skill that continues to evolve throughout one’s career. Some general tips for refining that skill are as follows: Keep up – Thankfully, there is no shortage of resources on the market to help legal professionals improve their skills. From webinars to CLEs to blogs to social media, lawyering can provide ample and continuous training and knowledge acquisition. Read, read, read – Before you answer your first illegally obtained evidence question, you’ll need to understand the exclusionary rule and the good faith exception, whether you have administrative probable cause or probable cause based on a warrant, whether an arrest requires probable cause at the moment of arrest or probable cause at the time of trial and how director scrutiny relates to the exclusionary rule, just to give a few examples. You should learn these things before you begin answering hypotheticals . Reflect – Taking time to slow down will almost certainly help you to do better work, in law school and in practice. In class, taking the time to reflect on an idea helps the student organize elements of the lesson into meaningful categories. In practice, it enables the lawyer to review and correct errors before he or she shoots off a letter, brief or email that can affect the outcome of a case. Attend in person – Whether because of time or cost, much training is available indiscriminately online. While these are all valuable resources, I still believe it is important for law students to have experience sitting in a room with people who have been where they are – young lawyers, judges, law professors, seasoned professionals. The experience is not nearly as intimidating as it seems and provides an opportunity to forge connections that will last throughout your career.