How it works

R esearch One has expanded into providing specialist legal research training for lawyers, students, law librarians, and other interested groups.

Our jetsetting legal research trainers can tailor a training package to suit your needs, in Australia and internationally.

See below for the kind of training we can provide, and check out our qualifications, then contact us with the following details. We will get back to you about our availability and prices.

1What kind of training would you like? For example:

• Do you want training specifically for your law firm, or do you want to attend a general course?
• Do you want the seminar or course to be on content, technique, methodology, persuasive argumentation, or a combination of these? (see further below)

2Where do you want the training? (eg, please specify your city and country)

3Who will be attending? (eg, junior lawyers, law librarians, or other staff)

4When do you want the training? (please provide a range of dates and times)

5How many people do you need to be trained? (eg, 5, 50, 500)

Lead Trainer

Fabian Horton

Qualifications: LLM, Solicitor, CLE/CLP presenter, Lecturer in Advanced Legal Research, AustLii Training Officer (2004-5)

Modules: Online legal content, online research methods, online research techniques

Summary: Modern lawyers need good online legal research skills because of the vast amount of legal information available electronically. Whether you use free online information or commercial systems, Fabian will help you to keep up-to-date and he will help you to develop skills that you can use throughout your legal career.

Module 1: Online legal content

In this module, Fabian will show you:

• where to find legal information on the Internet (legislation, case law, secondary sources, and foreign legal materials)
• the differences between free content and subscription-based content and the strengths and weaknesses of each
• the differences between authoritative and non-authoritative online legal information
• how to evaluate online legal information

Module 2: Online research methods

In this module, Fabian will teach you:

• methods for researching online legal information
• the differences between online methodologies and traditional research methodologies
• how to update legislation, note-up cases, find commentary on a specific topic, and research comparative foreign law

Module 3: Online research techniques

At the end of this module, you will know:

• Internet search techniques needed to find relevant information
• "operators", different database types, and catalogues
• indexing, file types, and site construction
• search engine design and operation

Module 4: Legal problem-solving

In this module, Fabian will walk you through an innovative 10-step methodology for solving legal problems. Briefly, the 10 steps involve:

• Fact collection
• Fact analysis
• Identification of legal questions
• Search term development
• Methodical legal research
• Issue decomposition
• Application
• Resolution
• Presentation
• Review

By the end of the module, Fabian wants you to:

• know how to approach legal problems in an organised, not ad hoc way
• be more confident that you can identify all the relevant facts and issues
• be less likely to overlook a winning argument
• work more efficiently

Module 5: Persuasive argumentation

In this module, Fabian explains the three ways to persuade judges: logic, emotion, and credibility. He then applies these persuasion tools to 3 specific tasks:

• how to cue the judge to want to find in your client's favour (for example, by using a 'storytelling' structure)
• how to show the judge that the law permits, even requires, the outcome you urge (for example, by using 'cable-like' arguments rather than 'chain-like' arguments)
• how to communicate your proposed solution in the most persuasive way (for example, by choosing the right words)