Speaker 1: The first step that every law student should know, which is not taught in our law schools, is that how to do a legal research, how a legal research is done, how it is presented, we will discuss about this in today's video. Hi guys, I am Ayushi, your legal mentor and welcome to Law Digest. So whenever you get a topic for legal research, first of all, it is very important for you to understand what the topic is, understand the topic fully, what is it asking out of you. Then find out the legal provision, what does the law say on it, whatever the topic may be, on that you will find the law, how will you find it, you will find it from the bare act. First you will look at the topic and figure out which section it is. For example, it is from the criminal law side, civil law side, IPR law side. By looking at the topic, you will get an idea, because you are a law student, you will be aware of all these things. Then we will go to the section, so for that you have to pick the bare act, section, bare act, depending section, article of the bare act, depending on whatever the subject is. So you will go to the index and locate the sections there, which are the sections that you are looking for. Which will help you in your research and which are applied here to the topic. Suppose there is a topic about which you have heard generally, you do not know the section, you have to find out the law from your end. So what will you do for that? For that you can do a basic Google research that will tell you what is the law relating to it and in which subject or which bare act you will get your answers. So your basic Google research will lead you to that. So as far as we are talking about the presentation, first of all, we give a legal position on everything, whatever our topic is. What does the law state about this thing? After that we come to the text, the body of the research. For that conceptual clarity is required because the law is in the bare act, it is laid down as it is. And you need to give your interpretation. So for interpretation, we will first understand the concept. And then we will try to give it in our own words. We will try to give an interpretation. Try not to copy paste things because it is better in research. Give your opinion as much as possible. State about the law. And whatever are the sections related to that law, important case laws, state them. You can resort to commentaries. And do feel that whatever you may not get online, you will definitely get it in commentaries. So commentaries help a lot in your note making process. And resort to them. There are case laws, which are legal websites, Manupatra, SCC. These are the websites from where you can search case law. You also have to put keywords in it. In the search bar, you will put keywords related to your topic in quotes. So then it will lead you to the cases relating to that particular issue. While quoting cases, always keep in mind that give citations properly. Give referencing below. The footnoting at the end, that should be proper. Whatever you are asserting, it should have some backup. It should have some basis. What is its legal backing? Why are you saying this? Where are you speaking from? So you can refer books. You can mention there. When you are indexing or referencing, you can mention there. Whatever book you have relied upon. What edition it is. What page number one might find. Whatever you are speaking. Similarly, you have to give citations in case laws. If someone is referring an article, then mention about it. Article on this, this. Available at whatever website it is available at. So these things are very important when we are doing legal research. Then, let's talk further. When we are doing research, it is very important that we do not deviate from the topic while doing research. We stick to the topic. And some people have a habit of reaching somewhere else while doing research. And it takes longer than required. So stick to your topic. Note down your points separately on the pen and paper. Follow the traditional method for it. You can use pen and paper. And you know, you can note down. That how my research, by pointing out what things, how I will reach to a conclusion. It is very important to give a conclusion. Without conclusion, a research is not considered good. So it is very important that on the basis of your legal provision, on the basis of concept, on the basis of case law. Whatever conclusion has been derived, you have to give it at the end of the research. Then. If you assume that this research. You are doing it for some competition. So there word limit etc. are prescribed. So you can follow that. And if you are doing general research. For you know, you are interning somewhere. Or you are an associate. And you have to give it further. So in those cases. It is not necessary that you follow any word limit. It really depends on the topic. And whatever. The person who assigned you that research. Basically what they want to see. It happens many times. Like when I was working as an associate with the law firm. And there were interns. So whatever research I would give them. Sometimes it would happen that we don't have time. So I just wanted the crux of the matter. No matter how long the research is. I would just look for those keywords. That will reach to my eye. And will meet my purpose. Otherwise. Sometimes it happens that. Associate is in the mode to teach you. So they will look at your research well. Will give you good comments. Or will tell you after making changes in the track. That this thing you have done wrong. Or this thing you need to look upon further. So it really depends on. The purpose of your research. Where and why it is being asked. If you want to write an academic paper. And you want to publish your research in a journal. Then obviously. The presentation has to be very proper. Otherwise also it has to be very proper. Make sure that. You are following the same font size. Proper bullets are there. There are not many long paragraphs. Unnecessarily. There is no need to use unnecessarily complicated language. It looks more like copy-paste. If you have a book language. Like commentaries. A little tough language. You can simplify that in your research. It looks much better. Rather you know. Copy-pasting and. It looks pretentious. So. The more legal research means. That you can easily tell a complex topic by simplifying it. So. You can do this. For good research. I would say. Like people do Google. So you got some news article. It happens with interns especially. That you got some news article. Some. You got some news article. On some forum. You got some blog. You got some comments. You got some discussion in some comments. So you rely on that. And you quote that in your research. That is a strict no-no. Means. When I am saying. That you have to do research. You have to give referencing. So. You can't give referencing of this thing at all. That you have read it on some forum or blog. And you are quoting it from there. The sources have to be formal. It is the research of some law firm. It is their article. You can rely on that. You can rely on scholarly articles. Which you get on Google. There are some legal journals. You can rely on those published articles. But please do not rely on random. Generic. Google research or forum based research. That will not serve your purpose. Because it is very shallow. And it is one sided opinion. Further. Like news items. You read news articles. So those articles. Are written by journalists. They are not from legal background. So they don't have much legal backing. Those who listen. On the basis of that. They create an article. And write it. For general public. But as a legal professional. You cannot rely on. Articles. That are published in different newspapers. There has to. Has to. Be a legal backing to it. So. These are the basic pointers. Which I had in my mind. To discuss with you. For legal research. Because these. Things I am telling you. Nobody really tells you all of this. Nor will you be taught this in law school. When you will do an internship. Or you know. As an associate. You will join somewhere. Even then no one will teach you this. So. Try to make the most of. What I am trying to tell you here. And. For practice. You pick up the topics. And yourself. Articles. You know. You can write down. Research papers. And. You can also publish them. So. Don't wait for anything. And. Start practicing. Eventually. It will help you. And. You know. You might. Develop those skills. By practice. So. That is it. And. I will end this video now. For more such videos. Keep following the channel. Subscribe us. Follow us on Instagram. Where we bring important updates. For you. 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