Legal research is defined as the process of identifying and retrieving information that is required for supporting legal decision-making. Who performs Legal research? Well, it can be performed by lawyers, law librarians, paralegals or anyone who wants legal information. This legal information can be collected from printed books, online legal research websites and information portals that can be accessed for free or for a fee from database vendors (LexisNexis / Westlaw).

Legal research generally involves,

Finding primary authority (cases, statutes, regulations)

Finding secondary authority about a specific legal topic

Finding non-legal sources for supporting information.

There are many different approaches to doing legal research and there is no hard and fast rule to be followed while doing legal research. However here is a basic guide that may be generally followed by the researcher.

Start with a preliminary analysis of facts and start framing questions

Consult secondary sources

Evaluation of the research

Locating the primary authority

Re-evaluation of the research

Updating the research

Stopping the research

Follow Black letter law rules

During the preliminary analysis, one should identify all the facts and details of the people, place, and the acts involved besides familiarizing oneself with the related jargon. A proper understanding of all issues that is to be got via the research has to be made at the outset itself. Also one must identify the different legal theories, procedures and know about the specific relief that is being sought. For this various secondary sources / resources will have to be referred to, that may include treatises, law reviews and encyclopedias.

It is important to identify the right legal theories and see if these need to be modified or if new theories have been found that require us to do more research. Most importantly one must review and see as to what is the core legal theory that is being developed.

Location of primary authorities including court opinions/statutes and regulatory law etc may be done using different online and offline secondary sources including various digests and law publications authoritative paperbacks and study aids. This is again followed by re-evaluation and legal research / updation and must be repeated until one is satisfied. One of the important things while doing legal research is to always keep in mind the basic Black letter rules. The black letter law refers to the basic standard elements for a particular field of law, that is generally well known and free from doubt or dispute. Outsourcing of major legal research projects to offshore locations like India can help reduce the soaring costs of litigation.

By definition, a personal injury lawyer is one who provides legal support to those who have been injured psychologically or physically owing to the wrongdoing or negligence of a company, agency, government or a person. They have knowledge and experience in the field called tort law which involves non-economic or economic damages to the rights, properties or reputation of a person.

Accidents, negligence and wrongdoing are not an uncommon occurrence. People suffer from pain, hurt or heavy losses. These losses maybe caused by some other people, organisations or agencies. In such cases the victims are liable for compensation by the accused. Personal injury lawyers help the victims file a lawsuit against those responsible and get an adequate compensation. Apart from wrongdoing, these lawyers also deal with death due to negligence, medical malpractices and accidents caused during work. His salary depends on several factors such as qualification, experience, location, size of the firm, type of employer etc.

Qualifications

Like most attorneys, he must have completed a four-year bachelor degree along with a three-year law degree from a law school. After completing the education, the lawyers must pass a bar exam for the state where they wish to pursue their law practice. To become a full time lawyer or even to practice law they must complete their internship at a firm. If he wants to be a law firm partner then he must have many years’ experience. The salary is decided depending on the experience and the firm reputation.

Location

One of the key factors in deciding personal injury lawyer salary is the cost of living of a state or a city. In states like Florida where the cost of living is relatively low the average salary lies in the range of $52,151 to $95,690 per annum. However, in places like California, the salaries lie in the range of $68,735 to $1, 21,818 per annum. This is owing to higher cost of living in California than Florida. In the United States, the national average salary for him ranges from $51,377 to $96,394 on a yearly basis.

Firm Size

Like many other industries, the establishment size is also a factor in considering the base salaries. A small law firm with about ten employees will pay a personal injury lawyer salary of $49,353 to $85,589 on an annual basis. For a medium-size firm with the number of employees in the range of 200 to 600 the personal injury lawyer salary ranges from $74,542 to $146,465 annually. If the firm has an employee capacity of 2000 to 5000, then a personal injury lawyer can expect salary ranging from $81,451 to $1, 64,196 per year.

Employer Type

Apart from working in law firms, personal injury lawyers have other options too. If the lawyer is working for government then the salary varies from $50,751 to $90,051 at local and state level. However, at the federal level, on an average, the personal injury lawyer salary is in the range of $71,821 to $121,006. If a personal injury lawyer is working for a non-profit organization, then he can expect an annual salary between $44,665 and $68,125. Self-employed lawyers earn the most. Their annual salary lies in the range $57,600 to $1,26,119.

While the salaries may seem attractive it is necessary that the lawyers do their work dutifully and with complete dedication so that the chance of a raise in a personal injury lawyer salary is increased.