Long gone is the time when attorneys head to a dusty room with staggering bookcases to find if you version of a statute or the case that will make an impression on the judge. Decades ago, legal work was a time-consuming process that required long days and nights buried from a common law library library. When using the Internet and digitization of books came significant advances and changes in legal resources. Now, the market that provides these modern tools is as big, if not bigger, than a fraction of the largest law firms in the territory.

Attorneys in the modern age have use of comprehensive indexes of cases and statutes with a simple click of a button. These databases and research hubs are operated by a handful of companies that staff hundreds or amount employees to investigate the latest cases which usually published, usually your state or federal court. The employees then provide summaries of the cases, which highlight the best themes or rulings. In addition, these digital databases offer numerous resources beyond cases and laws. They also contain secondary sources such as law review articles that analyze certain topics in regulation or treatises, which respected summaries of certain areas of law.

One of the primary aspects of persuasive legal writing may be the citation of cases that are current and still good law. That means there cannot be subsequent cases that overturn or negatively affect the holding reached in did not have case. This task used to be accomplished by the time-consuming process of cross-referencing and reading extra cases. However, with these modern digital databases, the work gets done through legal resource business.

These advances in legal research tools have dramatically changed the size and existence of legal libraries all around the globe. In the past, every respectable law firm, courthouse, legal aid center, and law school had large stages of their buildings dedicated in storing books. Now, many of these institutions have dramatically cut down in regards to the size of physical legal books and case books. Some may retain a small portion of their previous collection as ornaments rather than practical resources.

One realm that has not been dramatically impacted by these modern innovations will be the research of legislative history, such as looking at the last versions of legislation or determining the intent of brand new in drafting the law. Much of this information is unavailable digitally or online, likely because among the sheer volume in the work and the relatively low demand by attorneys. For any resources, legal researchers must turn towards the old fashion approach of going with a state or federal library, requesting data in advance, and sitting down and reading.