Research is one of the more interesting tasks that you will likely be asked to carry out during a training contract. This can involve:

• Research into specific points of law (including how the courts have applied the law in certain contexts).
• Research into companies (including its shareholders, the business it carries out, the legal filings it has made etc.).
• Research into legal processes/procedures (including court procedures, deadlines for court filings, the documents required to give effect to certain courses of action etc.).
• Research into regulator guidance or proposed legal updates. 

This chapter provides an insight into the types of legal and business research typically delegated to trainees, including tips on how to structure research notes and an overview of key research sources.

Structuring research notes

 Summary 

Concisely summarise the key findings of your research, perhaps in the main body of an email (with your more substantive research attached) or in a section at the top of a document (with a clear heading). This gives the recipient the option to quickly access the results of your research, which can help them to decide whether they actually need to read the substantive research or look more closely at the sources you have used. A summary can also make it easier for your supervisor to forward on the findings to a client (a client will likely not want to read a long, technical legal note).

 Main body

• Introduction: briefly summarise the instructions you were given. This can help to show the recipient that you have understood their instructions.
• Facts: if applicable, outline the material facts clearly and succinctly as this can help to give your research document context, although this will not always be appropriate in practice.
• Issues: identifying and summarising the key legal issues that arise in connection with a given situation can help to clarify the relevance and structure of your research document, whilst also helping you to ensure that you stick to these issues when carrying out and writing up your research. For instance, which risks does your client’s situation give rise to? What are the potential obstacles/costs that your client is facing?
• Law and application: once you have set the scene with the above points, you should apply the law and (if relevant) regulatory guidance to the facts/issues. This is the section that really shows the depth of your research. Identify and cite/paraphrase the relevant (reliable!) sources of law and – if you have been asked to do so – set out how your findings may affect your client’s circumstances. Remember, your supervisor may choose to discuss the issues with you, so make sure you understand the subject in detail.
• Ending: a good ending can involve setting out further questions that have arisen, explaining any ambiguities that remain and offering to carry out any further/follow-on research that the recipient may require.

Presenting your research

Consider the intended recipient(s) for your research findings and present your research accordingly. In particular:

• Adhere to “house style” where possible/appropriate. Setting out your research in a familiar way can make your work easier for supervisors and clients to digest. You can always look for examples of documents created in house style to check whether you have applied it correctly.
• Headings can help to clarify the structure of your research and provide a quick reference guide for the recipient. This is especially the case for longer research notes.
• Make sure you provide a summary at the top so that your supervisor can quickly access your key findings if necessary. Unless you are told otherwise, you could provide this summary in the main body of an email, then attach your more in-depth research to that email (or paste it beneath your email signature). Clients in particular will most likely want to receive a set of concise summary points without any legal jargon or references. Note that this approach can also be more useful if the recipient might read your work on their phone; an email packed with thousands of words won’t be particularly quick or easy to read on a small phone screen, whereas a succinct summary will.

Sources

You will not always be expected to set out your sources in a research note, especially if the note is short. Clarify this in advance with your supervisor. If you are required to reference your sources:

• Consider using footnotes to avoid breaking up the main body of text. Alternatively, rather than including lots of footnotes/long links, consider hyperlinking your sources in the main body of your research; this can make sources easier to access than if you use footnotes, and looks more presentable.
• To do this in Microsoft Word, highlight a word or phrase (e.g. “HMRC guidance”), right click it, click “hyperlink”, then type in the website address. For instance, you could start a paragraph with “A PLC article states that…” and highlight “PLC article”. This looks tidier, makes the document easier to navigate and makes it easier for your supervisor to figure out which sources support which points. It also means you can easily reference the sources you used if you are subsequently asked follow-up questions.

Practical tip: I would recommend recording the sources that you use regardless, even if it means setting these out in a document that you do not share with your supervisor. You never know what follow-up questions your supervisor (or the client) may have. Weeks (or even months) after submitting a piece of research, you could be asked where you came across a certain case, principle or guidance note, so without a record of your sources, you may find yourself having to carry out the same research again.