Summer Intern & New Attorney Research Survival Guide

Bookmark this page for easy access to research tips, staff suggestions, and explanations

Legislative Histories:

One project often assigned to new attorneys or interns is legislative history research. This involves searching through the documents produced in the legislative process to better understand the terminology found in a statute or to comprehend the legislature's intent when it passed a law.

Our guide to Federal Legislative History provides insight and links for tools accessible to GMU students that may help in doing research and saving time when searching a federal law. 

Conducting comparable research for a law of any state or territory will differ from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. It is often helpful to seek out a state-specific legislative research guide before conducting searches in your specified jurisdiction.  A helpful guide may identify the available documents produced by the legislature and their access points.

Surveys of State Laws:

Another project frequently assigned to new attorneys or interns involves conducting a survey of state laws on a specified topic. The project can become daunting and time consuming when the survey involves multiple states.

Pre-compiled state law surveys can be found on a number of research sites, including Lexis, Bloomberg Law, and Westlaw. Researchers may also find helpful compiled surveys on the open-Web.  Surveys that have already been compiled may assist with getting the project completed and save time. Caveat: check any useful compiled survey for a note on when it was last updated, then be sure to verify the information contained in the survey with a reputable source.

If you would like help strategizing on one of these types of projects or any other that seems to be a challenge, please contact lawref@gmu.edu.