SKILL ROADMAP 9 · CORE LEGAL SKILLS
Legal Database Research
Official portals → Free databases → Paid databases → Search techniques → Tracking and alerts
Track your progress
- This roadmap has 5 steps, 6 checkpoints and 2 projects.
- Open the interactive version to tick checkpoints and projects. Your progress is saved in your browser.
1 What this path is
This roadmap is about the tools of research. It covers where the law is published and how to search efficiently in official portals and databases.
2 Who this path may suit
Everyone who researches, and especially interns, juniors and researchers who are asked to find things fast.
3 The roadmap, step by step
- Learn the official sources.
Learn: to use India Code, the eGazette, the websites of the Supreme Court and High Courts, the eCourts services portal, Parliament's websites and the websites of regulators such as SEBI and RBI.
Practise: by finding a recent gazette notification, a regulator's circular and the status of a case. - Learn free databases.
Learn: how Indian Kanoon and similar free sources organise judgments and statutes, and their limits.
Practise: by finding all judgments citing one landmark case. - Learn paid databases.
Learn: the search filters, citators and annotated statutes in databases your college provides, such as SCC Online or Manupatra.
Practise: by using a citator to see how later courts treated a judgment. - Learn search techniques.
Learn: search operators, phrase searches, filters by court and date, and how to narrow and widen results.
Practise: by running the same research question three ways and comparing results. - Stay updated.
Learn: to track new judgments, bills and notifications in your area.
Practise: by keeping a weekly update log on one area of law for a month.
4 Your levels and checkpoints
Beginner level
- Find an Act on India Code and a judgment on a court website
- Track a case on eCourts
Intermediate level
- Use filters and operators effectively
- Use a citator to check subsequent history
Advanced level
- Find obscure notifications and circulars quickly
- Maintain a reliable update system for your area
Advanced professional level
You find what you need quickly across official and paid sources and keep your team updated.
These checklists are for honest self assessment. They are not an official certification.
5 Build these projects
- A personal research toolkit listing the best sources for your area
- A monthly update log for one area of law
6 Internship direction
Interns who can find documents quickly are valued everywhere. Mention specific database skills in your applications.
7 Portfolio evidence
Your research toolkit and update logs.
8 Common mistakes
- Relying on one free database for everything
- Using unofficial copies of statutes without checking the official text