Lecture notes for LLAW6022 Advanced (Legal) Research Methodology

Abstract

During this course, we are going to create an entire new book tailored to your needs as an RPG student. It will fill a large, 2-ring loose-leaf binder. It will, in the end, contain much more information than we can possibly discuss in class. Hence, it is both a course text and syllabus, as well as a resource for the future. This book has grown out of a long-established traditional class in Advanced (Legal) Research Methodology (ARM) at the University of Hong Kong (HKU) Faculty of Law, Department of Law. It is a required class for all Research Postgraduate (RPG) Students in law, but it often includes undergraduates, non-law students, students from other universities, and many others who want to learn more about sophisticated legal research techniques. My first encounter with the class was as an RPG student when I started my PhD studies in 2001. The teacher was Professor Jill Cottrell, whose book, Legal Research: A Guide for Hong Kong Students, is still a standard work on the subject and is now being revised and updated.1 In following semesters, I had the privilege of team-teaching the class with Jill, and these pages reflect much of her influence and pedagogical philosophy. Her text is still one of the foundational sources for the ARM course, and I assign it for two reasons. First, it teaches the skills of basic legal research. Second, and just as importantly, it is jargon-free. Jill writes with simplicity and springboard lucidity—skills I want my RPGs to see and practice. I also team-taught the class with Professor Michael J. Dilena for one semester, and his counsel on “how to get a PhD” is also reflected here. As was the practice of both Jill and Michael, I invite guest lecturers to share their personal experiences and wisdom (we call them “war stories”) with each class. Among our regular guests have been Fu Hualing (department head) and Albert Chen (my own PhD supervisor)—of the HKU Faculty of Law—and they have all told us some tremendous (and often harrowing) war stories. I thank all of them.