Outside legal research is very useful especially when you want to research a whole area of law. In case you know how the law is organized, you might try, otherwise don't waste your time as you won't succeed.

There is only one reason why our laws are so arduous, concealed and complex and it is because it gives power to legal professionals such as lawyers and legislators. This is how they get work which we could have otherwise done by ourselves.

Consequently, if you need to understand a specific area of law concerning your business or rights, then you'd better consult a professional who will do your advanced search, or else you might waste many hours in vain trying to do it by yourself.

Generally you can try to cope without legal researchers. Often there are times when you can learn how to do legal research on a certain topic and you might be quite successful at it. For instance, I once fought for saving some of the last wetlands in the San Francisco bay.

As our campaign lacked money for legal researchers we did it by ourselves. However, in our case there has already been much pioneering environmental work done, so it was not that difficult to do advanced legal search; we even managed to find the existing endangered species laws we needed. Legal research can easily frighten you and make you quit when you try it for the first time, that was the situation with us.

However, we were determined to succeed and didn't give up. After all, if you put some considerable efforts into fighting with the legal system, then even you, an ordinary citizen can take part in the democratic process.