possible research topics in law

190 Unique Law Research Topics for Students to Consider

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If you are a law student, then obviously as a part of your studies you must write an excellent academic paper on any top law research topics. Right now, do you want to write a brilliant law research paper? Are you searching for the best law research topic ideas? If yes, then continue reading this blog post and get interesting law topics for your academic writing.

Law Research Paper Writing

A law research paper is a type of research paper that focuses on any legal topic in the world. The legal topics are nothing but the topic that deals with the legal issues that are resolved in the court.

In general, every country will have its own legal regulations and policies. More commonly, the basic rights and humanity will be the same for all the countries in the world, but specifically, you need to consider the cultural and historical peculiarities of a country while writing a law research paper.

Remember, the law is a sensitive subject and hence, when writing legal research papers, utmost care should be given. You shouldn’t add too much philosophy to it. Your research paper should answer your law essay topics properly with pure black-and-white facts.

You may think that writing a law research paper is easy. But actually, it is not. For writing an intense legal research paper, you must have a unique legal research topic. Particularly, when writing law papers, you should first research and find the legal questions relevant to your topic, analyze the various legal precedents, and present the answer to your legal question in the form of a memo by properly citing all the sources you have used for references.

Law Research Paper Topic Selection Tips

If you want to write a law research paper, then a good law research topic is what you need. Basically, the law is a complex subject, and hence choosing the right research topic from them is challenging. While selecting the legal research topic, be sure to keep the following tips in mind.

Your topic should not be too broad.
It should be informative to your audience.
The topic should be catchy and relevant to modern law.
It should contain relevant supporting materials online or in local libraries.
The topic should deal with relevant legal precedents.
It should answer all the legal essay questions.
Your topic should have real-life cases to illustrate your points.

List of the Best Law Research Paper Topics

Law is a popular discipline among humanitarian sciences that have a wide range of research areas. Some common law research areas include business law, commercial law, environmental law, international law, medical law, constitutional law, cyber law, family law and so on.

As law is a broad subject with endless research topics, it might be difficult for you to choose the most interesting idea from them. So, to make things easier, we have sorted different categories of law and listed some outstanding law research topics for you.

Have a look at the below-mentioned list of law research paper topic ideas and identify aprofound legal research topic of your choice.

Business Law Research Topics

What’s the true nature of business law?
Equity and the doctrines of business law
Morality and its relation to business law
Business laws and the parliament
The formulation of business regulations in Islam
Why are business regulations essential for institutions and organizations?
Business laws in Africa
How crucial is the constitution for the creation of business law?
Business law as a profession
The classification of the business regulations
Describe the Law of Contracts in the United States
Discuss the fundamentals of UK contract law for businesses
Critical evaluation of the role of the judiciary bodies in corporate law
Disclose an insight into contract laws with respect to the application of verbal and non-verbal agreements
Importance of collective bargaining agreements and laws on labor relations
How to deal with corruption in business law?
Discuss the difference between the EU and the UK after the implementation of the Brexit Contract Law
Discuss the protections provided to the minority shareholders in the corporate law regime of India
Compare and contrast the legal aspects of corporate M&A (mergers and acquisitions) in the United States and Australia
Analysis of the role of the Federal Trade Commission’s Bureau of Competition in regulating the anti-competitive practices in the market
Compare and contrast the legal aspects of e-commerce in the US and the UK
Critical analysis of the role played by the Arbitration and conciliation act in resolving business disputes
Compare and contrast the company law act in Australia and Canada
Discuss how anti-money laundering laws of a country impact businesses
Describe the implications of digital payment systems

Commercial Law Research Paper Topics

What are the dangers and potential results of commercial partnerships?
A comprehensive analysis of pre-incorporation contracts: How do they work?
Reviewing the use of international commercial law in energy projects across the globe.
Assessing the mediating role of corporate social responsibility in companies’ performance.
Evaluating the commercial laws that should be used against dishonest managers.
Reviewing the US commercial laws: What should be changed or added?
Evaluating the regulations aimed at stopping corruption: A case study of the UK.
Reviewing the implications of international commercial law in UK commercial laws.
Assessing the effectiveness of international commercial law programs in UK universities.
Evaluating the effectiveness of commercial law to support commercial transactions in the US.
Critical analysis of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act
Discuss the benefits of Commercial Law
Analyze the difficulties faced by businesses due to pursuing Regular or Commercial Lease
Describe the effect of business law on commercial transactions and licensing
Critical analysis of the labor law in Tanzania
Develop a comparative study on international labor standards that regulate multinational companies in developing countries

Constitutional Law Research Topics

The Internet and its impact on Free Speech
The pros and cons of federalism
What’s the freedom of the press?
The desecration and flag burning
A comparison between constitutions and state laws
What are the rights of victims of self-incrimination?
The pros and cons of Constitutionalism
All about gun control and its history in the US
What are the key changes that the First Amendment has brought?
What changes did the Bill of Rights bring?

Criminal Law Research Topics

Why does one crime have a set of different punishments?
The roots of criminologists’ work and their work in modern times
Can sociology have an impact on preventing crime?
The ethical and legal issues related to criminal activity in your country.
The real truth behind domestic violence
What is quantitative criminology, and how does it differ from other types of crime?
When does the international criminal court come into play?
Analyzing the use of lie detectors in criminal justice: How effective are the lie detectors?
A deeper look at the history of the death penalty.
The key differences between male and female rape legislation
Evaluating crime-related factors that should not be presented in a court of law.
A thematic review of criminal theory: Exploring the link between crime and morality.
What are the best ways to protect witnesses from retaliation in criminal cases?
Is criminal profiling by law enforcement truly helpful in identifying serial killers?
How does the criminal justice system keep an eye on police with body cameras?

Read more: Criminal Justice Research Topics Idea for students

Research Topics on Family Law

Evaluating the impacts of the law on divorce: Has it increased the cases of divorce or reduced them?
Review the important implications and reasons for changes to family law in the last 20 years.
Assessing the factors that hinder couples from pursuing a divorce.
The global issues and legal aspects of marriage and divorce of mentally unstable individuals.
Explore divorce and social consequences across family law and religious perspectives.
Analyze the legal foundations of parenting and civil partnerships.
Assessing human rights in states that follow religious laws for families: A case study of India.
Compare the divorce rights for women in Pakistan and the UK.
How does culture impact decision-making on transgender marriages and divorce in the US?
Evaluating the compatibility of child justice with family justice: A case study of the UK.

Cyber Law Research Topics

The main cyber laws and enforcement today
What are the skills of an excellent cyber lawyer?
How can the government impact cyberterrorism?
Cybercrime and cyberterrorism
The penalties for cybercrime
All about private data, revenge porn, blackmailing, and our internet privacy
Is it the government’s job to analyze the flow of network traffic?
Cyberlaw trends and how the online community sticks to them.
The Internet Era and identity theft: Is it a crime of modern times?
Categories of cybercrime and the main cybersecurity strategies against violators.

Read more: Interesting Cybercrime Research Topics To Deal With your paper

Research Ideas on Environmental Law

The environmental influence on the rate of crime
How has global environmental law changed today?
The importance of environmental law for the health of current generations.
Biological weapons and their regulations by international environmental law.
Will the Uber industry impact the ecology in America?
The current environmental regulations in the United States
Sustainability and environmental compliance due to environmental law and economic reality.
All about the environmental regulations in Canada
Waste management in countries with a high economic level.
Environmental law in Australia and climate change

Employment Law Research Topics

A comprehensive review of employment contracts and job contracts in the US manufacturing industry.
A legal viewpoint of employee mobility between European Union countries.
Equal employment opportunities: Comparing gender differences in the UK and US regulations.
Compare the UK laws before and after exiting the European Union.
Reviewing legal perspectives of social work employment: A case study of California, USA.
A comparative analysis of employment laws in the automotive industry in the US and UK.
Analyze the impact of trade unions and their work in the UK.
The convergence of employment laws and religion in the USA: A literature review.
Evaluating the efficiency of workplace sexual harassment: A case study of the US and UK.
A critical evaluation of the employment law of disabled individuals in the US.

Law Research Topics on Intellectual Property

Evaluating laws for intellectual property rights protection on the internet.
A comprehensive assessment of the economic impacts of intellectual property rights
Evaluating the fair dealing in terms of copyright law: A case study of the US.
How has EU law impacted the intellectual property regime in the UK?
Can the emerging technological advancements operate smoothly with the current intellectual property laws in the US?
Demystifying the relationship between intellectual property laws and EU regulations?
Comparing and contrasting the intellectual property regimes in the UK and the US.
Evaluating the implications of Brexit on the protection of intellectual property rights in the UK.
Is the EU intellectual property law safe and fair for users and owners?
Does the EU copyright law provide ample balance between the needs of inventors and users?
Comparison of the institutions and regulations governing intellectual property in China and India
An in-depth analysis of the UK’s invention and patenting system: Can the existing, rigid system stimulate innovation?
Critical analysis of the development of copyright and moral rights in the legal system of Europe
Infringement of foreign copyright and jurisdiction of the European Court
Critical analysis of the economic rationale of Trademarks
Analyze the emerging role of patents in innovation and intellectual property protection in the software industry
Peer-to-Peer Technology: Analysis of contributory infringement and fair use
Trademark protection is and ought to be the need of businesses to protect their brand value: Explain
What do fair pricing and fair dealing with copyright regulations mean?
Trade-Related Aspects of IP Rights: A Workable Instrument for Enforcing Benefit Sharing

International Law Research Paper Topics

The principles used to formulate international criminal laws.
Ethical systems and international relations
Problems of code-based ethics
How do different countries deal with false confessions?
Different treatment of terrorism as a crime in different countries
Diplomats and their protection of international morality.
Did the US involvement in Iraq provide justice or violate the law?
Laws on mental health in different countries
The issues of traditional justification
The question of ethics in the international legal context.
International Human Rights Court Hearings: Evaluating the importance of precedence.
What are the problems of enforcing international law in developing countries?
Evaluating the efficiency of International Tribunals in solving war crimes.
Digital and internet legislation: Forecasting the future.
Assessing the relationship between public safety and civil liberties in international laws.

Medical Law Research Topics

The common law towards refusal of medical treatment.
Evaluating the laws governing organ transplantation: A case study of the US .
How do ethics and medical law coexist?
Ethics and Medical Laws in World War II
Law application in medicine: Exploring the antecedents and practice.
Evaluating the ethical and legal challenges of using biobanks.
Exploring the legal aspects of electronic fetal monitoring.
How do lawsuits affect medical practitioners’ commitment to offering lifesaving treatments?
Unregistered medical intervention in the UK: What are the legal implications?
Morality and law in the abortion debate.
In accordance with international environmental law, biological weapons are prohibited.
Will the Uber industry have an impact on American ecology?
United States environmental laws are in effect today.
Due to environmental legislation and economic reality, sustainability, and environmental compliance.
anything about Canadian environmental laws.
evaluating aspects of crime that shouldn’t be discussed in court.
What are the best strategies for shielding witnesses in criminal cases from reprisals?
A more thorough examination of the death penalty’s past
Examining the connection between crime and morality is the focus of this examination of criminal theory.
A case study of London’s examination into the difficulties in determining the type and distribution of crime.

A Few More Medical Law Research Ideas

How to balance the rights of defendants and victims when using anonymity in sexual offense litigation.
Slavery, prostitution, and human trafficking. the methods used globally to eradicate it.
Is identity theft a modern-day crime? prevention of identity theft in the post-Internet era.
criminality and psychology. Are some people more likely than others to breach the law?
Social control theory against the self-control hypothesis
False confessions and how they are handled in various nations.
The environment’s impact on crime rates is one of the theories behind shattered windows.
Similarities and disparities between mental diseases and crime in various nations.
education, criminal behavior, and intelligence.
From the beginning to the present, criminologists’ fieldwork.
How does quantitative criminology differ from other types of crime? What is it?
When is the use of the international criminal court appropriate?
Examining the effectiveness of lie detectors in the criminal justice system:
A more thorough investigation of the death penalty’s past.
The main distinctions between male and female rape laws
Assessing criminal-related variables that shouldn’t be brought up in court.
What effects has EU law had on the UK’s system of intellectual property?
Can the advancing technologies coexist peacefully with the US’s current intellectual property laws?
Explaining the connection between EU rules and intellectual property laws?

Wrapping Up

In order to get top grades for your law research paper, a peculiar topic is mainly needed. Especially, by choosing an idea from the list of 150+ law research topics suggested in this blog post, you can write a top-quality academic paper and make your work stand out in the crowd. In case you find it difficult to write a legal research paper, then immediately reach out to us for professional Law assignment help . We have a team of academic writers who are experts in the field of law to assist you in completing your law research paper on any impressive topic as per requirements.

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I am an Academic Writer and have affection to share my knowledge through posts’. I do not feel tiredness while research and analyzing the things. Sometime, I write down hundred of research topics as per the students requirements. I want to share solution oriented content to the students.

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Scholarly Research for Law Students

Step 1: selecting a topic.

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Choosing a topic to write about can be difficult. It is important that the paper is novel, meaning that your contribution does not duplicate ideas found in a published work. The topic should also be appropriate for your paper's length, not too narrow nor too broad.

Fortunately, you don't have to have a fully developed topic right away. You might need to start with something general and refine it as you conduct preliminary research.

The best topic is one that will hold your interest. See if you can think of anything from your previous work or life experiences. If not, check out current developments. You can search for potential topics using the resources below.

To Narrow Down Your Topic, Look for Conflict

Here is some useful advice from the book Modern Legal Scholarship (p.5) :

"As you explore potential topics, keep in mind that some of the best topics for a scholarly piece investigate conflict—where the rule of law, a policy, a rule, or a right goes too far; where it does not go far enough; or where it clashes with another law, policy, rule, or right. If you have a general idea for your topic, but do not know specifically what to write about, look for the conflict."

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You can access Law360 using the product selector cube in Lexis+. You can view the latest news on the main page or switch to a newsletter tailored to a particular topic.

How to Access Law360

1. Click on the Product Selector cube.

2. Select Law360.

3. This is the main Law360 screen, which shows the top news stories. To see a subject-specific page, click on See All Sections.

4. Here is the list of available newsletters.

1. From the main Lexis+ page, select Legal News Hub.

2. Here is the Legal News Hub. You can do a keyword search or select All Sections to see a list of subject-oriented news feeds.

1. Click on Newsletters in Law360.

2. Provide your email address and then make your selections. You will also need to save at the bottom of the screen by clicking Sign Up Now.

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In addition to the subject-based channels, Bloomberg Law provides access to U.S. Law Week, which is a popular general legal news resource that also provides in-depth information on the U.S. Supreme Court.

Bloomberg Law News can be found by selecting News & Analysis from the Browse menu on the left side of the screen. Sign up by clicking the Subscribe to Newsletter link at the top of the page in a subject-based feed.

How to Access Bloomberg Law News

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Click on Bloomberg Law News under Featured or News & Analysis at the top of the screen.

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3. Click on Crypto to see that specific news feed.

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1. Select Subscribe to Newsletters from the home page. Make sure that you are signed into your law school account. The home page that you see before you log in to your law-school specific access is different!

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Westlaw Today provides legal news stories from several sources, including Reuters, The Hill, CQ Roll Call, Practical Law, and JD Supra. It also includes news and in-depth attorney analysis pieces unique to the site.

You can find Westlaw Today by clicking on the arrow next to the Westlaw Precision logo.

By default, Westlaw Today displays the day’s top news stories, but you can filter to show stories related to a specific practice area. Westlaw Today lets you choose from different topic-oriented daily email news feeds.

One nice feature is that you can group all the topics you subscribe to into one email (as opposed to receiving separate emails for each one). You can also get company-specific email alerts, breaking news alerts, and The Daily Docket. The Daily Docket not only provides information on law firms and general legal news but also highlights recent notable decisions.

How to Access Westlaw Today

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3. The main Westlaw Today page shows you the top news stories. To see the news related to a particular topic, tab over to Practice Areas and make your selection.

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How to Do Research in International Law? A Basic Guide for Beginners

Jan 25, 2021 | Essays , Online Scholarship

By: Eliav Lieblich *

[Click here for PDF]

Introduction

So, you want to do research in international law? Good choice. But it can be difficult, especially in the very beginning. In this brief guide for students taking their first steps in legal research in international law, I will try to lay down the basics—just enough to nudge you towards the rabbit-hole of research. This guide is about how to think of and frame research questions, primary sources, and secondary sources in the research of international law. Or, to be precise, it is about how I think about these things. It is not about how to write in the technical sense, how to structure your paper, or about research methods (beyond some basic comments). This guide also focuses mostly on questions that are especially pertinent when researching international law. For this reason, it does not address general questions such as how and when to cite authorities, what are relevant academic resources, and so forth.

As you begin your work, you will find that legal research in international law is both similar to and different from legal research in domestic law. Research in international law and domestic law are similar in their basic requirements: 1) you need a research question, 2) you need to understand the problem you are approaching (both in terms of the legal doctrine and its underlying theory), 3) you need a method to answer your question. and 4) you need to rely on primary and secondary sources. Research in international law is different because international law, in its quest to be universal, is practiced everywhere. There is no “single” international law, and for this reason it is an area of law that is almost always contested. Furthermore, international law is not hierarchical unlike most domestic legal systems, and many times, several legal frameworks might apply to one single question ( “ fragmentation ”). [1] Additionally, international law’s sources include customary law, which is notoriously difficult to pinpoint. [2] This makes describing “the law” as an object of research much trickier. This guide attempts to give you the initial tools to navigate this terrain, but rest assured that it is also difficult for experienced researchers.

The guide is structured as follows. Section 2 is about research questions. It first offers a simplified typology of research question, including a few words on theory and method, and then suggests some thoughts about thinking of and framing your question. Section 3 is about secondary and primary sources in the research of international law. It includes some advice about the way to approach international legal scholarship in a world of hegemony and information overflow. The guide then becomes a bit more technical, offering tips about finding primary sources relevant for the research of international law.

A caveat is in order. This guide does not seek to offer the most theoretically robust or comprehensive introduction to international legal research. Rather, it should be viewed as practical advice to help you take your first steps into the field. The guide, of course, reflects my own understanding. Other researchers might approach these issues differently.

I. Research Questions

A. types of research questions: descriptive, normative, and critical.

Finding a research question will be one of the most important and challenging parts of your research. Every research has a question at its foundation. The research question is simply the question that your research seeks to answer. In all fields of legal scholarship, there are basically three families of research questions: 1) descriptive research questions, 2) normative research questions, and 3) critical research questions. Very broadly speaking, descriptive questions seek to tell us something about the legal world as it is . Normative questions ask what ought to be the state of things in relation to law. Critical questions seek to expose the relations between law and power, and, as I explain later, are somewhat in the middle between descriptive and normative questions. In truth, there is a lot of interaction between all three types of questions. But for our sake, we keep it simple, and as a starting point for research, it is better to think about research questions in these terms. Thinking clearly about your research question will help you frame your work, structure your paper, and look for relevant sources.

Descriptive research questions are questions about the state of things as they are. Much of traditional international legal scholarship is descriptive in the sense that it seeks to describe “the law” as it is, whether in abstract (e.g., “what is the content of the Monetary Gold principle in international adjudication?”) or in relation to a specific situation. For instance, in their excellent writing on Yemen , Tom Ruys and Luca Ferro look at the Saudi-led intervention in the Yemeni Civil War and ask whether that intervention is lawful. [3] From a theoretical standpoint, this type of research can be broadly described as positivist , in the sense that it looks only into legally relevant sources (the lex lata ), as autonomous bodies of knowledge. We can call such questions descriptive doctrinal research questions since they seek to analyze and describe the doctrine from an internal point of view. Of course, some doubt whether it is at all possible to describe authoritatively what the law “is,” beyond very basic statements, without making any normative judgments about what “the law” should be. It could even be said that the mere decision to discuss law as an autonomous sphere is a value-laden choice. These and related critiques have been levelled against doctrinal scholarship for over a century by legal realist and critical approaches, both domestically and internationally. [4] This resulted in the gradual marginalization of such research questions, at least in the United States. Yet, from a global perspective, doctrinal research into international law remains a central strand of research.

Doctrinal questions are not the only type of descriptive research questions. Descriptive questions can also follow the tradition of law and society approaches. This type of research looks at the law from the outside and is mostly interested in law’s interaction with society, rather than in legal doctrine per se . Historically, the emergence of this way of thinking relates to the insight, first articulated by legal realists, that law does not exist in an autonomous sphere and gains meaning only with its actual interaction with society. Research questions of this type might ask whether and when law is effective, how people think about the law, or how judges make decisions. For instance, in her recent book , Anthea Roberts asks whether international law is truly “international” by looking at how it is studied in different parts of the world. [5] This type of scholarship can also seek to explain law from a historical point of view. For example, Eyal Benvenisti and Doreen Lustig inquire into the interests that shaped the origins of modern international humanitarian law (“IHL”) and argue that the law was shaped more by the interests of ruling elites than by humanitarian impulses. [6] For the purposes of this guide, these are socio-legal research questions .

Normative research questions , in general, ask what the law ought to be, whether in general or in a specific instance. For example, in “The Dispensable Lives of Soldiers,” Gabriella Blum asks what ought to be the rules for the targeting of combatants in armed conflict. [7] As she suggests, these rules should consider the specific threat they pose and not only their legal status as combatants. The difficulty in normative questions—and from my own experience, this is one of the major challenges for students in their first research papers—is that to answer them, we need external parameters for assessing law . In other words, we need a theory on what is considered “good,” in light of which we can present an argument about what the law should be. Otherwise, we run into a classic problem: we cannot draw from facts alone (what law “is”) what ought to be (what law should be). [8] It is here where theory plays a key role. Normative legal theories are there to help us articulate our benchmarks for assessing what law should be. Returning to Blum’s article as an example, she uses insights from ethics to consolidate her point. She argues from an ethical, extra-legal vantage point, that since soldiers’ lives have moral worth, law should be understood in a manner that best reflects this moral idea.

Now, there is a myriad of normative approaches to international law, which I will not address here. A good place to start on theories of international law, including normative ones, is Andrea Bianchi’s excellent and accessible book on international legal theories. [9] Just to give you a sense of things, older natural law theories would simply identify law with morality and would inquire into morality—either as handed down by God or as exposed by reason—in order to ascertain law. [10] In newer scholarship, it is much more common to use ethics as a way to criticize positive law or to read moral standards into the interpretation of law itself —in accordance with the moral theory to which we subscribe. [11] This, for instance, is Ronald Dworkin’s approach , when he urges to interpret law “in its best light.” [12] In international law, for instance, a notable example for such thinking is Thomas Franck’s theory of legitimacy and international law. [13] Franck—although careful not to frame his theory in explicitly moral terms—argues that legal rules should have certain characteristics, such as clarity and coherence, in order to enjoy a “compliance pull” that induces state compliance. If, for example, we were to adopt Franck’s theory, we would assess law in light of his standards of legitimacy.

Normative theories can also be utilitarian. The best known example for such way of thinking, of course, is law and economics . [14] Another family of instrumental normative theories can be roughly described as policy approaches to international law. In the simplest sense, policy approaches ask what the law should be, in terms of its ability to bring about good policy consequences. The New Haven School of International Law, for instance, analyzed international law from the point of a global standard of human dignity. [15] It is safe to say that almost all current scholarship on international law, especially in the United States, utilizes policy approaches, even if not explicitly. [16] To sum this point, when framing normative research questions, we should be aware that at some point, we will need to commit to a yardstick through which to assess our normative conclusions.

Critical research questions inquire into the power relations that shape law or into the relations between law and politics in the broad sense of the term. In this sense, they aim to be descriptive: they seek to describe law as a product of power relations and expose the manner in which law conceals and neutralizes political choices. [17] Like normative scholarship, critical research questions also rely on theories (“ critical theories ”). For example, Martti Koskenniemi seeks to describe how the structure of the international legal argument collapses into politics, using insights from Critical Legal Studies (“CLS”). [18] Aeyal Gross inquires whether the application of international human rights law might harm rather than benefit Protected Persons in occupied territories, on the basis of theoretical tools from CLS and Legal Realism. [19] Anthony Anghie asks how colonialism shaped the origins of international law, on the basis of postcolonial theory (and specifically in international law, Third World Approaches to International Law). [20] Ntina Tzouvala considers whether and how the 19th century standards of civilization in international law continue to live on in the international system through its capitalist underpinnings, by applying Marxian analysis. [21] From a feminist approach, Fionnuala Ní Aoláin explores what are the gendered aspects of the law of occupation. [22] It should be emphasized that critical research questions are also normative in the deeper sense: by seeking to expose power relations, they imply that something is wrong with law. Some critical research proceeds, after exposing power dynamics, to offer solutions—and some simply conclude that the project of law is a lost cause.

It is crucial to understand that both normative and critical research questions usually have descriptive sub-questions. For instance, Blum’s normative claim is that the current rule on targeting combatants is no longer tenable and should be changed. But to do so, she first has to give a proper account of the current understanding of law. And that is, of course, a descriptive question. The same applies to critical questions. Good critical scholarship should give a valid account of its object of critique. For example, in Tzouvala’s piece, a significant part offers a description of the standards of civilization, before the main critique is applied.

B. A Note about Theory and Methods

The term theory has been used quite liberally in the previous section. Now, there are several ways to understand this term. Here, theory is used in the sense of the general intellectual framework through which we think about law or a certain legal question. It is our view on the world, if you will—the prism through which we analyze or assess a question. The term theory must be distinguished from method . Methods, in legal research, encompass at least two meanings. The first, more common in descriptive socio-legal research, refers to the way in which we seek to find and arrange the information required to answer our question. For instance, if my question is “do judges in international courts cite scholarship from the Global South,” my method would be the manner in which I gather and arrange the data about judges’ citation practices. Do I search all relevant decisions for citations and create a large dataset (empirical quantitative methods)? Do I conduct interviews with prominent judges and extrapolate from their positions (qualitative methods)? Descriptive doctrinal research, too, has its version of methods in this sense. When we analyze treaties, legislation, state practice, or case law, we apply a method of collecting, analyzing, and categorizing this information.

The second manner in which the term method is used, is more pertinent in normative and critical legal research. For example, in an American Journal of International Law symposium on methods in international legal research, “methods” were defined as “the application of a conceptual apparatus or framework—a theory of international law—to the concrete problems faced by the international community”. [23] Meaning, methods are defined here as the way in which we apply theory to specific instances —or in other words, as applied theory. It is in this sense that you will hear terms like “feminist methods” or “critical methods” used.

In truth, much of legal research—with the exception of certain strands of law and society research—is quite loose in its awareness to methods and in its use of them. This is perhaps because most of us are socialized, in our earliest days as law students, into the general method of doctrinal approaches to law—legal interpretation, case analysis, analogy, and allusions to consideration of “legal policy” in order to solve dilemmas. The extent to which you will be required to be strict about methods in legal research, would probably differ between instructors and their own backgrounds.

C. Framing and Finding Your Research Question

What is expected from a research question, at least in the initial stage of your work? Of course, this differs between instructors and advisors. Here, I offer some insights that I think are generally applicable, with specific reference to international law.

First, a lot depends on the stage of your studies. In most seminars at the J.D. or LL.B. level, instructors do not necessarily require that your question be entirely novel, in the sense that no one has asked it before. Of course, most instructors value originality and would be happy if you come up with a reasonably original question (provided that you can answer it, but more about that in a bit). On the Master’s or Ph.D. levels, this might be very different. Framing a question that would be “an original contribution to the field” is one of the crucial parts of writing a dissertation at that level. But since this is a beginners’ guide, do not worry about that.

Second, a research question must be tailored to the scope of your work, or in other words, it must be a question that you can reasonably answer within the space you have been given. Most seminar papers are around 10,000 words, inclusive of footnotes. This length suits a question like “should the duty to take precautionary measures under IHL require risking soldiers’ lives?” but probably not “the legal history of proxy wars during the Cold War.” The unfortunate nature of seminars is that you will usually have very limited time to think of a research question, and since you are new in the field, you would probably have trouble figuring out whether your question fits the scope of your paper. Most instructors (I hope) would be happy to let you know if your question is too wide.

Third, a research question should be one that you are capable of answering with the skills you have, or with skills—the methodological proficiency –that you have the time to reasonably acquire during your research (whether independently or with the assistance of your instructor). By the time students write seminar papers, most have a reasonable grasp of how to do legal reasoning from an internal-legal point of view and accordingly have the basic skills to answer descriptive doctrinal questions . Concerning most normative and critical research questions, the basic skills required—at least at the level required in seminar papers in most law schools—can be acquired during your research: to me, learning new theories and the ways to apply them is precisely what seminars should be about! The trick is to find the question and the normative or critical approach that you would like to explore. However, things get much trickier if you select a descriptive socio-legal question . These require, sometimes, research methods that most law students do not possess at this stage. If you are thinking about such questions, consult with your instructor to see whether she can or is willing to instruct you about the method you need.

But wait! We said nothing about how to actually find your research question. Here, I might disappoint you: there is no way around some of the difficulties we encounter when looking for a question. Finding a research question is hard, in particular when you are just starting out and have a limited grasp on the field. In truth, there is no one way—if there is even a way—to find a research question. A research question begins from an idea, and we cannot really control how our ideas emerge. Even the most experienced researchers will probably tell you that they get their ideas serendipitously when taking a shower, walking the dog, or folding the laundry. “Eureka” moments rarely pop-up when we summon them. So rather than attempting to give (a futile) account on a sure-shot way to find your research questions, I suggest ways that might be conducive to spark the creative thought process needed to get a good idea.

First, ask yourself what interests you, in the most intuitive way, in terms of specific fields of international law. If you are enrolled in a thematic course, such as International Trade Law, or International Criminal Law, then this narrows your selection of course. But even within fields, there are numerous sub and sub-sub fields and questions. In international criminal law, for example, there is a world of difference between questions of jurisdiction and theories of punishment. Start by opening a general textbook in the field. Scan the contents. See the types of issues and dilemmas that arise. See what direction triggers your interest. Most textbooks will highlight controversial issues. Ask yourself whether any of these issues both interest you and can be phrased as a research question that conforms to the requirements discussed above.

Second, follow blogs in the field. There are many high quality blogs on international law, which offer good analysis on current events and legal dilemmas. These blogs can help you to map burning and interesting questions. Leading blogs such as EJIL: Talk! , Just Security , Legal Form , Opinio Juris , and Lawfare are good places to start. For those of you really willing to take the plunge, there is a very vibrant community of international law scholars on Twitter (although it might lead you to question the general sanity of the field). International legal institutions and organizations also maintain active Twitter profiles, and so do states.

Third, it is ok to begin with a somewhat general or imprecise research question, and narrow it down and refine as you go. For instance, let’s assume that you begin with “should the duty to take precautionary measures under IHL require risking soldiers’ lives.” As you read, you will find that there are several different precautions under IHL. Depending on the scope of your research, you might want to refine your question to something like “should the duty to give advance warning to civilians require exposing soldiers to potential harm?” In other words, it is perfectly fine to make adjustments to your question as you go.

Fourth, be proactive in your communications with your instructor. There are different types of instruction on the seminar level, but most instructors would be happy to participate with you in a ping-pong of ideas on your research question—as long as you have done some thinking and come with ideas to discuss, even if these are half-baked.

II. Secondary and Primary Sources in International Legal Research

Once we have the research question, we need information to answer it. This information is found in research sources . In academic research, it is common to differentiate between primary and secondary sources. In simple terms, primary sources comprise raw information or first-hand accounts of something. By way of example, these include diary entries, interviews, questionnaires, archival data, and meeting records. In basic legal research, primary sources can include black letter law, rulings, and so forth. Another way to look at primary sources is that they give you direct, unmediated access to the objective of your research. Secondary sources, conversely, are writings about primary sources: they interpret primary sources for you. These include primarily academic books, book chapters, and journal articles. Of course, there are dialectics between primary and secondary sources. Sometimes, secondary sources can become primary sources, depending on our perspective. If, for example, I want to write about the international legal philosophy of Hans Kelsen, then Kelsen’s writings become my primary sources. Other people’s writings about Kelsenwould be my secondary sources. Similarly, a judicial decision can be a primary source when we study what the law “is,” but it can also be secondary source when it describes other things, such as facts, opinions, or ideas.

In international law, there is another idiosyncrasy. If we want to know what the law “is,” secondary sources might be considered primary, to an extent, because according to international law itself, “the teachings of the most highly qualified publicists” are subsidiary means to determine the positive law. [24]

B. The Intricacies of Secondary Sources of International Law: Managing Hegemony and Information Overload

Is there something special that we need to know about secondary sources in international legal research? On its face, secondary sources on international law are not much different from such sources in any other field. For this reason, I will not get into questions that are relevant to all fields of research, such as how to account for newspaper stories, the value of Wikipedia for research (very limited), etc. Rather, I will point out some things that are especially important to consider when approaching secondary sources in international law.

First, since international law presumes to apply everywhere, there might be relevant literature on your question in any language you can imagine. At the seminar paper level, most instructors will expect you to rely on literature in languages reasonably accessible to you. In more advanced levels of research, things might be different. As a rule of thumb, if you cannot access writings in at least English or French, your research will unfortunately be limited. Of course, we can criticize this situation in terms of the hegemony it reflects; [25] however, this is the reality as it stands. A possible exception is if your question focuses on the application of law in a specific jurisdiction. But here, too, you will be limited since without access to literature in other languages, your comparative ability will be diminished.

Second—and this is an understatement—there are differing perceptions of international law, both in general and on specific questions, across different legal cultures. Risking pandering to stereotypes, U.S. scholarship tends to be more inclined towards policy approaches to law, while continental European scholarship might be more positivist. [26] Scholarship from the Global South might view law from postcolonial perspectives. It is crucial to be aware of these differences, in the sense that no single perspective can give you the entire picture. This is not to say that you cannot focus on one specific legal culture—depending on your research question—just be aware that you might be getting a particular point of view.

Third, even within a specific legal culture, there are interpretive “camps” on most questions of international law. Very roughly speaking, writers affiliated with state institutions might interpret law in a manner more permissive of state action, while others might be more suspicious of states and approach law from a more restrictive perspective. For instance, in the field of IHL, David Luban identifies “two cultures” of interpretation—military and “humanitarian” lawyers—that differ almost on every legal question. [27] You will find comparable divisions on international trade, investment arbitration, and international environmental law—and in any other field for that matter. Here, too, it is very important to be aware of the “camp” of the author you are reading. You will not get a complete view if all of your secondary sources belong to this or that camp.

Fourth, be aware and critical of hierarchies. Traditionally, secondary sources of international law were organized around major treatises (which are textbooks that deal systematically with an issue), such as Oppenheim’s international law. [28] This tendency derives from the special status that major scholarship enjoys in the formation of international law, as mentioned above. Of course, major “classic” textbooks are still invaluable tools to get into the field and at least to understand its mainstream at a given moment. However, many canonical treatises—to be blunt—have been written by white western men from major empires, with certain perspectives about the world. Often, these writers went in and out of diplomatic service and might be generally uncritical of their states’ legal policies. Many newer versions of these textbooks internalize these critiques and are much better in terms of incorporating diverse authors and views. Nonetheless, in order to get the fuller picture on your question, diversify your sources.

Fifth, and notwithstanding the need to take into account the problem of hierarchies, it is still important to get a good grasp of the “important” writings on your research question, in order to understand the predominant views on the issue. In an age of information overload, this is particularly difficult to do. There are, however, several (imperfect) ways to mitigate this problem. One way to do so is by using Google Scholar and Google Books as entry portals into your subject. These search engines allow you both to search for titles and specific phrases within titles. They are free, simple and fast, and Google Books even allows you to preview most books. Google Scholar and Books also present a citation count for each source. Citation counts refer to the number of times a work has been cited by other authors, which gives you a rough measure of the centrality of the work. However, Google’s search engines should be taken with a grain of salt. Google is a data-for-profit company, and its effects on academic research have been criticized . [29] The basic problem is that nobody knows how Google arranges its results and what interests it serves by doing so. In other words, Google creates a new hierarchy of sources, and we do not know exactly how to account for it.

Another way to get a sense of the important writings relating to your question is to look at general, introductory works on your subject. These textbooks usually provide a good overview of the major discussions and dilemmas relating to the fields they cover, and when doing so, they present the central views on these questions. See which writings they discuss and cite. A good place to start, in order to gain access to initial secondary (and sometimes primary) sources on a specific question, is the Max Planck Encyclopedias of International Law or the Oxford Bibliographies of International Law .

Still, always be mindful that the “central views” on a question are not necessarily the best views. For instance, many times, citation practices simply reproduce geographic, institutional, racial, or gendered hierarchy. They are not meaningless, but be critical about them. After you get the “central views” on the question go to more “neutral” search engines such as your library’s general database or commercial databases such as Hein and Westlaw that arrange scholarship in a more transparent manner. One radical suggestion is to visit your library physically (!) and go to the relevant shelf. Libraries are nice, and you will often find titles that you missed in your electronic search.

C. Primary Research Sources of International Law: What are They and Where to Find Them

What are the primary sources for research in international law? The answer, of course, flows from the type of your research question. The sources for doctrinal research questions would generally follow material that would be relevant for the study of the legal sources of international law, namely those found in Article 38(1) of the Statute of the International Court of Justice (“ICJ”): 1) treaties, 2) state practice and opinio juris (as elements of customary law), 3) general principles of law, and 4) as subsidiary means, judicial decisions and scholarly work.

However, even when conducting doctrinal research, not everyone subscribes to an exclusively formalist understanding of legal sources. For instance, there are many forms of formal and informal regulation in various global governance frameworks. Non-binding resolutions of international organizations, for example, and instruments of “soft law” can also be viewed as part of the doctrine, broadly speaking. [30] Additionally, legal realists might argue that whatever is perceived by international actors as authoritative and controlling in specific instances can be analyzed as a legally relevant source. [31] The important takeaway is that the primary sources for doctrinal research follow the author’s approach to the sources relevant for international law, and this changes between legal formalists and realists. This complicates your work, but even as a beginner, you would need to decide which way to go in terms of identifying relevant primary sources. If you are confused about this, consulting with your instructor is probably wise here.

As discussed earlier on, normative and critical research questions tend to have descriptive doctrinal sub-questions. For the doctrinal parts in normative and critical research, the above primary sources are relevant also. The normative and critical parts of such research, conversely, would usually rely on the application to the descriptive findings of theory found in secondary sources (and recall the definition of method as applied theory, suggested in the AJIL symposium). [32]

For socio-legal research questions, primary sources can extend much wider, depending on the specific research method selected. Since the challenges of identifying sources for socio-legal research are not unique in the context of international legal research and require treatment beyond this limited guide, I do not address them here.

After clearing that up (hopefully), we now move to a more technical part: where can we find primary sources for doctrinal research in international law (or doctrinal parts within otherwise non-doctrinal research)? Of course, there are virtually endless options. Here, I seek only to give an overview of some of the best ways to look for such sources, or at least, those that I prefer. Note, that I do not get into the nitty-gritty of each search engine or database, such as how to run searches and where to click. They are usually quite easy to get a handle on, and if not, most law school libraries have very capable personnel to assist in the more technical aspects of things. In the same vein, I do not get into the specifics of document indexing systems of various institutions (see, for instance, here ).

1. Curated Collections of Important Primary Sources

Before delving into specific primary sources and where we can find them, it is good to know that some publications select especially important sources and publish them with commentary. These publications do not include all primary sources, but if you want to search for especially pertinent sources on your subject, they can be helpful. For example, International Legal Materials (“ILM”) is a publication of the American Society of International Law that periodically selects important primary sources, with expert commentary. Although ILM is a very old publication, it is fortunately online, and you can search its database.

2. Treaties and Treaty Bodies

Moving on to treaties. In general, you can access the text of almost every treaty directly from any internet search engine. For comprehensive research, however, the United Nations Treaty Collection (“UN Treaty Collection”) has a sophisticated search page , allowing you to find treaties by title, signatories, dates, and many other categories. When you click on a treaty, you can also find the list of state parties, including reservations, declarations, etc. Take note of that the UN Treaty Collection includes only treaties registered with the United Nations . The most important treaties are indeed registered. Those that are not might be found in secondary sources, in governmental websites, and so forth. Last, Oxford Historical Treaties is a great source for older treaties.

Treaties can also be found in the homepages of relevant international organizations. For instance, the World Trade Organization website includes all of the organization’s founding agreements and other relevant treaties. Regional organizations, also, mostly follow this practice. The International Committee of the Red Cross (“ICRC”) website has an index of all historical and in-force IHL treaties. These are only examples.

For the purpose of your research, you might want to look at the travaux préparatoires —which include the official negotiation records of the treaty, its drafting history, and other preparatory documents. These are important both to interpret and understand the history and rationales of the treaty. There is no single way in which these records are published. Many times, they can be found in official volumes, whether online or in hardcopy. For example, the travaux of the European Conventions of Human Rights can be found online here . You can find more information about finding travaux at the UN Library on this page .

Many treaties establish organs that oversee their execution or interpret their provisions (“treaty bodies”). These organs, in turn, create their own documents, decisions, and comments. This is a particularly important feature of international human rights law treaties. Luckily, the UN keeps a searchable treaty body database in which you can search for virtually any type of document produced by these bodies. For example, you can find various reports submitted to these bodies by states; you can also find decisions (“jurisprudence”) of treaty bodies, as some of them are empowered to decide on individual and interstate claims. For more information about research in human rights law, Georgetown Law produced this great guide (on both secondary and primary sources).

3. Judicial Decisions

Judicial decisions constitute important primary sources in international legal research like in any legal research. However, as opposed to domestic jurisdictions, the terrain of international legal tribunals is heavily fragmented. [33] As you probably know by now, there is no “supreme court of the international community” to which all other courts are subject. Most tribunals are limited in their jurisdiction to a certain subject matter or to a certain group of states or individuals. To make things even more complicated, domestic courts also frequently rule on international legal questions or refer to international law in their decisions. A crucial point when conducting your research is to figure out whether there is an international tribunal that might have jurisdiction over issues relating to your question and whether these issues were addressed in a substantial way by domestic courts.

Fortunately, there are search engines that allow us to search for specific things across many international tribunals and dispute settlement mechanisms. The Oxford Reports on International Law , for instance, allows you to search across virtually all international tribunals and arbitration mechanisms (as well as treaty bodies). It includes not only ICJ rulings, but also rulings and decisions of subject-area specific dispute settlement mechanisms such as the International Tribunal on the Law of the Sea (“ITLOS”) and others. Furthermore, the search engine allows you also to look for domestic rulings that apply international law in many jurisdictions. Be mindful, however, that the database on domestic rulings is not comprehensive, and many times does not include the newest rulings since it takes time for the regional reporters to report them. The Cambridge Law Reports is another very reputable and established source for international case law and domestic rulings relating to international law.

It should be noted that in addition to these databases, most tribunals have their own websites. Just by way of example, the ICJ , the European Court of Human Rights , the International Criminal Court (“ICC”), and the WTO Dispute Settlement mechanism all have very helpful sites with their own advanced search engines. Similarly, the International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes (“ICSID”) allows you to search for decisions in investment-state arbitrations. Many other tribunals and dispute settlement arrangements have similar systems. The added value of the tribunals’ own sites is that they usually include not only decisions, but also oral and written proceedings and other documents of interest for in-depth research. Moreover, it might be that they are updated faster with new decisions.

Note, however, that many questions are never resolved by any tribunal. International law is more of an ongoing process than a system of adjudication, [34] and the fact that a dispute or dilemma has not been formally addressed by courts does not mean that it is not important or that there are no highly relevant primary sources on the issue. Ironically, often the opposite is true: some important questions do not come up for adjudication precisely because actors do not want to risk losing in adjudication.

4. United Nations Documents

Documents produced by the different organs of the UN—as well as by states when interacting in and with the UN—are of special importance for international legal research. Resolutions by the UN Security Council (“UNSC”) can be binding; resolutions by the UN General Assembly might reflect the international consensus, can be declarative of customary international law, or crystallize into binding law as time passes. Reports by the UN Secretary General and by Special Rapporteurs are also important in this sense, not to mention the work of the UN International Law Commission (“ILC”). Letters by states and their statements in various UN fora are also crucial as sources for state practice and opinio juris. Fortunately, The UN’s Official Document System allows you to run searches into the majority of publicly available UN documents. Additionally, the UN Library provides another, more guided, entry point to the universe of UN documents.

Sometimes, if you know the specific type of document you need, it can be helpful to head to the website of the relevant UN organ. For example, the UNSC ’s site has all of the UNSC’s resolutions, presidential statements, reports and meeting records by year (as well as documents relating to sub-organs such as Sanctions Committees). You can find, for instance, a specific meeting and its full verbatim records (what states said). The same holds for the UN General Assembly , Human Rights Council and other organs of interest. These websites are generally self-explanatory, although they might be clunky sometimes, and the UN tends to move pages around for mysterious reasons. Explore a bit, and you will usually find what you need.

Last, sometimes you would want to get a general picture about how a specific incident, event, or issue was dealt with across the UN in a specific time. The best place to get this information is the Yearbook of the United Nations . Just look in the specific yearbook for the year in which your event of interest took place, and you will find summaries of the discussion of the issue across the UN. A huge bonus is that the yearbooks include an index of documents for each issue or event that you can then retrieve—using the document’s symbol—from the UN’s Official Document System. Note, however, that unfortunately the Yearbook is only published several years after the relevant year. As of 2020, the 2015 Yearbook hasn’t been released yet.

5. Practice and Statements

State practice and statements are important in order to ascertain customary international law, but also to understand general international approaches towards your question. At least for the latter purpose, the same holds with regard to practice and statements by international organizations and NGOs. Now, since state practice and statements can manifest in endless forms—from Twitter rants to official statements by heads of states (which are, nowadays, sometimes one and the same)—there is no one-stop shop for this type of primary source. Much can be found in UN documents, but this is by no means a comprehensive source because a lot of relevant interactions take place outside of the UN.

Nevertheless, some publications and other databases collect important pieces of (mainly state) practice. Just by way of example, each issue of the American Journal of International Law has a section on contemporary U.S. practice on international law. The U.S. State Department compiles an annual digest on U.S. State Practice, accessible here . German practice in international law can be found here (in English). Some other digests of state practice are listed by the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies library.

Additionally, after you select a research question, it is helpful to run a search and see if there is a subject-matter digest of practice relating to your question. For example, the Journal on the Use of Force and International Law includes, in each issue, a digest of practice on the use of force, divided by regions. The ICRC Customary Law Study website contains an updating database of practice on IHL. But again, these are only examples.

Unfortunately, a lot of relevant material is not compiled or indexed anywhere, and you will have to look for it in other places. Beyond the UN databases, you can find states’ positions in their governmental websites (typically the ministry of foreign affairs). NGO reports can be found in the specific organization’s website. A lot of information can be found in trustworthy media outlets (and we leave the discussion of what is “trustworthy” for another day). The New York Times’ searchable archive is a formidable tool for finding different positions of various actors in relation to current and historical events. For delving deeper, access into institutional archives might be needed.

Furthermore, sometimes, to gain access to relevant practice, you will need to search domestic legislation and rulings, beyond those found in the general databases mentioned above (such as the Oxford databases). Domestic legislation and rulings are especially pertinent when looking for “ general principles of law ,” which form a part of the sources of international law. [35] There is no single way to look for sources in domestic jurisdictions: each jurisdiction has its own system and databases. For instance, for English-speaking jurisdictions, Westlaw and Lexis are leading databases.

Last, nowadays, it is important not to neglect social media. For better or for worse, states and other international actors often share positions (and, ahem, insults) on Twitter. [36] These might also be relevant for your research.

III. Conclusion

All in all, there is no single way to think about any of the issues discussed in this guide. Some researchers will contest many of the definitions and suggestions offered here. This just serves to emphasize that determining the “best” way to approach research has a strong individual component. At least in legal research, beyond strict methodological requirements that might apply in socio-legal research, each researcher develops her own way and understandings as she gains knowledge and experience. I hope that this guide helps you to begin to find your own.

* Associate Professor, Tel Aviv University Buchmann Faculty of Law.

[1] See, e.g. , Martti Koskenniemi & Päivi Leino, Fragmentation of International Law? Postmodern Anxieties , 15 Leiden J. Int’l L. 553 (2002).

[2] Compare Monica Hakimi, Making Sense of Customary International Law , 118 Mich. L. Rev. 1487 (2020) with Kevin Jon Heller, Customary International Law Symposium: The Stubborn Tenacity of Secondary Rules , Opinio Juris (Jul. 7, 2020).

[3] Tom Ruys & Luca Ferro, Weathering the Storm: Legality and Legal Implications of the Saudi-Led Military Intervention in Yemen , 65 Int’l & Comp. L.Q. 61 (2016).

[4] Felix S. Cohen, Transcendental Nonsense and the Functional Approach , 35 Colum. L. Rev. 809 (1935).

[5] Anthea Roberts, Is International Law International? (2017).

[6] Eyal Benvenisti & Doreen Lustig, Monopolizing War: Codifying the Laws of War to Reassert Governmental Authority, 1856–1874 , 31 Eur. J. Int’l L. 127 (2020).

[7] Gabriella Blum, The Dispensable Lives of Soldiers , 2 J. Leg. Analysis 115 (2010).

[8] For an explanation, see Scott J. Shapiro, Legality 47–49 (2011).

[9] Andrea Bianchi, International Law Theories: An Inquiry into Different Ways of Thinking (2016).

[10] See Emmerich de Vattel, The Law of Nations, bk. I, ch. IV, §§38–39 (Béla Kapossy & Richard Whatmore eds., 2008) (1758).

[11] See, e.g. , Adil Ahmad Haque, Law and Morality at War (2017).

[12] Ronald Dworkin, Law’s Empire (1986).

[13] Thomas M. Franck, Legitimacy in the International System, 82 Am. J. Int’l L. 705 (1988)

[14] Jeffrey L. Dunoff & Joel P. Trachtman, Economic Analysis of International Law , 24 Yale J. Int’l L. 1 (1999).

[15] W. Michael Reisman, The View from the New Haven School of International Law , 86 Am. Soc’y Int’l L. Proc. 118 (1992).

[16] See Harlan Grant Cohen, Are We (Americans) All International Legal Realists Now?, in Concepts on International Law in Europe and the United States (Chiara Giorgetti & Guglielmo Verdirame, eds., forthcoming), https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3025616.

[17] Martti Koskenniemi, What Is Critical Research in International Law? Celebrating Structuralism , 29 Leiden J. Int’l L. 727 (2016).

[18] Martti Koskenniemi, The Politics of International Law , 1 Eur. J. Int’l L. 4 (1999).

[19] Aeyal M. Gross, Human Proportions: Are Human Rights the Emperor’s New Clothes of the International Law of Occupation?, 18 Eur. J. Int’l L. 1 (2007).

[20] Antony Anghie, Francisco de Vitoria and the Colonial Origins of International Law , 5 Soc. & Leg. Stud. 321 (1996); see also Sundhya Pahuja, The Postcoloniality of International Law , 46 Harv. J. Int’l L. 459 (2005).

[21] Ntina Tzouvala, Civilization, in Concepts for International Law: Contributions to Disciplinary Thought 83 (Jean d’Aspremont & Sahib Singh eds., 2019).

[22] Fionnuala Ní Aoláin, The Gender of Occupation , 45 Yale J. Int’l L. 335 (2020).

[23] Steven R. Ratner & Anne-Marie Slaughter, Appraising the Methods of International Law: A Prospectus for Readers , 93 Am. J. Int’l L. 291, 292 (1999).

[24] Statute of the International Court of Justice, Art. 38(1)(d), June 26, 1945, 59 Stat. 1055, 33 U.N.T.S. 933.

[25] See Justina Uriburu, Between Elitist Conversations and Local Clusters: How Should we Address English-centrism in International Law?, Opinio Juris (Nov. 2, 2020), https://opiniojuris.org/2020/11/02/between-elitist-conversations-and-local-clusters-how-should-we-address-english-centrism-in-international-law/.

[26] See Cohen, supra note 15. See also William C. Banks & Evan J. Criddle, Customary Constraints on the Use of Force: Article 51 with an American Accent, 29 Leiden J. Int’l L. 67 (2016).

[27] David Luban, Military Necessity and the Cultures of Military Law , 26 Leiden J. Int’l L. 315 (2013); see also Eyal Benvenisti, The Legal Battle to Define the Law on Transnational Asymmetric Warfare , 20 Duke J. Comp. & Int’l L. 339, 348 (2010).

[28] 1 Lassa Oppenheim, International Law: A Treatise (1912).

[29] Jake Goldenfein, Sebastian Benthall, Daniel Griffin & Eran Toch, Private Companies and Scholarly Infrastructure — Google Scholar and Academic Autonomy (Oct. 28, 2019), https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3476911.

[30] See, e.g. , Kenneth W. Abbott & Duncan Snidal, Hard and Soft Law in International Governance , 54 Int’l Org. 421 (2000).

[31] For this type of thinking, see Hakimi, supra note 2.

[32] See Ratner, supra note 23.

[33] See Koskenniemi, supra note 1.

[34] Harold Hongju Koh, Is there a “New” New Haven School of International Law? , 32 Yale J. Int’l L. 559 (2007).

[35] See, e.g. , M. Cherif Bassiouni, A Functional Approach to “General Principles of International Law” , 11 Mich J. Int’l L. 768 (1990).

[36] Francis Grimal, Twitter and the jus ad bellum: threats of force and other implications , 6 J. Use of Force & Int’l L. 183 (2019).

Dr. Eliav Lieblich is an Associate Professor at Tel-Aviv University’s Buchmann Faculty of Law. He teaches and researches public international law, with a focus on the laws on the use of force, just war theory, international humanitarian law, and the history and theory of international law. Dr. Lieblich has been awarded two Israel Science Foundations grants, as well as the Alon Fellowship for Outstanding young faculty, awarded by the Council of Higher Education. His scholarship was published, among others, in the European Journal of International Law, the British Yearbook of International Law, and the Hastings Law Journal.

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Legal Writing

Choosing a Scholarly Paper Topic

Choosing A Topic: An Introduction

Further reading, sources for topic ideas.

Conducting a Preemption Check
Evaluating Information
Keeping Current
Publishing Your Scholarly Writing
Avoiding Plagiarism
Legal Citation & the Bluebook
Persuasive Legal Writing
Transactional Legal Writing
Litigation Focused Writing
Legislative Drafting
Judicial Writing
ADR Drafting

Picking a topic can be the hardest part of writing a substantial paper or journal note. A good topic will make a claim that is both novel and adds to the discussion in a particular area of law.

The first step in choosing a topic is identifying a legal problem. Among other forms, this problem may be a policy concern, a conflict in the law, a gap in knowledge, or an issue surrounding a new legal development.

The second step for choosing your topic is proposing a solution to the problem, which will be the basis of your argument or thesis.

After crafting your thesis, the third step is conducting a preemption check to ensure that your topic has not been preempted by other writing on the subject. This guide details sources for help in selecting a paper topic available through the Ross-Blakely Law Library, as well as freely available online, and offers insight in how to check whether your paper will add new information to the field of law.

Questions to consider in choosing a paper topic When choosing a topic, it may be helpful to consider what subjects, classes, or activities you already enjoy and whether an appropriate topic can be developed from them.

What classes do you enjoy most in law school? What law school organizations do you belong to and what projects were rewarding or useful? What projects from your summer legal employment were interesting? What news stories have you heard lately that troubled you? What areas of law would you like to practice in?

Heather Meeker, Stalking the Golden Topic: A Guide to Locating and Selecting Topics for Legal Research Papers , 1996 Utah Law Review 917 (1996) To be published, a paper must be relevant, meaning the overall topic is important enough to have warranted some discussion. But a paper must also add novel information to its field. This article discusses the balancing act of finding something new in a legal field that has already drawn attention.

Eugene Volokh, "Finding What to Write About (The Claim)" in Academic Legal Writing: Law Review Articles, Student Notes, Seminar Papers, and Getting on Law Review , 4th ed. (2010) Tips for research, writing each section of your article, editing your early drafts, and entering competitions or submitting articles for publication.

A Short & Happy Guide to Advanced Legal Research (Ann Walsh Long, 2022) (West Academic password required off campus) Chapter 7 of this brief volume goes into depth on the process of finding, planning, and writing an extended academic paper on the law similar to what professors produce. It recommends seeking expert guidance on a topic and identifies several fertile sources, including circuit splits, state surveys, and law review symposia. It also provides guidance on the preemption check that helps ensure your written product will be unique and valuable, as well as organizing research, editing, and building credibility with comprehensive footnotes crediting experts in the field.

Circuit Splits
Hot Legal Topics
Legal Podcasts
Legal News Sources

A good way to generate a topic is to look at how different jurisdictions have treated a particular issue. To do this you can examine splits between the circuit courts, in which federal appellate courts from different jurisdictions have disagreed on an important federal question.

U.S. Law Week: Circuit Splits (Bloomberg Law password required) U.S. Law Week is published weekly by Bloomberg Law. It includes information on important cases handed down each week and current legal developments. It also has a monthly "Circuit Splits" Feature.

Resources that focus on the "hot topics" in law can be helpful in identifying issues that have not yet been clearly addressed by the courts or legislature and are ripe for academic commentary.

Bloomberg Law - In Focus Resources (Bloomberg Law password required) Bloomberg Law's In Focus resources are editorially curated pages that provide access to news, commentary, litigation filings, regulatory developments, and practice tools on emerging issues and other topics of note to legal practitioners.

CRS Reports - "Congressional Court Watcher" The Congressional Research Service is a public policy research institute within the United States Congress, tasked with providing research and analysis on topics related to policymaking. From their website, search for "Congressional Court Watcher" to find weekly updates on appellate decisions that may be of interest to lawmakers.

Resources that track and analyze current events and developments in the legal world, such as blogs, may also provide topic ideas.

ABA Journal Blawg Directory This comprehensive directory of continually updated law blogs allows browsing by topic, author type, region, and law school.

Justia Blawg Search Justia has a listing of over 6,000 law blogs which have been organized in to 75 categories.

Law Professor Blogs Network This is a centralized website for the network of law professor blogs, which are blogs devoted to particular legal subjects written by law professors.

SCOTUS Blog The Supreme Court of the United States Blog provides comprehensive coverage of the U.S. Supreme Court and a wide-ranging array of resources related to Supreme Court cases.

9th Circuit Blog This blog offers commentary and summaries of cases before the 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.

Arizona Appellate Blog The Arizona Appellate Blog reviews opinions in civil cases from the Arizona Supreme Court and Arizona Court of Appeals.

Global Legal Monitor The Global Legal Monitor is an online publication from the Law Library of Congress covering legal news and developments worldwide. It is updated frequently and draws on information from official national legal publications and reliable press sources.

These podcasts deal with current legal topics and may be useful for keeping current on the law and coming up with an idea for a journal article or seminar paper. For additional legal podcast information, please see the Law Library's Keeping Current: Podcasts guide.

Bloomberg Law Host June Grasso speaks with prominent attorneys and legal scholars, analyzing major legal issues and cases in the news.

Make No Law: The First Amendment Podcast This podcast explores the background of important First Amendment cases and the personalities and history that led to them. Join Ken White, First Amendment litigator and law blogger at Popehat.com, as he interviews some of the people behind America’s most important free speech cases.

Opening Arguments A podcast for people who want to form an opinion about a current legal topic but don’t yet have enough information to do so. It tackles relevant legal arguments and gives you the tools you need to understand the issue. Facts are presented in a neutral manner even though the hosts make their political views no secret.

Stay Tuned with Preet Former U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara breaks down legal topics in the news and engages thought leaders in a podcast about power, policy, and justice.

Bloomberg Law News (Bloomberg Law password required) The Subscription & Alert Management page enables researchers to subscribe to curated newsletters on a variety of subject areas within law and business.

Law360 (available on campus) Law360 readers may sign up for newsletter alerts of new articles within each Law360 section or materials pertaining to particular law firms by clicking on bell icons and following the prompts. ASU users can access Law360.com while on campus as well as through their Lexis accounts.

Lexis News Directory (Lexis password required) In the Lexis News Directory, news can be searched by region, by publication type, and by subject.

Westlaw News Directory (Westlaw password required) From the Westlaw News Directory you can search news by type, by jurisdiction, by topic, and by industry.

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Selecting and Developing a Law Research Topic

Introduction
Selecting a Topic
Developing a Thesis
Checking the Novelty of the Thesis
Referencing and citing

Finding a Topic

One of the most important yet challenging aspects of writing a research paper is selecting an appropriate topic. When selecting a topic, make sure that it is interesting to you and your audience, well-defined, manageable, novel and worthy of publication. If you need help finding a research topic, you can start by:

Examining legal developments
Searching for a novel case or a legal issue where courts have split on their interpretation of the law
Browsing recent scholarly publications
Mining topic ideas, including calls for papers and writing competitions
Talking to people
Keeping up-to-date with current affairs, e.g. news items can generate topic ideas

The Law Library has numerous resources listed on this page to assist you in selecting your topic. If you get stuck or need customised advice, please email us at: [email protected]

Novel Cases

A common approach to finding a topic is to focus on a case that raises a novel issue of law. To find these cases, search for legal developments (see Legal Developments) or browse recent cases before the Australian High Court or highest appellate court in other countries.

High Court of Australia
Supreme Court of Canada
Supreme Court of New Zealand
Supreme Court of the United Kingdom
Supreme Court of the United States

The following blogs also contain valuable information about High Court/Supreme Court decisions:

Opinions on High University of Melbourne Law School's blog on decisions from the High Court of Australia
The Court Osgoode Hall Law School's blog on decisions from the Supreme Court of Canada
UKSC Blog United Kingdom Supreme Court blog written by influential solicitors and barristers
SCOTUS Blog United States Supreme Court blog written by lawyers, law professors, and law students

Unresolved Legal Issues

Another common approach to finding a research topic is to examine an unresolved legal issue. Unresolved legal issues can occur when courts have split in their interpretation of the law, leaving the ultimate meaning of the law unresolved. In the United States, this is known as a 'circuit split' because it is based on federal circuit courts interpreting the same legal issue differently. These sorts of issues are ripe for appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, the highest court in the land.

A research topic may describe the split, identify any issues that may be influencing the courts, and propose a way to distinguish the situations or resolve the discrepancy. These topics can be very timely and relevant. However, if the discrepancy is resolved before your paper is completed, the topic can be rendered entirely obsolete. Because these topics are so popular in the United States, there are resources dedicated solely to tracking circuit splits, including the following:

Seton Hall Circuit Review A law review dedicated to covering the United States federal circuits. The section entitled 'Current Circuit Splits' provides brief summaries of the circuit splits identified in federal court of appeals opinions.
The University of Cincinnati Law Review's Circuit Splits Blog
Circuit Splits Reported in U.S. Law Week (BNA) To access Bloomberg Law: staff and students must use their University of Melbourne email addresses when completing the registration form to establish a Bloomberg Law School account.

Journal Articles

Meeker, Heather, 'Stalking the Golden Topic: A Guide to Locating and Selecting Topics for Legal Research Papers' (1996) 3 Utah Law Review 917
Volokh, Eugene, 'Writing a Student Article' (1998) 48 Journal of Legal Education 247

Law Library Catalogue - e-books & print materials

Use introductory texts to begin your research. These will help you structure your research and point to key issues that may be appropriate for a research topic.

1. To find print and e-books, search the Library catalogue for your topic in the keyword field e.g. international humanitarian law.

Keyword Title Author Subject Journal title Call number ISBN or ISSN or

2. Browse the shelves according to call numbers. Books will be shelved by call numbers according to their subject matter.

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Except where otherwise noted, this work is subject to a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License , which allows anyone to share and adapt our material as long as proper attribution is given. For details and exceptions, see the Harvard Library Copyright Policy ©2021 Presidents and Fellows of Harvard College.

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Writing a Student Note

Topic Selection

Choose a general area.

The first way to narrow the field of research is to choose an area that interests you. This area does not have to be the field in which you ultimately plan to practice or teach. But keep in mind that you will spend many hours—over the course of several months if not over a year—researching your topic and writing and editing your Note. Don’t sabotage yourself from the start by selecting an area where you think you “ought” to write but that isn’t going to keep you engaged throughout the process. At the same time, it bears emphasis that there is no such thing as a “perfect” Note topic. It is equally, if not more, important that you choose a topic that is discrete and narrow enough to be handled well within the confines of a Note. The real value in writing Note is the experience you gain in constructing a methodologically sound legal argument. In engaging in this kind of analysis you’ll find that your interest can be piqued by a wide array of topics, including some you may not have considered by focusing only in your favorite subject areas.

"If you're reading cases, or you're reading law review articles, or if you're reading anything else, you won't have any trouble knowing what to write because ideas will just come into your head." — Professor Barry Friedman

Immerse Yourself

Start reading. If you are unsure of the area in which you want to write, start by reading a broad range of articles in a variety of journals—preferring highly-ranked ones—to develop a sense of what areas may interest you, as well as the kinds of topics that warrant articles, and how law professors write. If you are confident of your area of interest, read within that area to get a sense of unanswered questions you may wish to address. As you read and become engaged with the ideas being discussed, you will begin to formulate your own thoughts on the subject.

Consult Experts

Your summer job can be a great way of finding a Note topic. Talk to your boss about your interest in writing—she may have a topic in mind already. Professors can also point you in the right direction, if you have a general topic interest and are looking to narrow your choices.

Interdisciplinary Work

If you have a background in an area other than law, put it to work for you. Consider whether there is literature in another field that might provide insights into legal problems or whether, for example, you can use your social science or empirical training to your advantage.

Circuit Splits

To search cases that cite circuit court splits on Westlaw or Lexis, search the federal court cases database using the term “circuit w/2 split!” plus the general topic area you are interested in, e.g., “sentencing.”

Consider Other Sources

There are many sources of potential topics. One starting point is recent cases, regulations or legislation. Of course, you will be writing much more deeply than a simple case note, but recent developments such as these may serve as potential jumping off points for your Note.

US Law Week, available for free via the Westlaw Law School site, is an excellent resource for your initial research. Each week, US Law Week publishes summaries of new judicial, legislative and regulatory developments. You can access these summaries by entering Westlaw’s US Law Week database and searching “digest.” For students looking to survey all areas of law, the “General Law” section may prove most helpful. However, if you already have a general sense of the area of law on which you wish to write—perhaps you are looking for a topic that will tie to a seminar you are taking—US Law Week also sorts the case summaries by subject matter ( i.e. , “Employment Law”).

You may also find potential articles by considering unanswered questions that have been discussed in class or in your text books.

Reading law-related blogs is also an excellent way to get a sense of which topics are generating debate in the legal community. Law Blog Central is a great place to get started, on this front. The site contains a central listing of many other useful law-related sites.

We also recommend the following sites as useful sources of potential topics:

The American Constitution Society : https://www.acslaw.org/acsblog/
The Legal Workshop : http://legalworkshop.org/
PrawfsBlawg : https://prawfsblawg.blogs.com
SCOTUSBlog : https://www.scotusblog.com
Split Circuits : https://splitcircuits.blogspot.com
The Volokh Conspiracy : https://reason.com/volokh/

Law: Introduction to Research

Finding a research topic.

Getting Started
Generate Research Ideas
Brainstorming
Scanning Material
Suitability Analysis
The difference between a topic and a research question
Literature Review
Referencing

Which step of the research process takes the most time?

A. Finding a topic B. Researching a topic C. Both

How did you answer the above question? Do you spend most of your efforts actually researching a topic, or do you spend a lot of time and energy finding a topic? Ideally, you’ll want to spend fairly equal amounts of effort on both. Finding an appropriate and manageable topic can sometimes be just as hard as researching a topic.

A good research topic will have a body of related research which is accessible and manageable. Identifying a topic with these characteristics at the beginning of the research process will ultimately save you time.

Finding a research topic that is interesting, relevant, feasible, and worthy of your time may take substantial effort so you should be prepared to invest your time accordingly. Considering your options, doing some background work on each option, and ultimately settling on a topic that is manageable will spare you many of the frustrations that come from attempting research on a topic that, for whatever reason, may not be appropriate.

Remember that as you are searching for a research topic you will need to be able to find enough information about your topic(s) in a book or scholarly journal. If you can only find information about your topic(s) in current event sources (newspapers, magazines, etc.) then the topic might be too new to have a large body of published scholarly information. If this is the case, you may want to reconsider the topic(s).

So how do you find a research topic? Unfortunately, there’s no directory of topics that you pick and choose from, but there are a few relatively easy techniques that you can use to find a relevant and manageable topic.

A good starting point may be to view the Resources for Finding a Research Topic below:

Your instructor, course readings, class notes, Wikipedia, and Google can all be helpful in terms of getting ideas for broad topics.
The Research Guide for a law created by the law librarian is great for helping you choose where to begin your research. These online guides will identify encyclopedias, books, databases, and other materials to help you get started with research.
Library resources like Credo Reference , Gale Virtual Reference Library , and law encyclopedias for eg. LAWSA can help you come up with topic ideas because they provide great overviews and introductions to topics. These will probably not be scholarly sources you can use in your paper, but they may lead you to more in-depth, scholarly resources that you will want to use in your paper.
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30 Engaging Criminal Law Research Paper Topics, Essential Tools, and Effective Writing Strategies

Table of contents

Welcome, future legal eagles! Whether you're in the midst of your studies or about to embark on your academic journey, there's one thing we all understand about law school - research papers are an integral part of the curriculum. This blog post serves as a beacon to guide you through the vast ocean of potential research topics in the field of criminal law.

Choosing the right topic for your research paper is not just about ticking a box; it's about exploring the legal cosmos and finding a corner that interests you, resonates with you, or perhaps, even baffles you. It's about finding that sweet spot where law, fact, and your keen intellect intersect. And when that happens, not only does it make your paper stand out, but it also makes the process of writing more engaging and less of a chore.

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Our focus here is criminal law, a field filled with intriguing precedents, contentious debates, and real-life consequences. This post will provide a host of research paper topic ideas centered around criminal law, specifically in the context of the United States and the United Kingdom. So, buckle up, grab your gavel, and let's get into it!

15 Criminal Law Research Topics – US

1. The Evolution and Impact of the Three Strikes Law : Analyze how the Three Strikes Law has transformed over the years, its effectiveness in reducing crime, and its potential drawbacks.

2. Effectiveness of the Death Penalty in Deterring Crime : Research whether the death penalty serves as a deterrent to violent crime, incorporating statistical analysis and ethical considerations.

3. The Role of Race and Bias in Sentencing Decisions : Explore the connection between racial bias and disparities in sentencing outcomes, along with potential legislative solutions.

4. White-Collar Crime: Trends and Penalties : Investigate the current trends in white-collar crime and the associated penalties, questioning whether they are proportionate and effective.

5. The Intersection of Drug Policy and Racial Disparity in Incarceration Rates : Examine the correlation between drug policies, race, and incarceration rates. Does the war on drugs contribute to racial disparity in prisons?

6. The Influence of Social Media on Criminal Proceedings : Analyze how social media can impact criminal proceedings, from evidence gathering to influencing jury perception.

7. Juvenile Justice System: Are We Doing Enough? : Evaluate whether the juvenile justice system effectively balances punishment with rehabilitation, considering recent reforms and ongoing challenges.

8. Police Brutality and Accountability : Legal Perspectives: Explore the legal mechanisms for holding law enforcement accountable in cases of police brutality, their effectiveness, and potential improvements.

9. Cybercrime and Legislation : Are Current Laws Effective?: Review existing laws on cybercrime, their enforcement, and whether they adequately address modern cyber threats.

10. Sexual Assault Laws : Do They Provide Enough Protection?: Investigate how sexual assault laws protect victims, the potential gaps, and areas for improvement.

11. Gun Control Laws and Their Effect on Violent Crime Rates : Analyze the relationship between gun control laws and violent crime rates. Do stricter laws lead to fewer crimes?

12. Criminal Justice Reform: Impact of Recent Developments : Evaluate recent criminal justice reforms, their objectives, and their impact on the criminal justice system.

13. The Legal Implications of Using DNA Evidence in Criminal Cases : Examine the role of DNA evidence in criminal cases, its reliability, and its implications for justice.

14. The Impact of Mental Health on Criminal Behavior and Sentencing : Explore how mental health issues affect criminal behavior and how the justice system addresses these complexities.

15. Crime and Immigration: Is there a Connection? : Investigate the often-politicized connection between crime rates and immigration, sifting fact from fiction.

Summary: Key Points from US Criminal Law Topics

Our dive into US criminal law has unearthed a trove of exciting topics - from the complex interplay of race and sentencing to the evolving landscape of cybercrime laws. Remember, a great research paper not only presents facts but also questions and analyses. It's about getting to the heart of the matter and shining a light on the path forward. So, as you embark on your research journey, remember to probe, to question, and to explore. The world of criminal law is a challenging one, but it's also filled with opportunities for learning and growth.

15 Criminal Law Research Topics – UK

1. The Effectiveness of Rehabilitation versus Punishment in the UK : Explore the balance between rehabilitation and punishment in the UK criminal justice system. What works better for reducing reoffending rates?

2. The Impact of Brexit on UK Criminal Law : Analyze the changes that Brexit has brought to UK criminal law, from extradition to cooperation with EU law enforcement agencies.

3. Hate Crimes Legislation: How Effective Is It? : Evaluate the effectiveness of hate crime legislation in the UK. Does it adequately protect vulnerable groups and deter offenders?

4. The Role of Forensic Evidence in UK Law : Examine the use of forensic evidence in UK courts. How does it affect the outcomes of criminal cases?

5. Racial Profiling by UK Police: An Examination : Investigate the issue of racial profiling by police in the UK. What are its effects, and how can it be addressed?

6. Effectiveness of Cyber Crime Laws in the UK : Review the effectiveness of cybercrime laws in the UK. Are they keeping up with the rapidly changing digital landscape?

7. Implications of the Human Rights Act on Criminal Law : Explore the impact of the Human Rights Act on criminal law and criminal proceedings in the UK.

8. Terrorism Legislation in the UK: Balancing Security and Liberty : Examine the balance between national security and individual liberties in the UK's terrorism legislation.

9. Role of Social Media in UK's Criminal Proceedings : Analyze the influence of social media on UK criminal proceedings, considering its implications for evidence and fair trials.

10. The UK's Approach to Drug-related Crimes : Investigate the UK's policies towards drug-related crimes. Are current laws effective in reducing drug abuse and related crimes?

11. Knife Crime in the UK: Legal Responses and Implications : Evaluate the legal responses to knife crime in the UK. How effective are these measures, and what improvements could be made?

12. Legal Challenges in Dealing with Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking : Examine the legal challenges faced by the UK in addressing modern slavery and human trafficking. Are existing laws sufficient?

13. Youth Crime in the UK: Understanding the Underlying Causes : Explore the causes of youth crime in the UK and analyze potential legal and societal solutions.

14. Domestic Violence Laws in the UK: Are they Effective? : Investigate the effectiveness of domestic violence laws in protecting victims and punishing perpetrators in the UK.

15. The Impact of Mental Health Issues on Criminal Behavior and Sentencing in the UK : Evaluate the way mental health issues are considered in criminal behavior and sentencing in the UK. Is there room for improvement?

Summary: Key Points from UK Criminal Law Topics

We've traversed the fascinating terrain of criminal law topics specific to the United Kingdom, highlighting key areas that intersect with societal issues, human rights, and evolving digital landscapes. As you navigate your chosen topic, keep in mind that effective research is both a deep dive and a wide survey - it's about looking closely at your specific topic and its broader context. It's about questioning, comparing, and connecting. And it's about understanding that in the realm of criminal law, your research can be a powerful tool for change.

Essential Research Tools: Navigating Legal Databases, Libraries, and Online Resources for Law Students

Diving into your research paper necessitates equipping yourself with the right resources. A well-researched paper, after all, is built on the backbone of credible information. To that end, here are some key databases, law libraries, and online resources to assist in your academic voyage:

Westlaw : As one of the most extensive legal research databases available, Westlaw provides a treasure chest of case law, legislation, and academic sources for both US and UK jurisdictions.

LexisNexis : Another invaluable resource, LexisNexis offers a robust collection of legal resources including case law, statutes, secondary sources, and a vast news archive.

HeinOnline : With a concentration on law journals, HeinOnline is perfect for scholarly articles, legal classics, and historical legal statutes.

JSTOR : Although not exclusively law-focused, JSTOR contains a vast collection of academic articles, many of which cover legal topics and provide invaluable insights.

Google Scholar : A free resource, Google Scholar can be used to find both legal opinions and journals. Its cited by feature can also assist you in discovering related research.

Local Law Libraries : Don't forget about your local law library. These libraries often provide access to databases that may otherwise require a subscription.

Government Websites : Both US and UK government websites publish numerous reports and statistics that could provide useful data for your paper.

Remember, each resource comes with its own strengths, so make sure to use a combination to get a well-rounded perspective on your topic. Be persistent, be critical, and remember to cross-check information across different sources. Happy researching!

Strategies and Tips for Writing an Impactful Law Research Paper

Embarking on your law research paper journey can be a challenging task. From formulating your research plan to presenting a convincing argument, each step is crucial. Here are some helpful tips to guide you in crafting an impactful research paper:

Develop a Comprehensive Research Plan : Before you dive into writing, lay out a comprehensive plan. Identify your key questions, the resources you'll need, and a timeline. This not only provides a roadmap for your research but also helps keep you focused and on track.

Understanding and Analyzing Legal Issues : Law isn't about memorizing statutes; it's about understanding and interpreting them. When you tackle a legal issue, aim to comprehend its complexities, evaluate different viewpoints, and provide a balanced analysis.

Create a Strong Thesis Statement : Your thesis statement is the compass that guides your paper. It should be clear, concise, and debatable. It should present your main argument and give the reader a glimpse of your conclusion.

Maintain Logical Flow : A well-written research paper maintains a logical flow. Each paragraph should be linked to the next, each argument should build upon the previous, and every piece of evidence should support your thesis.

Cite Your Sources Properly : Citing your sources is essential in a law research paper. It not only gives credit where it's due but also allows your reader to trace your research path. Make sure to familiarize yourself with the citation style your institution prefers (e.g., Bluebook, Oxford, etc.).

Avoid Plagiarism : Plagiarism is a grave academic offense. Always ensure that your work is original, and whenever you use someone else's work or ideas, make sure to cite it properly.

Proofread and Edit Your Paper : Never underestimate the power of a well-edited paper. After writing, take the time to read your paper aloud, check for grammatical errors, and ensure that your arguments are clear and logical. If possible, have a classmate or a mentor review your paper. They can provide valuable feedback and catch errors you might have missed.

Remember, writing a research paper is not just an academic exercise; it's a craft. It's about distilling complex information into understandable insights. It's about persuasion and storytelling. And, it's about demonstrating your understanding and passion for the law. So, put on your lawyer's hat and get writing!

Conclusion: The Journey Towards Crafting an Impactful Law Research Paper

As we conclude our deep dive into the world of criminal law research topics, it's important to take a moment to reflect on the journey ahead. Crafting a law research paper is no small feat. It requires a keen understanding of the law, a critical and analytical mindset, and an eloquent way with words. However, the road to an impactful paper is not one you must walk alone.

Remember, every journey starts with a single step - choosing your research topic. And we hope this extensive list of topics helps spark your curiosity and set you on the right path. Utilize the research tools we discussed and the writing tips we shared, and you'll find that the process becomes more manageable and even enjoyable.

We also understand that there might be times when you need additional assistance, and that's perfectly fine. Research paper writing services like Writers Per Hour are here to provide that extra support. Their team of experienced writers is well-versed in various facets of criminal law, offering you valuable insights and relieving some of the stress that comes with academic writing.

So, as you embark on this exciting academic adventure, know that you're not alone. Remember, the pursuit of knowledge is a journey, and every piece of research, every written word, brings you one step closer to your goal. So go forth and conquer that research paper! We wish you the best of luck.

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Philosophy of Law Research Paper Topics

This page delves into an array of philosophy of law research paper topics , offering students a comprehensive guide to deepening their understanding and fostering insightful academic discussions in the realm of legal philosophy. As the interplay between law and philosophical principles has evolved over centuries, the importance of selecting a compelling research topic in this field cannot be understated. From exploring historical jurisprudential theories to contemporary legal debates, students will find a rich tapestry of ideas and themes to explore, which not only enhance academic prowess but also provide a more profound understanding of the complex relationship between law and philosophy. Whether you’re a novice to the subject or looking to refine your research focus, this guide serves as an invaluable resource for your academic journey in the philosophy of law.

100 Philosophy of Law Research Paper Topics

The philosophy of law, often known as jurisprudence, stands as a testament to humanity’s continuous endeavor to comprehend, critique, and reformulate legal systems. As legal structures touch every aspect of human existence, from human rights to commerce, understanding the philosophical underpinnings becomes crucial. The burgeoning interest in the philosophy of law indicates the profound connection between foundational legal principles and societal frameworks. Thus, students’ careful selection of philosophy of law research paper topics not only drives academic growth but also contributes significantly to a deeper understanding of the law’s spirit and purpose.

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Jurisprudence, or the philosophy of law, acts as the confluence of historical, philosophical, and social factors that shape and inform legal systems. As society evolves, so does its understanding and interpretation of law. The surge of interest in the philosophy of law underlines its impact on societal cohesion, justice, and order. Delving deep into philosophy of law research paper topics not only paves the way for academic advancement but also enriches the discourse around the intricate relationship between law, morality, and society.

Ten Categories with Topics:

Early legal thought: From Hammurabi’s Code to the Twelve Tables of Rome.
Canon Law and the influence of the Church.
Renaissance and the rediscovery of natural law.
Enlightenment thinkers and the law: From Locke to Rousseau.
Modern jurisprudence: Realism and sociological approaches.
Positivism and the separation of law and morality.
The rise of Marxist legal theory.
Legal interpretivism: Dworkin and beyond.
Postmodern and deconstructive approaches to law.
Legal pluralism and the coexistence of multiple legal orders.
Plato’s “Republic” and his vision of a just state.
Aristotle on natural justice and equity.
Thomas Aquinas and the integration of theology and law.
Hobbes’ “Leviathan” and the social contract.
Kant’s deontological perspective on law.
Bentham and the utility of law.
Hegel’s dialectic and the spirit of the law.
Rawls’ “A Theory of Justice” and the veil of ignorance.
Nozick’s libertarian views on justice.
Critical legal studies: From Roberto Unger to Duncan Kennedy.
Origins and principles of natural law.
Early proponents: From Cicero to Aquinas.
Natural rights and the Enlightenment.
Legal positivism’s rise and foundational beliefs.
H.L.A. Hart and the concept of law.
The Hart-Fuller debate.
Command theory of law.
Separation thesis and its critiques.
Contemporary perspectives on natural law.
The role of morality in law: A comparative analysis.
Foundations of ethical legal thought.
The relationship between moral principles and legal rights.
Consequentialism and the law.
Deontological perspectives on legal imperatives.
Virtue ethics in jurisprudence.
Moral relativism and its implications for law.
Law as a reflection of societal morality.
The challenge of universal moral principles.
Ethics, law, and emerging technologies.
The intersection of morality, law, and culture.
Philosophical foundations of social justice.
Distributive justice and the law.
Law as an instrument of social change.
Legal responses to economic inequalities.
Affirmative action and the philosophical debates.
Rights-based approaches to social justice.
Law and the protection of marginalized communities.
The philosophy behind restorative justice.
The challenge of justice in multicultural societies.
Globalization, law, and justice.
Origins and tenets of critical legal studies.
Law as a tool of power and dominance.
The indeterminacy of legal texts.
Feminist critiques within critical legal studies.
Deconstruction of legal narratives.
Critical race theory and the law.
Law’s relationship with language and rhetoric.
Poststructuralism’s influence on legal thought.
Challenges to the objectivity of legal reasoning.
The role of narrative and storytelling in legal judgments.
Foundations of feminist legal theory.
Patriarchy and the legal system.
Feminist critiques of major legal principles.
The law’s role in perpetuating gender stereotypes.
Intersectionality and its importance in legal feminism.
Women’s rights as human rights.
Feminism and criminal law: From domestic violence to sexual harassment.
Property, contract, and family law through a feminist lens.
Reproductive rights and legal challenges.
International feminist jurisprudence: CEDAW and beyond.
Origins and evolution of international law.
Sovereignty and its challenges in international jurisprudence.
International law’s philosophical underpinnings.
Just war theory and international conflicts.
Human rights and their philosophical bases.
International criminal law and justice.
Law of the sea: Philosophical and ethical issues.
Global environmental laws and ethics.
The challenges of enforcing international law.
Regional vs. global international law: A comparative analysis.
Philosophical perspectives on technology and law.
Digital rights and cyber laws.
Privacy in the age of surveillance technology.
Intellectual property rights in the digital era.
Bioethics, biotechnology, and the law.
Artificial intelligence, robotics, and legal challenges.
Cybercrimes and philosophical perspectives on punishment.
Technology’s impact on the concept of personhood.
Internet governance and digital democracy.
Ethics, law, and emerging biotechnologies.
Common law vs. civil law: Philosophical differences.
The philosophy behind Islamic law.
Confucianism and its impact on East Asian legal systems.
African customary law and its philosophical foundations.
Indigenous legal systems and their worldview.
Socialist legal systems: China and Cuba.
The philosophy of restorative justice in traditional societies.
The intertwining of religion and law: Case studies.
Legal pluralism in multicultural societies.
The challenges and advantages of legal transplants.

The philosophy of law extends far beyond theoretical discussions, reflecting society’s moral compass, ethical dilemmas, and societal values. By delving deep into philosophy of law research paper topics, students and scholars pave the way for richer debates, innovative solutions, and a nuanced understanding of the legal systems that govern our lives. Such academic inquiries not only deepen our comprehension of jurisprudential foundations but also reinforce the law’s role as an ever-evolving instrument of justice, order, and societal well-being.

In a world marked by an intricate web of legal systems, understanding the philosophical bedrock of these structures is imperative. The topics highlighted above, spanning historical timelines to cutting-edge issues, provide a testament to the dynamic and evolving nature of the philosophy of law. Tapping into these philosophy of law research paper topics equips scholars with the tools to dissect, critique, and reshape legal concepts, fostering not just academic growth but a broader appreciation of law’s pivotal role in shaping civilizations.

The Range of Philosophy of Law Research Paper Topics

Introduction The philosophy of law , or jurisprudence, has long been revered as the backbone of legal systems, acting as the intricate tapestry weaving together moral, social, and political threads. These foundations guide the establishment, interpretation, and execution of laws that govern societies worldwide. As legal realms become more complex in our dynamically evolving societies, delving deep into the philosophy of law research paper topics remains pivotal for understanding, critiquing, and refining the very systems that seek to uphold justice.

Deep Exploration of Topics in the Realm of Philosophy of Law At its core, the philosophy of law seeks to answer some of the most profound questions regarding law: What is law? What are its origins? What should it aspire to achieve? Is law necessarily moral or just a system of rules irrespective of morality? Such fundamental inquiries have birthed a multitude of subtopics and debates, each brimming with its own nuances and intricacies. These include the debates between natural law theorists and legal positivists, the critiques presented by critical legal studies, and the feminist perspectives on jurisprudence.

Tracing the Historical Journey of Legal Philosophies Historically, legal thought has evolved alongside humanity’s progression. From the earliest codified laws like Hammurabi’s Code to the sophisticated international treaties of today, philosophical underpinnings have been ever-present. Ancient philosophers such as Plato and Aristotle laid foundational thoughts, with the former envisioning an ideal state in his “Republic” and the latter dissecting justice and equity in his works. Fast forward to the Enlightenment, thinkers like John Locke, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and Immanuel Kant began to challenge the status quo, presenting ideas that shaped modern democracies and constitutional governance.

In the 19th and 20th centuries, legal realism, positivism, and interpretivism rose to prominence. These movements, championed by thinkers like Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., H.L.A. Hart, and Ronald Dworkin respectively, further nuanced our understanding of the law’s nature and its relationship with morality and society. The critical legal studies movement later emerged as a counter to traditional legal thought, offering critiques from socio-political perspectives.

How the Philosophy of Law has Influenced Different Legal Systems Worldwide The world boasts a tapestry of legal systems—each with its philosophical basis. For instance, the Common Law system, predominant in countries like the UK and the US, has been largely influenced by legal realist thought, emphasizing judicial decisions as a primary source of law. Conversely, the Civil Law system, common in many European nations, leans on codified laws, reflecting Enlightenment thinkers’ aspirations.

Islamic law or Sharia, foundational in many Middle Eastern countries, draws its tenets from religious scriptures, intertwining divine commands with jurisprudential interpretations. Similarly, in nations like China, a mix of socialist legal theory, traditional Confucian thought, and modern legal principles informs the legal landscape.

Moreover, as globalization accelerates, international law has gained prominence, requiring a blending of different legal philosophies to cater to diverse nations and cultures under treaties and agreements. The philosophy of law plays a vital role in bridging these divides, ensuring mutual respect, understanding, and cooperation.

The Importance of Choosing Appropriate Philosophy of Law Research Paper Topics For scholars and students, the selection of a research topic isn’t merely a procedural step but a commitment to exploring, questioning, and contributing to jurisprudential thought. A well-chosen topic fosters academic growth, encourages innovative thinking, and can potentially reshape prevailing legal paradigms.

Given the vastness of the philosophy of law, research topics should ideally resonate with contemporary challenges, historical significance, or potential future shifts. Whether investigating the ethical implications of AI in legal systems, dissecting the philosophy behind international human rights, or exploring indigenous perspectives on justice, a profound research question can lead to insights beneficial for academia and practical legal realms alike.

Conclusion As societies continue to morph, so does the law and its underlying philosophies. The philosophy of law research paper topics offers scholars a vast, rich, and ever-evolving field of inquiry. From the debates of ancient Greece to the modern-day challenges posed by technology and globalization, the philosophy of law remains an indispensable compass guiding legal thought and practice. Through rigorous academic exploration, the next wave of philosophers, lawyers, and scholars stand poised to shape the future of legal systems, ensuring they serve as beacons of justice, fairness, and societal harmony.

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In the intricate dance of ideas, arguments, and theories that define the philosophy of law, precision, depth, and clarity stand as the pillars of excellence. iResearchNet embodies these virtues, offering an unparalleled academic sanctuary for those diving deep into this domain. As you stand at the crossroads of exploration and expression, remember that with iResearchNet by your side, the journey is not just simplified but also enriched.

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Research Topics For law Students in 2023

by Sanjay Rawat
March 6, 2023
17 minutes read

Table of Contents

Introduction

Legal research is an essential skill that law students must acquire as it provides them with the tools necessary to develop critical thinking abilities, establish a solid foundation in the law, and prepare for legal practice. Moreover, legal research allows students to hone their communication skills and stay updated with any modifications to the law. With this in mind, our team with their legal expertise has compiled a list of over 100 legal research topics to assist law students in their quest for legal research topics in 2023

Subjectwise Distribution of Legal Research Topics for law students in 2023

Constitutional law- legal research topics for law students.

The impact of the recent Pegasus spyware controversy on the right to privacy in India . (Source: Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology)
The effectiveness of the new Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order (Amendment) Act, 2021 in protecting the rights of scheduled castes in India. (Source: Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment)
The legality and implications of the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019 . (Source: Ministry of Home Affairs)
The constitutional validity of the farm laws passed by the Indian parliament. (Source: Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare)
The role of the Supreme Court in protecting and interpreting the Constitution of India. (Source: Supreme Court of India)
Constitutionality of collegium system in India – Specific reference to Case laws
The constitutional right to privacy and its implications for data protection laws in India. (Source: Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology)
The constitutional validity of reservations in educational institutions and public employment. (Source: Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment)
The constitutional validity of sedition laws in India. (Source: Ministry of Home Affairs)
The role of the Election Commission in ensuring free and fair elections in India. (Source: Election Commission of India)
The constitutional validity of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) and its implementation in Assam. (Source: Ministry of Home Affairs)
The implications of the recent Supreme Court ruling on ECI Appointments. (Source: Supreme Court of India)

Research Topics for law students on Criminal Law

The effectiveness of the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2018 in addressing crimes against women in India. (Source: Ministry of Home Affairs)
The implications of the recent Supreme Court ruling on the use of remand in criminal cases. (Source: Supreme Court of India)
The effectiveness of the new Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Amendment) Act, 2021 in tackling drug abuse in India. (Source: Ministry of Home Affairs)
The impact of the new Anti-Trafficking Bill, 2021 on human trafficking in India. (Source: Ministry of Women and Child Development)
The interpretation and implementation of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015. (Source: Ministry of Women and Child Development)
The effectiveness of the new Prevention of Money Laundering (Amendment) Act, 2021 in curbing money laundering in India. (Source: Ministry of Finance)
The implications of the recent Supreme Court ruling on the death penalty in India. (Source: Supreme Court of India)
The effectiveness of the new Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 in addressing workplace harassment in India. (Source: Ministry of Women and Child Development)
The interpretation and implementation of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012. (Source: Ministry of Women and Child Development)
The impact of the new Anti-Corruption Bill, 2021 on corruption in India . (Source: Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions)

Research topics on Family Law

The implications of the new Personal Laws (Amendment) Act, 2021 on interfaith marriages in India. (Source: Ministry of Law and Justice)
The effectiveness of the new Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens (Amendment) Act, 2021 in protecting the rights of older people in India. (Source: Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment)
The legal and ethical implications of the surrogacy regulation Act 2021 on India’s family law and social norms. (Source: Indian Council of Medical Research)
The interpretation and implementation of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955. (Source: Ministry of Law and Justice)
The impact of the new Surrogacy (Regulation) Act, 2021 on surrogacy arrangements in India. (Source: Ministry of Health and Family Welfare)
The effectiveness of the new Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Act, 2019 in addressing the issue of triple talaq in India. (Source: Ministry of Law and Justice)

Legal Research topics on Intellectual Property Law(IPR)

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on intellectual property laws in India, including patent rights, trademark rights, and copyright laws. (Source: World Intellectual Property Organization)
The legal and ethical implications of genetic engineering and gene editing technologies in India’s intellectual property laws. (Source: National Biodiversity Authority)
The effectiveness of India’s laws and policies in protecting traditional knowledge and folklore. (Source: Ministry of Commerce and Industry)
The impact of India’s accession to the Madrid Protocol on trademark registration and protection in India. (Source: Intellectual Property India)
The effectiveness of India’s laws and policies in promoting innovation and creativity in the digital age. (Source: National Innovation Foundation)
The implications of the new Copyright (Amendment) Act, 2021 on copyright law in India. (Source: Ministry of Law and Justice)
The interpretation and implementation of the Patents Act, 1970. (Source: Ministry of Commerce and Industry)
The effectiveness of the new Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act, 2019 in protecting geographical indications in India. (Source: Ministry of Commerce and Industry)
The impact of the new Designs (Amendment) Rules, 2021 on design law in India. (Source: Ministry of Commerce and Industry)
The effectiveness of the new Trade Marks (Amendment) Act, 2021 in protecting trademarks in India. (Source: Ministry of Commerce and Industry)

Environmental Law Research Topics for law students

The implications of the new Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 2021 on air pollution in India. (Source: Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change)
The interpretation and implementation of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972. (Source: Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change)
The implications of the recent National River Ganga (Rejuvenation, Conservation and Management) Act, 2021 on the conservation of the Ganges river in India. (Source: Ministry of Jal Shakti)
The effectiveness of the new National Green Tribunal (NGT) (Amendment) Act, 2021 in resolving environmental disputes in India. (Source: Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change)
The impact of the new Hazardous and Other Wastes (Management and Transboundary Movement) Rules, 2021 on hazardous waste management in India. (Source: Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change)
The effectiveness of the new Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 2021 in addressing water pollution in India. (Source: Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change)

International Law topics for research

The implications of India’s recent withdrawal from the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) on India’s international trade relations. (Source: Ministry of External Affairs)
The interpretation and implementation of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), 1982, with specific reference to India’s maritime claims. (Source: Ministry of External Affairs)
The effectiveness of the new International Financial Services Centres Authority Act, 2021 in regulating financial services in India’s international financial centres. (Source: Ministry of Finance)
The impact of India’s recent accession to the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction on child custody cases involving India and other signatory countries. (Source: Ministry of Women and Child Development)
The implications of the recent International Court of Justice ruling on the Kulbhushan Jadhav case. (Source: International Court of Justice)
The effectiveness of the new Extradition (Amendment) Act, 2021 in extradition proceedings in India. (Source: Ministry of External Affairs) or The effectiveness of India’s extradition laws in extraditing fugitives from foreign countries. (Source: Ministry of Home Affairs)
The impact of the new Prevention of Atrocities (Amendment) Act, 2021 on international human rights law in India. (Source: Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment)
The effectiveness of the new Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT) Model Text, 2021 in promoting foreign investment in India. (Source: Ministry of Finance)

Corporate Law:

The implications of the new Companies (Amendment) Act, 2021 on corporate law in India. (Source: Ministry of Corporate Affairs)
The interpretation and implementation of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016. (Source: Ministry of Finance)
The effectiveness of the new Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2021 in regulating securities markets in India. (Source: SEBI)
The impact of the recent changes in the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) policy on foreign investment in India. (Source: Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade)
The effectiveness of the new Competition (Amendment) Act, 2021 in promoting competition in Indian markets. (Source: Ministry of Corporate Affairs)
The impact of the Companies (Amendment) Act, 2020, on corporate governance in India, including the changes to the composition and functioning of the board of directors, and the enhanced role of auditors and independent directors. (Source: Ministry of Corporate Affairs)
The challenges of regulating new forms of corporate entities in India, such as limited liability partnerships and one-person companies, and the implications of these entities for traditional forms of corporate organization. (Source: Ministry of Corporate Affairs)
The role of corporate social responsibility in India, including the legal framework for mandating and monitoring CSR activities, and the challenges of balancing the interests of shareholders, stakeholders, and society. (Source: Ministry of Corporate Affairs)
The regulation of mergers and acquisitions in India, including the role of the Competition Commission of India in assessing the anti-competitive effects of M&A transactions, and the challenges of balancing competition and economic growth. (Source: Competition Commission of India)
The impact of recent judicial decisions on corporate law in India, including the interpretation of provisions of the Companies Act, 2013, and the evolving jurisprudence on issues such as shareholder activism, minority rights, and corporate liability. (Source: Supreme Court of India)

Labour Law:

The effectiveness of the new labour codes proposed by the Ministry of Labour and Employment in 2021 in regulating and protecting workers’ rights. (Source: Ministry of Labour and Employment)
The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the labour market in India and the adequacy of legal protection for workers during the pandemic. (Source: International Labour Organization)
The legal and ethical implications of outsourcing and subcontracting in the Indian labour market. (Source: International Labour Organization)
The effectiveness of the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 in preventing and addressing workplace sexual harassment. (Source: Ministry of Women and Child Development)
The impact of the gig economy on labour laws and social protection in India. (Source: International Labour Organization)
The implications of the recent Industrial Relations Code, 2020 on labour law in India. (Source: Ministry of Labour and Employment)
The interpretation and implementation of the Minimum Wages Act, 1948. (Source: Ministry of Labour and Employment)
The effectiveness of the new Employees’ State Insurance (Amendment) Act, 2021 in providing social security to workers in India. (Source: Ministry of Labour and Employment)
The impact of the recent changes in the Apprentices Act, 1961 on apprenticeships in India. (Source: Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship)
The effectiveness of the new Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Act, 2021 in protecting the rights of working women in India. (Source: Ministry of Women and Child Development)
The implications of the recent Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 on freedom of speech and expression in India’s digital media. (Source: Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology)
The interpretation and implementation of the Information Technology Act, 2000. (Source: Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology)
The effectiveness of the new Personal Data Protection Bill, 2021 in protecting personal data of Indian citizens. (Source: Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology)
The impact of cybercrime on the Indian economy and society. (Source: National Crime Records Bureau)
The effectiveness of India’s cybercrime investigation and prosecution framework in dealing with cybercrime cases. (Source: Ministry of Home Affairs)

Taxation Law:

The impact of India’s new Equalization Levy, 2021 on digital businesses and cross-border e-commerce. (Source: Ministry of Finance)
The legal and ethical implications of tax avoidance and evasion in India’s tax laws and policies. (Source: Central Board of Direct Taxes)
The effectiveness of India’s tax incentives and exemptions in promoting foreign direct investment and economic growth. (Source: Ministry of Finance)
The impact of India’s Goods and Services Tax (GST) on small and medium-sized businesses and the informal sector. (Source: Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs)
The legal and ethical implications of tax competition and international tax treaties on India’s tax sovereignty and revenue collection. (Source: Ministry of Finance)

Research topics on Sports Law for law students

Here are some more research topics for law students in India in 2023 related to sports law:

The legal and ethical implications of gender discrimination and sexual harassment in sports, with a focus on India’s sports industry. (Source: Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports)
The effectiveness of India’s sports law framework in regulating doping, match-fixing, and other forms of cheating in sports. (Source: National Anti-Doping Agency, India)
The impact of India’s new National Sports Code, 2011, on the governance and management of sports organizations in India. (Source: Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports)
The legal and ethical implications of athlete welfare and protection in sports, including issues such as athlete contracts, injury prevention, and mental health support. (Source: Sports Authority of India)
The role of alternative dispute resolution mechanisms, such as sports arbitration, in resolving disputes in the sports industry, with a focus on India’s experience. (Source: Indian Olympic Association)

Fashion Law

Here are some research topics for law students in India in 2023 related to fashion law:

The legal and ethical implications of intellectual property protection in the fashion industry, with a focus on India’s experience. (Source: Ministry of Commerce and Industry)
The impact of India’s new Consumer Protection Act, 2019, on consumer rights and product liability in the fashion industry. (Source: Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution)
The effectiveness of India’s laws and policies in regulating the use of child labour in the fashion industry, and promoting ethical and sustainable production practices. (Source: Ministry of Labour and Employment)
The legal and ethical implications of cultural appropriation and intellectual property rights in the fashion industry, with a focus on India’s traditional designs and crafts. (Source: Ministry of Textiles)
The role of alternative dispute resolution mechanisms, such as mediation and arbitration, in resolving disputes in the fashion industry, with a focus on India’s experience. (Source: Ministry of Law and Justice)

Contract Law

Some research topics for law students in India in 2023 related to contract law are

The legal and ethical implications of force majeure clauses in commercial contracts during the COVID-19 pandemic, with a focus on India’s experience. (Source: Ministry of Law and Justice)
The effectiveness of India’s Contract Act, 1872, in regulating electronic contracts and e-commerce transactions, and the challenges posed by the increasing use of technology in commercial transactions. (Source: Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology)
The impact of India’s new Arbitration and Conciliation (Amendment) Act, 2021, on the enforcement and validity of arbitration agreements in commercial contracts. (Source: Ministry of Law and Justice)
The legal and ethical implications of contractual interpretation and construction in commercial disputes, with a focus on India’s courts’ approach. (Source: Supreme Court of India)
The role of good faith and fair dealing in contract law, and its implications for contract drafting and negotiation in India. (Source: Ministry of Law and Justice)

Arbitration Law

Some research topics for law students in India in 2023 related to arbitration law are-

The effectiveness of India’s Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996, in promoting arbitration as a preferred mode of dispute resolution, and the challenges faced by the arbitration industry in India. (Source: Ministry of Law and Justice)
The role of institutional arbitration in India, with a focus on the rules and procedures of institutions such as the Mumbai Centre for International Arbitration and the Delhi International Arbitration Centre. (Source: Indian Council of Arbitration)
The legal and ethical implications of investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) in India, with a focus on India’s experience in bilateral investment treaties (BITs) and investment disputes. (Source: Ministry of Finance)
The impact of India’s new Arbitration and Conciliation (Amendment) Act, 2021, on the appointment and qualifications of arbitrators, and the procedure for challenging and enforcing arbitral awards. (Source: Ministry of Law and Justice)
The role of technology in arbitration in India, including the use of electronic evidence, virtual hearings, and online dispute resolution platforms. (Source: National Law School of India University)
The effectiveness of the Indian judiciary in supporting arbitration, including the approach of Indian courts to issues such as interim relief, jurisdictional challenges, and public policy considerations. (Source: Supreme Court of India)
The role of international commercial arbitration in India, with a focus on the practice and procedure of international arbitration in India and the recognition and enforcement of foreign arbitral awards. (Source: International Chamber of Commerce India)
The impact of India’s new Commercial Courts, Commercial Division and Commercial Appellate Division of High Courts Act, 2015, on the resolution of commercial disputes through arbitration and other alternative dispute resolution mechanisms. (Source: Ministry of Law and Justice)

Administrative law

Research topics for law students in India in 2023 related to administrative law:

The scope and limitations of the principle of natural justice in administrative law, with a focus on the Indian context and the role of courts in enforcing the principles of procedural fairness. (Source: Ministry of Law and Justice)
The relationship between administrative law and human rights in India, including the constitutional protection of fundamental rights and the role of administrative agencies in promoting human rights. (Source: National Human Rights Commission)
The impact of India’s Right to Information Act, 2005, on transparency and accountability in administrative decision-making, and the challenges faced in implementing the Act. (Source: Central Information Commission)
The role of the judiciary in administrative law in India, including the scope of judicial review of administrative action and the development of principles such as proportionality and reasonableness. (Source: Supreme Court of India)
The legal and ethical implications of administrative discretion in India, including the scope and limitations of administrative discretion and the accountability of administrative decision-makers. (Source: Administrative Law Review)

Evidence Law

The admissibility and reliability of electronic evidence in Indian courts, including the challenges of preserving and authenticating electronic evidence and the legal framework for admitting electronic evidence. (Source: Evidence Act, 1872)
The impact of recent amendments to the Indian Evidence Act, 1872, on the law of evidence in India, including the new provisions on the admissibility of electronic evidence, presumptions as to documents, and the use of expert evidence. (Source: Ministry of Law and Justice)
The role of the judge in the trial process and the evaluation of evidence in Indian courts, including the principles of burden of proof, presumption, and standard of proof, and the discretion of the judge in weighing evidence. (Source: Supreme Court of India)
The impact of the Indian Evidence (Amendment) Act, 2002, on the admissibility of confessions and the protections afforded to accused persons, including the requirement for video recording of confessions and the admissibility of retracted confessions. (Source: Ministry of Home Affairs)
The role of scientific evidence in criminal trials in India, including the admissibility and reliability of forensic evidence such as DNA analysis, fingerprinting, and ballistics evidence. (Source: National Forensic Sciences University)
The evolution of the law of torts in India, with a focus on the development of principles such as negligence, nuisance, and strict liability, and the role of the judiciary in shaping the law. (Source: Indian Council of Legal Research)
The liability of the State and its officials for tortious acts in India, including the scope and limitations of sovereign immunity and the remedies available to victims of tortious acts committed by the State. (Source: Constitution of India)
The role of tort law in consumer protection in India, including the liability of manufacturers, sellers, and service providers for defective products and services, and the remedies available to consumers. (Source: Consumer Protection Act, 2019)
The impact of technological developments on tort law in India, including the liability of internet service providers and social media platforms for defamation, and the challenges of regulating emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence and autonomous vehicles. (Source: Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology)
The relationship between tort law and environmental law in India, including the liability of polluters for harm to the environment and the challenges of enforcing environmental standards through the law of torts. (Source: Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change)

International Humanitarian law

Some recent international humanitarian law research topics for law students in 2023 are-

The legal and ethical implications of autonomous weapons systems under international humanitarian law, including the challenges of ensuring compliance and accountability for their use. (Source: Human Rights Watch)
The role of non-state actors in armed conflicts and their responsibilities under international humanitarian law, including the legal framework for regulating the conduct of armed groups and the challenges of enforcing accountability. (Source: Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights)
The impact of counter-terrorism measures on international humanitarian law, including the legal framework for regulating the use of force in counter-terrorism operations and the challenges of ensuring compliance with human rights standards. (Source: International Committee of the Red Cross)
The legal framework for protecting civilians and non-combatants in the context of the ongoing conflict in eastern Ukraine , including the challenges of ensuring compliance with international humanitarian law in the midst of a protracted armed conflict. (Source: International Committee of the Red Cross)
The role of international criminal law in addressing alleged violations of international humanitarian law in Ukraine, including the legal framework for investigating and prosecuting war crimes and the challenges of ensuring accountability for those responsible. (Source: International Criminal Court)

I hope this comprehensive list of over 100 topics of research for law students will help you find the correct topic for your research. However, the topic you choose to research will always depend on your personal interests. So, it’s best to give some thought to finding which topic suits your interests.

Download 100 Research Topics for Law Students

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Treat addiction with psychedelics?

Despite promise of success stories from patients in recovery, Law School panel cautions that research is lacking on benefits vs. risks

Harvard Staff Writer

Mark Guckel had struggled with crack addiction since high school. Despite numerous attempts to overcome his substance use disorder, nothing helped. That is, until he tried psychedelic plants, such as ayahuasca , psilocybin , and ibogaine . The experience changed his life. Now a professional recovery coach, Guckel said psychedelics might hold a promise to treat addiction disorders.

Guckel shared his story of addiction and recovery during an online panel sponsored by the Petrie-Flom Center at Harvard Law School on Tuesday afternoon, “New Ideas for Substance Use Condition Treatment: Could Psychedelics Help?” But he warned that psychedelics is just one of many other treatments for substance-use disorders. Psilocybin and ibogaine are federally illegal in the U.S., with some exceptions for medical research.

“I can say that while psychedelics helped me to stop using substances, I’d like to reflect that these aren’t a cure,” said Guckel, a founder of a company that offers psychedelic-assisted recovery. “They are catalysts. They’re sacraments, they’re medicines, they’re tools. They’re one of many pathways. There are many other treatment modalities that are out there, from regular treatment to medication-assisted recovery to other holistic modalities that can help us live better lives.”

17% Of Americans over the past year have struggled with substance use disorder yet only 10% have accessed treatment

Accounts like Guckel’s and the idea that psychedelics might prompt a neurochemical reset in the brain have many looking to the approach as a promising treatment for addiction disorders. Around 17 percent of Americans have met criteria for a substance use disorder in the past year, said Stephanie Tabashneck , the event’s moderator. Yet fewer than 10 percent get treatment, she said.

“We have a treatment shortage. We also know that a lot of the treatments that we have are not particularly effective,” said Tabashneck, senior fellow of law and applied neuroscience, a collaboration between the Center for Law, Brain & Behavior and the Petrie-Flom Center.

After reminding the audience that none of the information shared in the panel should be considered legal or medical advice, Tabashneck offered a word of caution about psychedelics.

“Psychedelic therapy is not a replacement for medication treatments, like methadone for opioid-use disorder. All of our panelists will also agree that these are not first-line treatments. If someone has a substance-use disorder and it’s early, no one is recommending or suggesting that you should go ahead and try the psychedelics first as a method of treatment.”

Conventional treatments for addiction include behavioral therapies, such as contingency management and medication compliance therapy. There are also medication-assisted recovery treatments for opioid, alcohol, cocaine, and cannabis-use disorders. But the enthusiasm for psilocybin and ibogaine for treating substance-use conditions has been gradually increasing.

Panelist Mark Guckel describes how psychedelics helped him overcome an addiction to crack.

Jon Chase/Harvard Staff Photographer

Panelist Mason Marks , visiting professor of law, Harvard Law School, and senior fellow and lead of the Project on Psychedelics Law and Regulation at Petrie-Flom, highlighted the legal and medical concerns about psilocybin, also known as magic mushrooms, and ibogaine, a psychoactive substance found in iboga, a shrub that’s native to Central West Africa.

“Unlike psilocybin, there’s no clinical ibogaine research in the U.S. right now, and that’s likely due in part to the risk of cardiovascular adverse events,” said Marks. “Ibogaine has been linked to heart attacks and some deaths.”

Marks said there are efforts in some cities and states across the U.S. to decriminalize psilocybin. Last year, Oregon opened a state-regulated program for supervised administration of psilocybin, and next year, Colorado will open a similar program for psilocybin and possibly ibogaine to be used as a treatment for addiction under medical supervision, he said. But it won’t be without concerns.

“In light of the federal illegality of psilocybin and ibogaine, there are many unresolved legal questions, some challenging legal questions and questions of potential liability, as well for licensed healthcare professionals who choose to get involved in these programs,” Marks said.

Neuroscientist Deborah Mash , professor of neurology and molecular and cellular pharmacology, Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine, has been studying the effects of ibogaine in substance-use disorders for more than three decades. She warned that it is not for everyone.

“I saw patients exhibit a remarkable recovery for a longstanding heroin abuse, cocaine-dependency disorder, including a young man who was on methadone maintenance who remarkably had no withdrawals, no cravings, and put their desire to go out and get and use drugs in remission,” said Mash, also the director of the Brain Endowment Bank at the University of Miami and chief executive officer and founder of DemeRx. “It’s a very powerful addiction interrupter.”

And yet, for people who may have an underlying psychiatric comorbidity like schizophrenia or a bipolar disorder diagnosis, psychedelics might pose a serious health risk, said Mash. She also warned against self-medication with psychedelics obtained through online distributors. “We want these molecules to be used in a medical way by qualified clinicians and therapists who understand these types of therapies and how they can work best.”

Despite all the craze around psychedelics, little research has been done to prove their efficacy treating addiction disorders. Mash pleaded for more evidence-based research that could lead to regulatory approval and make such treatments safely available to those who are “suffering the most.” So far, what researchers have is anecdotal. “And we know that data are not the plural of anecdote,” she said.

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The Scholarly Kitchen

What’s Hot and Cooking In Scholarly Publishing

The Latest “Crisis” — Is the Research Literature Overrun with ChatGPT- and LLM-generated Articles?

Artificial Intelligence
Metrics and Analytics
Peer Review
Research Integrity

Elsevier has been under the spotlight this month for publishing a paper that contains a clearly ChatGPT-written portion of its introduction. The first sentence of the paper’s Introduction reads, “Certainly, here is a possible introduction for your topic:…” To date, the article remains unchanged, and unretracted. A second paper , containing the phrase “I’m very sorry, but I don’t have access to real-time information or patient-specific data, as I am an AI language model” was subsequently found , and similarly remains unchanged. This has led to a spate of amateur bibliometricians scanning the literature for similar common AI-generated phrases, with some alarming results . But it’s worth digging a little deeper into these results to get a sense of whether this is indeed a widespread problem, and where such papers have made it through to publication, where the errors are occurring.

1950s style rendering of a robot invasion

Several of the investigations into AI-pollution of the literature that I’ve seen employ Google Scholar for data collection (the link above, and another here ). But when you start looking at the Google Scholar search results, you notice that a lot of what’s listed, at least on the first few pages, are either preprints, items on ResearchGate, book chapters, or often something posted to a website you’ve never heard of with a Russian domain URL. The problem here is that Google Scholar is deliberately a largely non-gated index. It scans the internet for things that look like research papers (does it have an Abstract, does it have References), rather than limiting results to a carefully curated list of reputable publications. Basically, it grabs anything that looks “scholarly”. This is a feature, not a bug, and one of the important values that Google Scholar offers is that it can reach beyond the more limiting inclusion criteria (and often English language and Global North biased) content of indexes like the Web of Science.

But what happens when one does similar searches on a more curated database, one that is indeed limited to what most would consider a more accurate picture of the reputable scholarly literature? Here I’ve chosen Dimensions , an inter-linked research information system provided by Digital Science, as its content inclusion is broader than the Web of Science, but not as unlimited as Google Scholar. With the caveat that all bibliometrics indexes are lagging, and take some time to bring in the most recently published articles (the two Elsevier papers mentioned above are dated as being from March and June of 2024 and so aren’t yet indexed as far as I can tell), my results are perhaps less worrying. All searches below were limited to research articles (no preprints, book chapters, or meeting abstracts) published after November 2022, when ChatGPT was publicly released.

A search for “Certainly, here is” brings up a total of ten articles published over that time period. Of those ten articles, eight are about ChatGPT, so the inclusion of the phrase is likely not suspect. A search for “as of my last knowledge update” gives a total of six articles, again with four of those articles focused on ChatGPT itself. A search for “I don’t have access to real-time data” brings up only three articles, all of which cover ChatGPT or AI. During this same period, Dimensions lists nearly 5.7M research articles and review articles published, putting the error rate for these three phrases to slip through into publications at 0.00007%.

Retraction Watch has a larger list of 77 items (as of this writing), using a more comprehensive set of criteria to spot problematic, likely AI-generated text which includes journal articles from Elsevier, Springer Nature, MDPI, PLOS, Frontiers, Wiley, IEEE, and Sage. Again, this list needs further sorting, as it also includes some five book chapters, eleven preprints, and at least sixteen conference proceedings pieces. Removing these 32 items from the list suggests a failure rate of 0.00056%.

While many would argue that this does not constitute a “crisis”, it is likely that such errors will continue to rise, and frankly, there’s not really any excuse for allowing even a single paper with such an obvious tell to make it through to publication. While this has led many to question the peer review process at the journals where these failures occurred, it’s worth considering other points in the publication workflow where such errors might happen. As Lisa Hinchliffe recently pointed out , it’s possible these sections are being added at the revision stage or even post-acceptance. Peer reviewers and editors looking at a revision may only be looking at the specific sections where they requested changes, and may miss other additions an author has put into the new version of the article. Angela Cochran wrote about how this has been exploited by unscrupulous authors adding in hundreds of citations in order to juice their own metrics. Also possible, the LLM-generated language may have been added at the pageproof stage (whether deliberately or not). Most journals outsource typesetting to third party vendors, and how carefully a journal scrutinizes the final, typeset version of the paper varies widely. As always, time spent by human editorial staff is the most expensive part of the publishing process, so many journals assume their vendors have done their jobs, and don’t go over each paper with a fine toothed comb unless a problem is raised.

Two other important conclusions can be drawn from this uproar. The first is that despite preprints having been around for decades, those both within and adjacent to the research community clearly do not understand their nature and why they’re different from the peer reviewed literature, so more educational effort is needed. It should not be surprising to anyone that there are a lot of rough early drafts of papers or unpublishable manuscripts in SSRN (founded in 1994) or arXiv (launched in 1991). We’ve heard a lot of concern about journalists not being able to recognize that preprints aren’t peer reviewed, but maybe there’s as big a problem much closer to home. The second conclusion is that there seems to be a perception that appearing in Google Scholar search results offers some assurance of credibility or validation. This is absolutely not the case, and perhaps the fault here lies with t he lack of differentiation between the profile service offered by Google Scholar , which is personally curated by individuals and its search results which are far less discriminating.

Going forward, I would hope that at the journals where the small number of papers have slipped through, an audit is underway to better understand where the language was introduced and how it managed to get all the way to publication. Automated checks should be able to weed out common AI language like this, but they likely need to be run at multiple points in the publication process, rather than just on initial submissions. While the systems in place seem to be performing pretty well overall, there’s no room for complacency, and research integrity vigilance will only become more and more demanding.

David Crotty

David Crotty is a Senior Consultant at Clarke & Esposito, a boutique management consulting firm focused on strategic issues related to professional and academic publishing and information services. Previously, David was the Editorial Director, Journals Policy for Oxford University Press. He oversaw journal policy across OUP’s journals program, drove technological innovation, and served as an information officer. David acquired and managed a suite of research society-owned journals with OUP, and before that was the Executive Editor for Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, where he created and edited new science books and journals, along with serving as a journal Editor-in-Chief. He has served on the Board of Directors for the STM Association, the Society for Scholarly Publishing and CHOR, Inc., as well as The AAP-PSP Executive Council. David received his PhD in Genetics from Columbia University and did developmental neuroscience research at Caltech before moving from the bench to publishing.

25 Thoughts on "The Latest “Crisis” — Is the Research Literature Overrun with ChatGPT- and LLM-generated Articles?"

There is a huge difference between an entire article being written by AI, as the title of this post suggests, and having a few paragraphs being written by AI, as the actual evidence in most of this post suggests. I think the most worrisome part of this is that the journal editors are doing such a poor job that they aren’t catching those obvious “certainly…” type phrases, not because of what they imply about authorship, but just because they don’t belong in the final text at all.

I find the debate about using AI and academic integrity is bringing out an inconsistency in our very reasons for opposing “plagiarism”. That is, is the problem that the ideas aren’t yours per se, or that you are “stealing” another person’s ideas? When the “other person” is not a human, suddenly this distinction is in sharp relief. If you aren’t stealing from someone else, is there still a bad thing happening here, or is this just a much more “humanities” version of using R or SPSS to do your quantitative analysis? Usually I find it frustrating when people mix up copyright law with plagiarism, but in this situation I think copyright law has something useful to inform the plagiarism discussion. Copyright law in the US at least is very clear that non-humans (eg monkeys, elephants, and computers) can’t be credited with authorship/creatorship.

By Melissa Belvadi
Mar 20, 2024, 7:59 AM
Reply to Comment

“Also possible, the LLM-generated language may have been added at the pageproof stage…”. That seems a bit far fetched. More likely some manuscripts don’t get carefully reviewed. More interesting to me than including LLM text in low quality articles is the sophistication of AI generated cell biology images. They’re getting to the point that sleuths like Elisabeth Bik can’t tell them from the real thing.

By Chris Mebane
Mar 20, 2024, 8:55 AM

The authors of one of the suspect papers have stated that the inclusion of the text was a cut-and-paste error. Why would such an error be “far fetched” during corrections but less so in other parts of the publication process?

By David Crotty
Mar 20, 2024, 9:27 AM

This may be but what’s the excuse for the failure to include the required disclosure statement? Everyone is focusing on the sloppy editing. But, what this signals to me is that there’s probably a bigger crises of non-disclosure, which is a different issue and – given Elsevier doesn’t prohibit the use of generative AI for editorial assistance but does require disclosure – to me is the bigger ethical question. The disclosure should have been made even if their was no copy/paste sloppiness. So, how many authors are using AI and not disclosing – and not tipping their hand by sloppiness?

By Lisa Janicke Hinchliffe
Mar 21, 2024, 10:51 AM

In this case, I believe the authors claimed that they had asked ChatGPT for a summary, but found it lacking and decided not to use it. Then it got “accidentally” pasted into some version of the paper. If accurate and believable, then no disclosure was necessary (as they did not deliberately use an AI).

All that said, you do get to the heart of the issue, and why the fuss over a tiny number of papers found with obvious tells is less important than the bigger picture that many are less sloppy and probably using these tools. While I do think it’s reasonable to require disclosure (if publishing is part of the scientific process, then you should record the tools used as you do in the Materials and Methods section for your experiments), I personally don’t think the use of AI in writing is all that problematic. What I care about is whether the experiments/research were/was done correctly, described accurately, and that the conclusions drawn are supported by the data presented. In the end, I don’t really care who (or what) wrote the story about the research, I’m interested in the research and ensuring it’s valid. We know that ghostwriting is fairly rampant in the medical world, and that industry research companies often have publication planners and writers on staff who put together publications. Is this any different ethically, as long as the author who puts their name on the paper vouches for its contents? Is that what matters (I’m staking my reputation on what’s in this document) rather than who/what chose the actual words and put them in that order?

Of course this is a different matter from fraudulent papers where the research wasn’t actually done, and yes, AI does simplify the process of creating fraudulent work, but that’s a separate issue. It does strike me as interesting that the two papers linked to above had AI text in an Introduction and an Abstract, rather than in the Results or the Conclusion sections of the papers.

Mar 21, 2024, 11:04 AM

I’ve not seen any author statement on either of these examples. I’ve seen one person say they are reporting what one author told him — but that didn’t include that the AI text was found wanting. I did see that the same intermediary say one of the authors says they had emailed Elsevier about this issue post-publication. Everyone decrying how long this is taking to fix and none of the authors just getting the right version out there by posting it up on a preprint server. I mean, for goodness say, it’s not like we need to wait for libraries to tip in a new page of the printed journal. Any way, somehow the authors also turned back page proofs without noticing the inclusion either. So, while I like you am not too concerned about how words get generated in this context (I have a statement in my syllabus this semester that students can use gen AI if they disclosure and explain why they decided it was the best choice), it matters if authors don’t take responsibility for their work and don’t make required disclosures. What other corners are they cutting?

Mar 21, 2024, 11:14 AM

I remember seeing something from the authors on Twitter, will try to dig it out. Regardless, I agree 100%. When you publish a paper, you are building/risking your reputation and your career. From my researcher days, the notion that I wouldn’t have carefully pored over every single character of every single draft of every paper I published escapes me. Those authors will now always be known as the ChatGPT people, I guess better than those permanently known as the gigantic rat genitals people, but still. If you are so sloppy in your writing, why wouldn’t I expect you to be similarly sloppy in your experiments? What did you accidentally “cut and paste” there?

Mar 21, 2024, 11:18 AM

In case anyone else is following this convo in the comments, here’s the thread not from the authors I referenced: https://twitter.com/GuyCurtis10/status/1768786985253319040

Mar 21, 2024, 11:41 AM

This is an interesting discussion; thanks for advancing it. Given the challenges facing scientific and medical publishing, which is a bigger crisis? 1) That overworked, underpaid, stressed, researchers and academics who don’t directly benefit financially from their content are now leveraging AI to speed time to publication, or 2) That the majority of entrenched publishers continue to act as if human friction and delays in getting novel science and groundbreaking medicine to patients and doctors who are trying to improve human suffering, which could be improved significantly with AI, is itself a problem to be dealt with? Full disclosure, I serve as Chief AI Officer of Inizio Medical and am a Founding Board Member of the Society for Artificial Intelligence and Health, but my comment is mine and mine alone.

By Matt Lewis
Mar 20, 2024, 9:52 AM

It is alarming that this slipped through after all the work done to tighten up publishing integrity over the last year or two. It suggests more sophisticated fake/fraudulent AI content is also getting through. More generally, it is another embarrassing, public black eye for scholarly publishing and science.

By Curtis Brundy
Mar 20, 2024, 10:42 AM

It’s clear from this post that the crisis is not about generative AI, which simply reveals the underlying problem. The real issue is the faulty editorial workflow, which Angela Cochran identified as far back as 2017. The human editor should have the last check of the paper. If you allow authors to make changes, then those changes should be monitored by the editor, and a system such as track changes applied to ensure that any changes the author makes, whether or not requested by the editor, are identifiable for checking.

What this reveals is that scholarly publishing still retains a culture of trust, in this case, trust that the author will not make extensive changes at proof stage. It is no longer possible to run scholarly publishing with the assumption that the author will behave responsibly.

By Michael Upshall
Mar 20, 2024, 10:57 AM

I think you’re largely right, but those needs are directly in opposition to the increasing pressure for journals to 1) publish faster, and 2) publish cheaper. As noted in the post, the sorts of human interventions you suggest are the most expensive parts of the process. Would the community accept slower publication and higher APCs/subscription prices in order to ensure this level of scrutiny?

Mar 20, 2024, 11:00 AM

Well, that’s for the scholarly community to decide, but personally, I don’t think there is a choice, to preserve the credibility of academic publishing.

Mar 20, 2024, 11:10 AM

What Automated Checks systems do you recommend be used by journals?

By Deb Whippen
Mar 20, 2024, 11:24 AM

“Automated” is a loaded word here — every check that I know of requires at least some level of human interpretation and intervention.

That said, there are good recommendations coming out of the STM Research Integrity Hub ( https://www.stm-assoc.org/stm-integrity-hub/ ) and tools include plagiarism checkers, image integrity checkers, and paper mill checkers. As far as I know, there are no reliable automated tools for determining whether text or images were AI-generated. But screening for phrases like the ones mentioned above seems a reasonable step.

And as noted, this makes publishing slower and more expensive.

Mar 20, 2024, 11:47 AM

I think that screening for phrases, as you say, could work. A mechanism that detects hallucinated content, including fake references/citations, could also help. But then, AI will also evolve…

By Ron Martinez
Mar 21, 2024, 5:03 PM

As the EIC of a journal, I read every manuscript that is submitted. Lately, I have detected a handful of manuscripts that have the hallmarks of being generated (all or in part) by an LLM. It is fairly obvious (to me) to identify such manuscripts, because the text reads like “word salad”, that is, bland, general sentences that do not seem to converge on a clear meaning and lack specific details. A superficial reading is not good enough in such cases. As pointed out in the post, having actual humans read the manuscripts or proofs is necessary, but expensive.

By Constance Senior
Mar 20, 2024, 2:15 PM

Same here. I had one the other day that was not really in the scope of the journal, had that “word salad” feel you mentioned, and had only 5 total references. (And two of those were fake.)

Mar 21, 2024, 5:01 PM

Interesting, another question is what percent of peer review reports/peer reviewers are using AI, and is incorrect use of AI in this area able to be detected, I heard this is potentially a growing, and yet somewhat hidden problem as well.

By Adrian Stanley
Mar 20, 2024, 4:29 PM

This preprint might be of interest – https://arxiv.org/abs/2403.07183 , “ Monitoring AI-Modified Content at Scale: A Case Study on the Impact of ChatGPT on AI Conference Peer Reviews”, https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2403.07183

By Dugald McGlashan
Mar 21, 2024, 2:53 AM

“time spent by human editorial staff is the most expensive part of the publishing process”

It turns out more and more that the most *expensive* part of the publishing process is editorial and other negligence actively encouraged by those who never tire of finding more “cost-effective” and “streamlined/frictionless” ways to “improve the author experience.” It’s a sure way to steer scholarly publishing towards obsolescence because however happy authors (or their administrators) might be for having their work published, fewer and fewer people will be inclined or able to read this work (and AI reading AI-generated or “enhanced” texts is like an empty house of mirrors).

The cost of not having enough human eyes (i.e., editorial staff and peer reviewers) will be (and already is) exorbitant for both science and the public. High-quality, sustainable science and scholarship is slow and tedious and does not respond to exhortations for speed and efficiency. It’s a non-negotiable feature, not a bug.

Mar 20, 2024, 4:44 PM

The one thing that is absolutely certain is that no copyeditors have been retained for the journals where these articles have slipped through. No proper copyeditor — one who edits for grammar, spelling, clarity, logic, and flow– is going to allow these kinds of things to pass through.

The big platforms do not do proper copyediting; the provide spelling and grammar checking from international outsourcing firms (packagers) and pay them literally one quarter of what I am paid, or they use their production team (layout, not copyeditors) to do the copyedits.

Copyeditors know that the vast majority of the time, we are the first ones to read a manuscript all the way through, after R&R or when there is no peer review. These instances prove that when we aren’t being hired, no one is reading a manuscript from start to finish.

By Rudy Leon
Mar 20, 2024, 6:20 PM

Importantly, the stance of MDPI is relaxed and predictable: https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6651/15/6/399

Also, I notice a certain trend of affiliates of a certain ’boutique’ subtly promoting Dimensions

By Ivan Sterligov
Mar 21, 2024, 2:44 AM

Do you feel that Dimensions is an inappropriate tool to use for these purposes? Which database would have been better?

Mar 21, 2024, 7:14 AM

Thanks David, you brought some level-headedness to the conversation. Your deep dive into the Digital Science data has me feeling much better about this issue being overblown than I would have originally thought. Also, you make a good point about trying to understand why and how these things happen. An author using GPT to help them with language and accidentally inserting a GPT-phrase is very different than AI writing an article for them.

By Avi Staiman
Mar 21, 2024, 9:27 AM

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Family Law Dissertation Topics, Ideas & Examples

Published by Owen Ingram at January 2nd, 2023 , Revised On August 15, 2023

Family law is an integral part of the UK constitution. The subject of family law gained immense popularity from the start of the 21st century. Family lawyers act on matters such as divorce and separation, child contact and adoption, Local Authority care orders and financial settlements.

If you are an undergraduate or postgraduate student searching for a research topic in the field of family law, you have come to the right place. This article provides a list of thoroughly researched and unique family law dissertation topics you can consider for your research.

If you are unsure about the type of research you should base your research on, contact us immediately. We have several family law writers on our team of experts who can help you with the research and writing.

Family Law Dissertation Topics

Using the consequences of child abuse as a kind of discipline. What reaction does the legal system have to this?
Custody disputes with divorcing parents. Does the youngster have a voice in this situation?
The effects of poverty on child development. What is the UK procedure for such cases?
Evaluation of family mental abuse. How does UK law address these situations?
The legal definition of a perfect family. What are the metrics used by UK legislation to assess a perfect family?
The success rate of filing an appeal under the matrimonial clause act. Does it have gender bias?
Analyze how domestic violence affects male victims in the UK.
Talk about the harms caused by domestic violence. Can prison help with this problem?
An analysis of how UK law addresses incest.
The function of regulations against child labour in shielding impressionable minds from hard work.
The success of government action in protecting children.
Guaranteeing justice in the distribution of assets during divorce proceedings.
An assessment of resident parents’ interests and their impact on UK children.
Review of UK legislation pertaining to child labour. A gauge of how successfully the state has eliminated this system.
The success of domestic violence punishment. Is it possible to stop this crime?
Assessing the efficiency of the UK’s divorce laws. Is one gender preferred over the other?
A thorough analysis of the wealth distribution between stepchildren and biological children.
A discussion of the cohabitation legislation revisions, including why they are unnecessary and long overdue.
Matrimonial Cause Act of 1973: Appealing Divorce Law Decisions: Ancillary Relief and Fairness Principles.
Male Victims of Domestic Violence: The Law’s Reaction to the Ultimate Taboo.
The division of finances during a divorce ensures fairness.
The child’s interests don’t seem to exceed those of the resident parent. The Payne judgement used an obsolete strategy that urgently needs to be updated.
How have property rights for married women changed over time? – A critical examination.
What was the motivation for the Civil Partnership Act’s 2004 enactment, and how well has it been applied and construed by the courts to achieve the stated goal?
What could be done to strengthen England and Wales’ acceptance of the right to family life under Article 8 of the Human Rights Act 1998?

How Can ResearchProspect Help?

ResearchProspect writers can send several custom topic ideas to your email address. Once you have chosen a topic that suits your needs and interests, you can order for our dissertation outline service which will include a brief introduction to the topic, research questions , literature review , methodology , expected results , and conclusion . The dissertation outline will enable you to review the quality of our work before placing the order for our full dissertation writing service!

Family law is a broad research area which includes a variety of issues, including family relations, divorce and separation, financial settlements, child adoption and contact, and Local Authority care orders. It is important to base your dissertation on a trending issue in any research area within the field of family law.

Do not base your dissertation on a topic that is too narrow or specific, so you find it difficult to find relevant academic literature about it. Similarly, your topic shouldn’t be too broad that it lacks focus. Be sure to give your thesis a meaningful and descriptive title, as dissertations are solely identified by their titles. We hope you can choose a family law dissertation topic from the above-mentioned suggestions. Once you have your topic approved by the university, we can also provide proposal writing service and the full dissertation writing service .

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How to find family law dissertation topics.

To find family law dissertation topics:

Study recent legal developments.
Analyze societal changes affecting families.
Explore custody, marriage, and divorce issues.
Review international family law aspects.
Consider child welfare or domestic violence.
Select a topic aligning with your passion and career objectives.

New study reveals breakthrough in understanding brain stimulation therapies

For the first time, researchers show how the brain can precisely adapt to external stimulation.

For the first time, researchers at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities showed that non-invasive brain stimulation can change a specific brain mechanism that is directly related to human behavior. This is a major step forward for discovering new therapies to treat brain disorders such as schizophrenia, depression, Alzheimer's disease, and Parkinson's disease.

The study was recently published in Nature Communications , a peer-reviewed, open access, scientific journal.

Researchers used what is called "transcranial alternating current stimulation" to modulate brain activity. This technique is also known as neuromodulation. By applying a small electrical current to the brain, the timing of when brain cells are active is shifted. This modulation of neural timing is related to neuroplasticity, which is a change in the connections between brain cells that is needed for human behavior, learning, and cognition.

"Previous research showed that brain activity was time-locked to stimulation. What we found in this new study is that this relationship slowly changed and the brain adapted over time as we added in external stimulation," said Alexander Opitz, University of Minnesota biomedical engineering associate professor. "This showed brain activity shifting in a way we didn't expect."

This result is called "neural phase precession." This is when the brain activity gradually changes over time in relation to a repeating pattern, like an external event or in this case non-invasive stimulation. In this research, all three investigated methods (computational models, humans, and animals) showed that the external stimulation could shift brain activity over time.

"The timing of this repeating pattern has a direct impact on brain processes, for example, how we navigate space, learn, and remember," Opitz said.

The discovery of this new technique shows how the brain adapts to external stimulation. This technique can increase or decrease brain activity, but is most powerful when it targets specific brain functions that affect behaviors. This way, long-term memory as well as learning can be improved. The long-term goal is to use this technique in the treatment of psychiatric and neurological disorders.

Opitz hopes that this discovery will help bring improved knowledge and technology to clinical applications, which could lead to more personalized therapies for schizophrenia, depression, Alzheimer's disease, and Parkinson's disease.

In addition to Opitz, the research team included co-first authors Miles Wischnewski and Harry Tran. Other team members from the University of Minnesota Biomedical Engineering Department include Zhihe Zhao, Zachary Haigh, Nipun Perera, Ivan Alekseichuk, Sina Shirinpour and Jonna Rotteveel. This study was in collaboration with Dr. Jan Zimmermann, associate professor in the University of Minnesota Medical School.

This work was supported primarily by the National Institute of Health (NIH) along with the Behavior and Brain Research Foundation and the University of Minnesota's Minnesota's Discovery, Research, and InnoVation Economy (MnDRIVE) Initiative. Computational resources were provided by the Minnesota Supercomputing Institute (MSI).

Brain-Computer Interfaces
Intelligence
Brain Injury
Disorders and Syndromes
Neuroscience
Learning Disorders
Deep brain stimulation
Brain damage
Human brain
Functional neuroimaging

Story Source:

Materials provided by University of Minnesota . Note: Content may be edited for style and length.

Journal Reference :

Miles Wischnewski, Harry Tran, Zhihe Zhao, Sina Shirinpour, Zachary J. Haigh, Jonna Rotteveel, Nipun D. Perera, Ivan Alekseichuk, Jan Zimmermann, Alexander Opitz. Induced neural phase precession through exogenous electric fields . Nature Communications , 2024; 15 (1) DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-45898-5

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HBCU internships, trips to Puerto Rico: How police are trying to boost diversity

When Eberechukwu Nwanegwo applied for a summer internship at the Baltimore Police Department, she had no interest in becoming an officer of the law.

Given all the media coverage of police brutality , she was nervous about joining the department and didn’t want to tell her family and friends. But the 23-year-old nursing major at Lincoln University in Pennsylvania needed to earn some money while she was studying for her board exams and she figured it was only a few weeks. Maybe she’d learn something, she thought.

Nwanegwo said her outlook completely changed after the first day. She said her supervisor gave her a binder outlining a consent decree and she was surprised to see the reforms the department agreed to. Throughout the program, she said, she was given assignments she never knew a police department could offer, from buying groceries for victims of violent crime to working in an office dedicated to increasing equity in the department.

“I came in there wanting to just kind of make some money and leave,” she said. “Then I left like ‘OK, how can I do this for the rest of my life?’”

Amid a nationwide law enforcement staffing shortage , some departments are trying to solve the problem by recruiting more young people of color and women, which some experts say could improve policing . Advocates say attracting the next generation of law enforcement requires addressing historic distrust and discrimination by demonstrating that departments have made major changes in their culture, not just offering big bonuses or slashing requirements.

But it's been tough going for some. Nwanegwo's internship in Baltimore was part of a program launched by the Police Executive Research Forum to offer dozens of students at historically Black colleges and universities internships at 29 police departments across the country. The Minneapolis Police Department joined the program and, initially, no one applied, according to Chief Brian O'Hara.

“This is a police department that murdered George Floyd, so there's a whole lot of skepticism about the police department, the city,” O'Hara said.

'Historic' recruitment crisis requires culture shift

Police departments are struggling with a "historic crisis in recruiting and retaining" officers, the Justice Department said in October. Though hiring reportedly rebounded in 2022, agencies are losing officers faster than they can replace them and total staffing is declining, according to a survey of 182 police agencies across 38 states and Washington from the Police Executive Research Forum.

Departments that previously never had to worry about filling their academies are paying attention to how they market themselves, according to Alex Johnston, co-founder of Epic Recruiting , a content creation company that works with law enforcement agencies nationwide. Johnston said when departments approach his company for help with marketing, attracting diverse candidates is often a priority.

More than 14,700 law enforcement agencies employed over 708,000 full-time sworn officers in 2020, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics . In local police departments, about 14% of full-time sworn officers were women, 14% were Hispanic and 12% were Black. Though experts have said diversity alone is not enough to address all of the issues with policing, some research has shown that Black and Hispanic officers make fewer arrests and use force less often than their white counterparts and female officers take those enforcement actions less often than men.

“If this next generation doesn't choose law enforcement, then we're in a really not only dangerous path, but also a path that's probably going to end in further inequity,” said Andy Saunders, co-founder and CEO of New Blue, which supports officers interested in reform.

Some departments are offering as much as $75,000 in signing bonuses to attract recruits, but Saunders said more money may not be enough to attract diverse candidates. When New Blue first launched, Saunders said he tried to recruit college students of color into the profession, but an analysis of those efforts found that even when they were offered an extra $30,000 a year, many would not commit to policing. He said one of the most powerful reasons given was fear of what their loved ones would think of them.

Saunders said some departments have also tried to attract diverse talent by relaxing grooming requirements or updating the application process.

“Allowing tattoos and dreadlocks does not make Gen Z say, ‘Oh, that was the thing holding me back,’” he said. “It's the deeper values.”

Saunders explained departments may find themselves in something of a Catch-22: they want to hire more diverse candidates, but young people of color may not want to join an organization that is and historically has been predominantly white and male. But, he said, in addition to diversity, Gen Z candidates also value transparency, social justice, and civic engagement and they are more likely to join a department that shares and demonstrates those values.

“Just having a chief say, ‘I agree that law enforcement doesn't currently serve everyone and I would like to recruit diverse folks that can help me solve this issue,’ and then publicly committing to that change can also show Gen Z officers that department is willing to listen to feedback and take action to address their concerns,” he said.

Police try to entice HBCU students through internships, scholarships, advertising

HBCUs are one of the major targets for police recruiters looking to diversify their ranks. Johnston, of Epic Recruiting, recalled creating a recent ad campaign for the Norfolk Police Department in Virginia aimed at a nearby HBCU that featured several of the department's African American officers.

“We created specific content for that specific audience, and we featured individuals that represented them and could speak to them and inspire them to pursue this as a successful career,” he said.

However, recruiting from these schools can be a challenge for some departments. Since 2018, 44 HBCU students have expressed interest in applying for the college scholarship offered by the Winston-Salem Police Department in North Carolina. But after learning about the requirements, which include completing a summer internship and agreeing to work for the department for at least three years after graduation, just five of them applied, according to Kayla Carleton, a recruiting sergeant with the department.

“We're serious about diversity, so we're working hard, and that's why we budgeted for this scholarship,” said Chief William H. Penn Jr. “And we want to give that scholarship out more, so that's been a challenge for us.”

While internship programs alone can’t fully solve the nationwide staffing shortage, when they successfully attract candidates, they can be an important part of improving officer recruitment and retention, according to a report from the Police Executive Research Forum . Much like Nwanegwo, every intern who responded to a survey after going through the program agreed the experience had positively changed their opinion of policing in general and as a career, with 65% expressing a desire to apply for a position as a sworn officer, PERF said.

"By helping students gain a better understanding of both policing and police, internships can also help build public trust in the profession, as the PERF-HBCU Internship Program showed," the report said.

Departments look for bilingual recruits in Puerto Rico

Police departments in several states including Florida , Kentucky , Maryland , South Carolina , Texas , and Tennessee have announced plans to attract more Spanish-speaking officers through recruiting in Puerto Rico. Dallas Police Department Chief Eddie Garcia, who was born on the island, has gone back with his department twice in search of recruits and plans to return in April.

“Nearly half of our population here in Dallas is Latino and there are a lot of individuals that are Spanish-speaking,” Garcia said. “It's incredibly important for us to ensure that we have as diverse a workforce as we can possibly have.”

Garcia said some of the recruits he encounters are hesitant to move to the state, and the department tries to entice them by offering assistance with housing and bringing the other officers from the area, “so that these young men and women from Puerto Rico can see people that resemble themselves, that took the chance, got it and are successful.”

Much like the efforts aimed at HBCUs, not all of the campaigns targeting Latinos are successful. In July, officials in the city of Memphis went to Puerto Rico to fill positions at the police department and other agencies and no one was hired, the Daily Memphian reported.

“It was a strategy used by some other cities – Louisville, Dallas, and Baltimore – to recruit bilingual employees,” city spokesperson Arlenia Cole said in a statement to USA TODAY. “However, it was not successful for us.”

The Prince George’s County Police Department in Maryland has had to put plans for a recruiting trip to Puerto Rico on hold, but in the meantime, the agency is making a "concerted effort" to reach out to the local community, according to spokesperson Brian Fischer.

“We try to reach out to our Hispanic residents in Spanish and on a vehicle like Telemundo and Univision,” Fischer said.

Nina Medina, president of the Latino Peace Officers Association, said the group is also working with local police agencies to spread the word about job openings to its members and mentor recruits through the process. Medina said it is important to not focus on one group of Latinos when thinking about the challenges of increasing diversity in the profession.

“We're not just talking about Mexican Americans. We're also talking about Puerto Ricans, people from Honduras, Guatemala,” said Medina, a retired detective from the San Diego Police Department. “We're talking about Latinos across the nation.”

Hundreds of agencies join initiative to recruit more women

More than 360 law enforcement agencies around the country have signed onto the 30x30 initiative , a campaign that aims to get police recruit classes to have 30% women by 2030, according to co-founder Maureen McGough. McGough, executive director of the Excellence in Policing and Public Safety Program at the University of South Carolina’s School of Law, said advocates aren’t simply telling departments to hire more women but to think more critically about the skills needed for fair and effective policing.

“If you do that, we're very confident, you'll see an increase in the representation of women in your ranks,” she said.

Effective changes in recruitment could include looking beyond criminal justice majors or military veterans and targeting nurses, psychologists and educators, rethinking when and how recruits are tested on certain physical fitness requirements and making marketing campaigns more accurately reflect the community service aspects of policing, McGough said.

“When I first started getting into this work in 2018, I heard the story about a law enforcement agency, they didn't have any aviation assets, they didn't even have a drone, but the commercial that they put out to get people to go work for them was a giant dude hanging out of a helicopter with guns strapped to his chest, right,” she said. “So that's reaching a very small subset of the population with a message that isn't accurate about what policing is and what it takes to do it well.”

One of the first 25 agencies to join the 30x30 initiative was the Mesa Police Department in Arizona. The department has built a recruitment team with several women, including Elisha Gibbs, who said she is working to do more outreach and education in the community to help potential female recruits better understand what police work entails.

That outreach includes targeted advertisements that help illustrate the department’s commitment to work/life balance, something she's heard women who have or want children are concerned about. While some departments have changed or eliminated certain physical requirements that presented a barrier to women, Gibbs said she’s focused on helping female recruits learn the proper technique to passing a test that once intimidated her: scaling a 6-foot wall.

Since 2020, the number of female officers in the department has risen from 90 to 113. Though the increase is small, Gibbs said the new approach has helped.

“Getting them in on ride-a-longs, if they apply and they’re in the process, bringing them in and talking to them, showing them videos, putting it out on our social media or TikTok or Instagram the different jobs that you can have throughout the profession has been a really big help or push to break past those barriers,” she said.

McGough acknowledged that there’s more work to be done to reach the thousands of law enforcement agencies in the U.S. To make the biggest impact, she said her organization is trying to target state-level agencies and ensure their work is intentionally intersectional, despite a “frustrating lack” of research on how the experiences of female law enforcement officers of different ethnic and racial groups differ.

“We've got to make sure that we stay committed to that intersectional analysis because we know that women aren't a homogenous group and we want to make sure everybody's unique needs are met and everyone's unique value is understood and celebrated,” she said.

Contributing: Bart Jansen

Texas medical panel won't provide list of exceptions to state's abortion ban

DALLAS -- A Texas medical panel on Friday rebuffed calls to list specific exceptions to one of the most restrictive abortions bans in the U.S., which physicians say is dangerously unclear and has forced women with serious pregnancy complications to leave the state.

The head of the Texas Medical Board also said that wider issues surrounding the law - such as the lack of exceptions in cases of rape or incest - were beyond the authority of the 16-member panel, twelve of whom are men. Only one member of the board is an obstetrician and gynecologist.

"We can only do so much," said Dr. Sherif Zaafran, the board's president.

SEE ALSO | US abortions reach highest level in over a decade, sparked by surge in medication abortion

The public meeting dealt new discouragement and anger to opponents who have urged courts and Texas lawmakers for nearly two years to clarify exceptions to the state's ban. In December, Kate Cox, a mother of two from Dallas, sued the state for the right to obtain an abortion after her fetus developed a fatal condition and she made multiple trips to an emergency room.

Cox wound up leaving the state for an abortion before the Texas Supreme Court, whose nine justices are all elected Republicans, ruled that she had not shown her life was in danger. The court, however, called on the state medical board to offer more guidance.

Zaafran said that that while the board has some discretion as far as helping to define what the law says they don't have discretion in rewriting it, which would be up the Legislature. He and other members of the board were appointed by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, who signed the ban in 2021.

The board's proposed guidelines on exceptions to Texas' ban on abortion from the moment of fertilization, issued Friday, advise doctors to meticulously document their decision-making when determining if continuing a woman's pregnancy would threaten her life or impair a major bodily function, but otherwise provide few specifics.

READ MORE | Kamala Harris becomes first president or VP to visit abortion provider with Planned Parenthood visit

While anti-abortion advocates praised language leaving the question of whether or not to perform an abortion at a reliance on doctors' "reasonable medical judgment," some doctors, attorneys and women who have left the state for abortions said more needed to be done to shield doctors from prosecution for performing abortions under the medical exceptions.

"You've got people who are scared to death," said Steve Bresnen, an attorney who petitioned the board for guidance. "They are facing death and they are scared to death and we think you can do more than it seems that your proposed rule would do. In that sense, we're disappointed."

"Even though you don't feel like you can do something about criminal exposure, that's not right," he said.

A doctor convicted of providing an illegal abortion in Texas can face up to 99 years in prison, a $100,000 fine and lose their medical license.

SEE ALSO | CVS, Walgreens will start dispensing abortion pill mifepristone in several states, including IL

Zaafran said the board decided against listing specific medical conditions that might apply because there would be too much nuance depending on each case.

"You can have two conditions but two very different circumstances, including where it may have happened. Was it an area where you could not transfer the mother to an area of higher level of care?" he said. Advancements in medicine also could change the effect of certain conditions, he added.

Rebecca Weaver, the legislative director at Texas Right to Life, the state's largest anti-abortion group, expressed satisfaction that the guidelines aren't "weakening the strength of our laws," and that the board chose "not to list out circumstances but defer to reasonable medical judgment."

"Texas' pro-life laws clearly permit physicians to intervene when a pregnant woman's life or major bodily function is in jeopardy because of her pregnancy," she said.

A period now opens for the public to comment on the board's proposed guidelines.

After the U.S. Supreme Court end abortion rights in June 2022, vaguely worded bans in some Republican-controlled states have caused confusion over how exceptions should be applied.

READ MORE | ABC News' 'On the Brink' covers harrowing stories of pregnant women in states with abortion bans

The video in the player above is from a previous report.

US abortions reach highest level in over a decade

Medical Board to consider issuing guidance on abortion laws' exception

TX parental consent law for teen birth control can stand, court says

TX prosecutor fined for allowing murder charges on woman over abortion

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190 Unique Law Research Topics for Students to Consider
Law Research Paper Topic Selection Tips. If you want to write a law research paper, then a good law research topic is what you need. Basically, the law is a complex subject, and hence choosing the right research topic from them is challenging. While selecting the legal research topic, be sure to keep the following tips in mind.
Home
As you explore possible topics, beyond searching through current sources, it's important to explore the published literature on the topic. This is the stage where you are both refining your topic and beginning your research. There are many sources to find law journal articles. Below are some of the main collections of legal literature and good ...
50 Research Topics For Law Students In August 2022: Read Now!
Our team has meticulously prepared a list of 50 top contemporary topics for research in August 2022 across a number of legal subjects . Happy Researching! Military law. 1. Military Law v. Martial Law: A Comparative Study. 2. Authorities under Military Law in India. 3.
Legal Research Strategy
American Law Reports (ALR) contains in-depth articles on narrow topics of the law. ALR articles, are often called annotations. They provide background, analysis, and citations to relevant cases, statutes, articles, and other annotations. ALR annotations are invaluable tools to quickly find primary law on narrow legal questions.
Law Dissertation Topics and Titles
Some suggestions for company law dissertation topics are listed below: Developing equity markets in growing economies and the importance of corporate law. A critical review of English company law and its effects on member workers and creditors. To investigate the essential aspects of corporate law.
Step 1: Selecting a Topic
To Narrow Down Your Topic, Look for Conflict. Here is some useful advice from the book Modern Legal Scholarship (p.5): "As you explore potential topics, keep in mind that some of the best topics for a scholarly piece investigate conflict—where the rule of law, a policy, a rule, or a right goes too far; where it does not go far enough; or where it clashes with another law, policy, rule, or right.
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The purpose of this guide is to assist students who are writing a legal research paper and need help selecting a topic and developing a thesis. Selecting an appropriate topic and developing a well-articulated thesis can be one of the most challenging aspects of writing a research paper. In making your selection, find a topic that is:
How to Do Research in International Law? A Basic Guide for Beginners
Research in international law and domestic law are similar in their basic requirements: 1) you need a research question, 2) you need to understand the problem you are approaching (both in terms of the legal doctrine and its underlying theory), 3) you need a method to answer your question. and 4) you need to rely on primary and secondary sources.
Choosing a Scholarly Paper Topic
Heather Meeker, Stalking the Golden Topic: A Guide to Locating and Selecting Topics for Legal Research Papers, 1996 Utah Law Review 917 (1996) To be published, a paper must be relevant, meaning the overall topic is important enough to have warranted some discussion. But a paper must also add novel information to its field.
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In this article, Team YLCC brings you the Top 50 Legal Research topics for law students in November 2022. Happy researching! 1. Classification of companies: A Comparative study. 2. Pre-requisites of formation of a company: A Study. 3. A Study of Doctrine of lifting of Corporate Veil.
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Law Library Catalogue - e-books & print materials. Use introductory texts to begin your research. These will help you structure your research and point to key issues that may be appropriate for a research topic. 1. To find print and e-books, search the Library catalogue for your topic in the keyword field e.g. international humanitarian law.
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Specialized Research Topics in Law; Search all guides. Specialized Research Topics in Law. Browse our best resources, organized by subject. Toggle navigation. 182 Select a Subject.
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The law dissertation topics below were written by our expert writers, as a learning aid to help you with your studies. If you are looking for help with your law dissertation topic then we offer a comprehensive writing service provided by fully qualified academics in your field of study. Law Dissertation Topic and Titles Service.
Topic Selection
At the same time, it bears emphasis that there is no such thing as a "perfect" Note topic. It is equally, if not more, important that you choose a topic that is discrete and narrow enough to be handled well within the confines of a Note. The real value in writing Note is the experience you gain in constructing a methodologically sound legal ...
Finding a Research Topic
A good starting point may be to view the Resources for Finding a Research Topic below: Your instructor, course readings, class notes, Wikipedia, and Google can all be helpful in terms of getting ideas for broad topics. The Research Guide for a law created by the law librarian is great for helping you choose where to begin your research. These ...
30 Inspiring Criminal Law Research Topics for Law Students
15 Criminal Law Research Topics - UK. 1. ... If possible, have a classmate or a mentor review your paper. They can provide valuable feedback and catch errors you might have missed. Remember, writing a research paper is not just an academic exercise; it's a craft. It's about distilling complex information into understandable insights.
International Law Research Paper Topics
This comprehensive list presents 10 categories, each comprising 10 diverse and thought-provoking international law research paper topics. Whether you are interested in human rights, environmental protection, trade regulations, or armed conflicts, these topics offer a wealth of opportunities for academic exploration and intellectual growth.
Family Law Research Paper Topics
This page explores family law research paper topics, designed to assist law students in their academic pursuits. It provides a comprehensive list of topics divided into 10 categories, each containing 10 subject ideas, along with an insightful article on family law and its research paper possibilities. Additionally, readers will find guidance on ...
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Tort Law Dissertation Topics Ideas. Reform of the cohabitation laws is long needed. The law for ending a relationship is unclear, outdated, and unjust. Discuss. A critical evaluation of policy and predictability's role in establishing a duty of care. A critique of the laws governing the recovery of financial losses in tort claims.
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Contract Law. Some research topics for law students in India in 2023 related to contract law are. The legal and ethical implications of force majeure clauses in commercial contracts during the COVID-19 pandemic, with a focus on India's experience. (Source: Ministry of Law and Justice)
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Family Law Dissertation Topics
Conclusion. Family law is a broad research area which includes a variety of issues, including family relations, divorce and separation, financial settlements, child adoption and contact, and Local Authority care orders. It is important to base your dissertation on a trending issue in any research area within the field of family law.
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190 Unique Law Research Topics for Students to Consider

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List of the Best Law Research Paper Topics

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Research Topics on Family Law

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Research Ideas on Environmental Law

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International Law Research Paper Topics

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A Few More Medical Law Research Ideas

Trending Law Research Topics

Wrapping Up

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Scholarly Research for Law Students

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How to Do Research in International Law? A Basic Guide for Beginners

By: Eliav Lieblich *

Introduction

I. Research Questions

B. A Note about Theory and Methods

C. Framing and Finding Your Research Question

II. Secondary and Primary Sources in International Legal Research

B. The Intricacies of Secondary Sources of International Law: Managing Hegemony and Information Overload

C. Primary Research Sources of International Law: What are They and Where to Find Them

1. Curated Collections of Important Primary Sources

2. Treaties and Treaty Bodies

3. Judicial Decisions

4. United Nations Documents

5. Practice and Statements

III. Conclusion

Legal Writing

Choosing A Topic: An Introduction

Top 50 Legal Research Topics For Law Students in November 2022

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