Get Help

If you are setting out to do legal research, you may want to consider doing the following.

Consider Hiring a Lawyer

Lawyers are trained to do difficult legal research. For information and tips on hiring a lawyer, see Hiring a Lawyer.

Visit a Law Library

There are a number of law libraries throughout the province. These are libraries that specialize in making legal resources available. They have textbooks, books of cases, statutes, and access to helpful online resources.

Further, law libraries employ law librarians, who are specially trained to help with legal research. While law libraries may be lawyers, they are often not, and in any event they cannot give you legal advice. However, they can help you find the resources that are going to be helpful.

Courthouse Libraries

There are libraries at the various BC Supreme Court locations throughout the province. You can learn more about the Courthouse Libraries BC at their website. In addition, their website has some resources you can access from your computer.

A list of the courthouse library locations can be found here.

The main locations are in Vancouver and Victoria, and these are large libraries with full collections. However, many of the key resources are available at other courthouse libraries, and any location can order books from other locations.

Courthouse Libraries BC maintain a very useful website that provides information about legal issues, which can be found at the Clicklaw website.

Law School Libraries

Another useful resource are law school libraries. There are three main law school libraries in the province.

UBC Law Library: The University of British Columbia has an extensive law library that is open to the public. The library has law librarians available to assist in your research. Their website also offers some tips on effective legal research. The library is located at the main UBC campus in Vancouver, at 1822 East Mall.

University of Victoria Law Library: Similarly, the University of Victoria has an extensive law library which is open to the public. The library has law librarians available to assist in your research. The library is located at the University of Victoria campus, on McGill Rd.

Thompson River University Law Library: Billed as Canada’s newest law library, Thompson River University has an excellent collection of resources for research. The library has law librarians available to assist in your research. The library is located at Thompson River University’s campus in Kamloops, at 805 TRU Way.