Fight ‘Em ‘Til We Can’t

One thing that’s great about doing legal research in Montana is that, unlike the SCOTUS where opinions can weigh in above 60 pages or more, the Montana Supreme Court frequently produces decisions in the 5-10 page range, and rarely, if ever do they go more than 20 pages. This may reduce the amount of favorable (or unfavorable, as the case may be) dicta we get, but it does make the research go a bit faster.

Another virtue of researching Montana criminal law is the simple lack of cases on any given topic. I’m still getting used to being able to search the Montana state criminal law section of Lexis and ending up with 8-10 results for any given search, rather than the hundreds or thousands you might find in federal law or another state. This obviously means that many questions remain unanswered in Montana, which, in turn, provides more opportunities for making new law. It also makes legal research faster, which, again, is not a bad thing — especially when it’s something you’re squeezing in on a Sunday!