Plaintiff’s lawyers don’t really do legal research, do they?
Only the plaintiff’s lawyers who want to win.
If you don’t know the law it is difficult to make intelligent case selection decisions. There is nothing wrong with pushing the envelope, but you need to know you are pushing the envelope when you accept the case so that you can make an informed decision that you are taking a case that has appropriate facts that increase the likelihood that you will push the envelope and live to tell about it.
In addition, it is difficult to marshall your evidence without knowing what it is you have to prove to prevail.
Here is an interesting article about computerized legal research. I intend to try it on my next project. Whyu don’t you give it a try and let me know how it works for you?