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  2. Research Guides

1L Legal Research - 2022-2023

Introduction

One important research task in transactional, but also other types of legal work, is locating information on a company.  It may be useful to gather competitive intelligence about a company, determine conflicts of interest before taking on a new client, or to review company financials before determining the best legal course of action or solicit a new client.  There are several ways to research this information; however, it is important to remember that information on sole proprietorships and partnerships can be difficult to find.  If a company is not public, its required disclosures will be limited, so you may struggle to locate company information absent voluntary disclosure or other compelled disclosure (ex. in litigation).

Federal Securities Resources

A research task you may encounter in practice is locating securities filings. The most cost-effective source for a company’s current filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is the company’s website. The next-best free option is the SEC’s EDGAR database (Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis and Retrieval) available from the SEC’s website.
 
Public companies will have a unique identifier called a ticker symbol that contains 3 or 4 letters.  Finding a company’s ticker symbol will make finding documents easier.  A company’s ticker symbol can usually be found on the company’s website.

Federal securities filings to know:

• 10-K: This is the annual report that most reporting companies file with the Commission. It provides a comprehensive overview of the registrant's business. The report must be filed within 90 days after the end of the company's fiscal year. It contains the company’s audited financials.
• 10-Q: The Form 10-Q is a report filed quarterly by most reporting companies. It includes unaudited financial statements and provides a continuing view of the company's financial position during the year. The report must be filed for each of the first three fiscal quarters of the company's fiscal year and is due within 45 days of the close of the quarter.
• 8-K: This is the "current report" that is used to report the occurrence of any material events or corporate changes which are of importance to investors or security holders and previously have not been reported by the registrant. It provides more current information on certain specified events than would Forms 10-Q or 10-K.
 
  • If you see a report that ends with a /A, that indicates that the form has been amended from an earlier submission.
  • It is also important to look at the exhibits attached to filings, notably the 10-K. The exhibits can include material documents relating to the company, including employment and non-competition agreements.
Bloomberg Law’s Securities Practice Center also includes access to the SEC’s Edgar database information.

Financial Statements

In order to get a better understand of a company’s financial condition, it may be necessary to review its financial statements.

Types of Financial Documents

  • Balance Sheet- shows what a company owns and what it owes
  • Income Statement- show how much money a company made and spent over a period of time
  • Statement of Shareholder’s Equity- shows the actual net worth of the company
  • Cash Flow Statement- show a company’s inflows and outflows of cash

How to Find

  • Company Websites
  • Dun & Bradstreet (Access is available electronically through Hoovers, an online database maintained by the Jean and Alexander Heard Libraries.)
  • Securities and Exchange Commission Website