Even the most diligent researcher, armed with the latest technology, will not arrive at a successful result if he or she approaches legal research as a mechanical process devoid of analysis. Thus, legal research is really just a portion of legal problem-solving. Our courts have set the standards they expect of counsel appearing before them. It means cases which decide the same point of law. You may think you can justify not referring to a binding decision because it is distinguishable on its facts.
Ignorance is no excuse.
The duty to the court does not go as far as the duty to one's client to be persuasive, which often requires counsel to produce authorities outside the hierarchy of British Columbia. Counsel are not expected to search out unreported cases, although if counsel knows of an unreported case on point, he must bring it to the court's attention. This ruling on unreported cases is in the context of counsel's duty to the court. The duty to one's client to be persuasive arguably goes beyond this and requires counsel to include these cases within her research. Given the coverage of recent unreported cases in the Abridgment Canadian Case Digests and the BC Decisions series, and their ready availability in full text on QL and on the Internet, counsel has an obligation to her client to review this body of law.