Scholarship@WashULaw

Document Type

Article

Language

English (en)

Publication Date

2015

Publication Title

Buffalo Law Review

Abstract

The empirical legal studies movement, or ELS, is positioned to provide an important scholarly impact. As noted ELS scholar Theodore Eisenberg once put it, “[a]cross a broad range of legal issues, empirical studies can inform policymakers and the public. Legally trained social scientists have unique opportunities to enhance description and understanding of the legal system.” By all accounts, this influence is well underway. ELS scholarship has been present in law schools since at least the 1920s and is on the rise in recent years, with important empirical insights gained into legal subjects such as error rates in capital punishment convictions, civil trial declining rates, the influence of a judge’s sex on individual and collegial decision making, and the influence of the Solicitor General on the Supreme Court’s decision making, just to name a few. These types of projects all have at least one thing in common: their systematic, empirical nature permits them to draw conclusions about legal phenomena in a way that extends well beyond individual court decisions, personal biases, and anecdotes.

Keywords

Empirical Legal Studies, Legal Scholarship, Statistical Methods, Judicial Behavior, Legal Theory, Case Coding, Inference

Publication Citation

Christina L. Boyd, In Defense of Empirical Legal Studies, 63 Buff. L. Rev. 363 (2015)

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