Litigation Realities

Abstract

After both presenting new data and also summarizing recent empirical work on each of the six phases of a civil lawsuit (forum, pretrial, settlement, trial, judgment, and appeal), the authors draw a series of lessons for understanding and using empirical methods in the study of the legal system's operation. In so doing, they generate implications for current and projected policy debates concerning litigation, while identifying areas that demand further empirical work.

Keywords: litigation, courts, empirical studies, trials, juries

JEL Classification: K0, K1, K4