What is Empirical Legal Studies?
Empirical legal studies are the use of empirical research methods to identify and address legal and public policy issues. Empirical research requires the systematic analysis of observed data. These studies have proliferated in recent years throughout the legal field, from law schools to law and policy organizations. Law reviews and other academic research outlets are increasingly accepting empirical projects. These studies are instrumental in providing concrete evidence of the real-world implications of legal and public policy initiatives. They also help establish a body of rigorous legal academic research, that includes the use of sophisticated tools, which has long been a missing piece of legal scholarship. Most legal scholars rely on a more traditional method of legal analysis by interpreting legal principles , the courts decisions, statutes, and public policy issues. Although this method is standard, it does not allow for examining the true real-world effects of these decisions. The lack of empirical study in the majority of legal analysis, makes such articles much more reliant on the conclusions presented rather than scientific analysis. For example, most articles will highlight the important policy concerns and reasons for certain decisions or passages of the law. However, the empirical studies conducted subsequently, have identified that the predicted concerns did not come to pass. Thus, empirical legal studies are necessary to build a body of empirical legal analysis that allows those in the legal field to integrate these considerations into their analysis.
Objectives of the Conference on Empirical Legal Studies
As empirical legal studies continue to gain in popularity and importance, the emphasis on related scholarship on matters of both substance and method is timely. The purpose of this Conference is to bring together legal professionals with an interest in the use of empirical methodology in their teaching and scholarship for the sharing of experiences, methods and results. The Conference seeks to be particularly beneficial to junior scholars. The Conference is inclusive with respect to topics, methodology, and academic discipline, and foster participation by those in law teaching or other positions with substantial teaching responsibility, as well as students, practitioners, and others interested in empirical legal studies. The Conference will emphasize the teaching aspects of empirical legal studies, but will also provide practical insights from the scholarly work of legal scholars, economists, sociologists, psychologists, and other academics, and from the experience of practitioners who employ empirical methods.
Key Themes and Subjects Discussed
The Sixth Annual Conference on Empirical Legal Studies will continue its tradition of a robust line-up of the top social and legal scholars. It will feature 30 presentations by leading and up-and-coming researchers from the United States and beyond. These presentations will continue, as in years past, to tackle an impressive array of legal issues, such as whether people are better off in homogenous or more mixed communities, whether there are supportable chronological standards for admissibility of expert witness testimony and whether there are identifiable "at-risk" crime hot spots. The conference will showcase presentations on legal issues such as judicial decision-making and the effects of language, race, and gender. Other presentations will examine how crime, insurance, education and health topics interface with the law. The notable reputation of The Conference on Empirical Legal Studies has been a major attraction for scholars. For example, the University of Alabama School of Law and legal scholars across the nation welcomed the return to Tuscaloosa of the Conference on Empirical Legal Studies (CES) in October 2010. About 200 scholars from across the country came to the conference to share their research in empirical legal studies. The 2009 conference featured two keynote speeches by prominent legal scholars: Richard Lempert, the Eric Stein Distinguished University Professor at University of Michigan Law School and Professor Lawrence M. Solum of the George Washington University Law School, who presented his work on the jurisprudential implications of digital technologies. More than 40 presentations by legal scholars and scientists of empirical legal studies from a variety of disciplines were made at the 2009 conference. Conference topics ranged from applying new technologies to analyze the relationship between religion and the law, such as the work of Michael Heise of Cornell University Law School and David Hyman of the George Washington University Law School, to innovative approaches to parental rights legislation aimed at reducing dependency caseloads, discussed by Theresa Glennon of St. Johns University Law School and co-authors Susan Gluck Mezey of Chicago-Kent School of Law and Patricia Logue and Peter Salins of Children’s Aid Society. Previous conferences also featured discussions by members of the University of Minnesota Law School faculty on statute of limitations proposals, patent litigation, labor law, whistleblower cases, federal-state law enforcement relationships and sentencing guidelines.
Networking and Collaboration Possibilities
Networking and collaboration opportunities abound at the Conference on Empirical Legal Studies. The long lunch breaks provide a relaxed setting for key academics, practitioners, and students, to mingle, make new acquaintances, and refer opportunities to each other. Relationships are strengthened during the multiple receptions and dinners where comparison notes are exchanged after daily symposium sessions. During these meals, insightful off-the-record stories are often shared with a large group and later become a basis for the development of new collaborative opportunities.
Examples of past collaborations that benefited from conference exposure include, but are certainly not limited to: (1) Michael Heise (Cornell) who continues to collaborate with Ted Eisenberg (Cornell) regarding their 2010 study, "When a Watch Didn’t Stop a Train" published in the Stanford Law Review, who now cites to our research; (2) Professor Edward Cheng’s (Vanderbilt) work with Brian Tamanaha (St. John’s) assessing the empirical body of legal literature published in the Indiana Law Journal; (3) Professors David Abrams (Chicago), and Eric Talley (Columbia) collaborating on an amicus brief together with Professor Jim Durlester (Temple) for the U.S. Supreme Court in a case involving a contested zoning ordinance in Snyder v. Phelps; (4) Professors Roy Ginsberg (Wayne State) and Ronen Avraham (University of Texas) collaborating on a study involving class action settlements in state courts; (5) Professors David Chen (Temple) and J.J. Prescott (Michigan) collaborating on What Happens Under Pressure? A Direct Test of the Expert Norm Study; (6) Rachel Freivalds (Washington & Lee) who proposes to get students involved in a prior study assessing the efficacy of the recent sufficiency standard amendments (one of the ideas generated at last year’s Welcome Reception); and (7) Professors Ronen Avraham (University of Texas) , Ellen Podgor (Stetson), and Barbara Perry (Mike’s former colleague at Stetson) collaborating on joint empirical studies of ethical issues surrounding the defense of individuals indicted as part of the criminalization of financial activity.
In addition to collaborative opportunities with academics, the Conference has historically also presented networking to practitioners. Past attendees have included Greg Muirhead (Squire, Sanders & Dempsey) and Mary Rose Alexander (Sutherland Asbill & Brennan) who were hoping to do some additional fostering of evidence-based practice in their work with their corporate law firms. The 2009 Conference resulted in invitations from members of the business community to Mike Heller (Columbia) to speak on the economics of rent-seeking and anti-competitive conduct. Before ultimately leaving the practice of law, former conference attendee Scott Frederick (Howard) initiated a useful discussion with several academic researchers on how commercial litigators can capitalize on their fact-driven skills.
In addition, former Conference Chair and current Vice Chair Henry Butler (George Mason) has designated ELS as the focal point for his Everest Project that brings colleagues together who have a common research interest into a project where virtually all interaction is virtually via online access, with no costs.
Impact of the Conference on Legal Research
The Conference on Empirical Legal Studies has become a corner-stone in the field of legal studies. In the past few years, the empirical legal studies field has exploded, and unique research ideas have brought new insights into how legal theory impacts the real world on both a macro and micro level. Law faculties around the nation are seeing the impact of empirical legal studies as courses offering practical experience in the field are now being offered to students. To meet the demand for the field, conferences such as CELS continue to be successful in not only fostering new ideas, but also by generating new knowledge. The three day event is filled with opportunities to analyze the direction of the field, generate research hypotheses, and solidify collaborations with other scholars in the area. The conference lends itself well to intellectual development by providing an informal network of researchers, who then forge interpersonal connections over dinners, cocktail hours, and games of cornhole. The resulting relationships can prove extremely beneficial, as they allow researchers to develop research designs underpinned by statistical theory, and raise questions which drive the field forward. While the examples of the impact of CELS are endless, a few have been chronicled below. Collaborative papers have been born out of conversations had at CELS. Many of these papers are co-authored by scholars representing some of the most elite law schools and programs in the country. Papers co-authored by practitioners, sociologists, and private-sector scholars have found their ways into prestigious journals, adding to and shaping the development of the empirical legal studies field. When cited in academic literature, these papers are making their way into the minds and hearts of decision makers, making an impact on the law and society as a whole. Researchers who come to the Conference on Empirical Legal Studies walk away with new ideas, an expanded network, and tools to better their craft. Scholars have stated that the conference has served as a springboard to help develop their career. The conference provides a launching point for everyone who wishes to push forward in the world of empirical legal theory.
Future Directions in Empirical Legal Studies
Discussions regarding the potential future trends and areas for development in the fields of empirical legal studies typically take place under the umbrella of the conference. The conference, following its original formulation, engages speakers who provide updated information about pertinent topics ranging from basic to advanced levels. After featuring an initial series of presentations that introduce the novelties in the field, the committee to the conference also plans roundtable discussions where the invited speakers offer their perspectives on the potential future of the field and intellectual discussions are offered by all attendees.
Throughout the conference, attendees will increasingly see more technical discussions on issues emerging from the field during the conference presentations and the roundtable discussions .
Some of the potential future trends and areas for development include:
• New areas for empirical analysis by exploiting new areas of information technology
• New programs for teaching and using data analysis by law scholars or students
• New programs for attracting data analysis scholars or students into the study of law
• New centers for data analysis
• New experimental labs such as for behavioral law and economics
• New journals and new websites focusing on the dissemination of empirical work
• Additional professional interactions among law scholars interested in empirical law issues
• New roundtable discussions such as this one, resulting in a book on empirical legal studies
• New opportunities for cooperation between law scholars interested in empirical legal studies and other social scientists and behavioral scholars
At the conference, attendees should experience a continuously evolving enrichment of empirical insights and a convergence on empirical discussions among law scholars. It is assumed that this process will eventually affect the contributions made by law scholars interested in empirical legal studies, and that this will create new opportunities and a stronger framework for the study of law over the long term.