Empirical Legal Studies

New Book on Justice Thomas

Supreme Discomfort: The Divided Soul of Clarence Thomas
by Kevin Merida and Michael Fletcher (Doubleday 2007)

Availability: Amazon / B&N

Review: Kenji Yoshino in the Washington Post

Via Legal History Blog

Sources and Books for Empirical Research

As you may recall, Bill Henderson and I had a couple of posts expounding the virtues of the Sage monograph series on "Quantitative Applications in the Social Sciences" several weeks back.  It is a great starter series (though expensive for the whole thing) for anyone looking to enter empirical research with or without a quantitative background.  The library here at Minnesota has asked me to help build the collection of empirical and quantitative resource materials, and I am wondering whether anyone has any suggestions about "must have" books in the area?  I have already recommended that the library order a number of selections, including from the Sage Series, but I don't want to miss any important books in the field.  Your comments, as always, are most welcome.

New Contract Law Collection

Economics Of Contract Law
Edited by Douglas G. Baird (Edward Elgar 2007)

At $275.00 retail, this collection of previously published articles is not exactly priced for the individual book buyer, but check out the library's copy for Baird's introduction to the topic and his selection of greatest hits.

The publisher's listing is here. The table of contents is after the break.

More Thoughts on the Sage Series

I would like to first thank Jason and the rest of the ELS crew for inviting me as a guest blogger this week.   I hope to get my first substantive post up tomorrow about my thoughts on interdisciplinary legal scholarship, but I would first like to second Bill's observation about the quality and helpfulness of Sage's Quantitative Applications in the Social Sciences series.  For novice researchers trying to understand basic concepts relating to both linear and multivariate regression, I  recommend Larry Schroeder's Understanding Regression Analysis monograph.   For a slightly more advanced examination of regression, Michael Lewis Beck's Applied Regression monograph is also a wonderful resource.  A number of the other papers  deal with the nuances of descriptive statistics, such as Peter Chen's Correlation and Michael Lewis Beck's Data Analysis monographs. 

Although there are no doubt a number of useful resources for empirical researchers, I find the  offerings in the Sage series to be among the best and most diverse.  A researcher that has questions about confidence intervals, for example, can turn to a Sage monograph focused solely on that subject.  I have encouraged our librarians at the University of Minnesota to purchase a number of the offerings from Sage as I think they are an indispensable (and perhaps underutilized) tool for methodologically rigorous empirical scholarship.

Basic Math for Social Scientists

Thanks to feedback received from my earlier post on Survey Research, I purchased a few more books from the Sage Quantitative Applications in the Social Sciences series:  Arlene Fink, The Survey Kit (2002) and Graham Kalton, Introduction to Survey Sampling (1983).  These monographs are short and readable explanations for people interested in specific research methodologies or background theory.

While purchasing these books, I also bought another Sage monograph, Tim Hagle, Basic Math for Social Scientists: Concepts (1996), which arrived this morning.  As I have gotten deeper into empirical work, I really want to fully understand the math that is driving the Stata and SPSS regression models and diagnostic tools.

Fortunately, this little book by Hagle (who is a lawyer and a political scientist) turns out to be the book that I was one day hoping to find: a quick, nuts & bolts discussion of the important math concepts that underlie probability and multivariate regression:  algebra review of exponents and logarithms, limits and continuity, differential and integral calculus (which I have forgotten from college), matrix algebra, and eigenvalues and eigenvectors.  It also has a handy summary of math symbols and expressions. I am very happy with this purchase.

New Book - Mertz on Legal Education

The Language of Law School: Learning to "Think Like a Lawyer" by Elizabeth Mertz  (Oxford 2007)

Availability: Amazon/ B&N/ Oxford

From the description: "Anyone who has attended law school knows that it invokes an important intellectual transformation, frequently referred to as learning to think like a lawyer. This process, which forces students to think and talk in radically new and different ways about conflicts, is directed by professors in the course of their lectures and examinations, and conducted via spoken and written language. Beth Mertz's book is the first study to truly delve into that language to reveal the complexities of how this process takes place."

Review - Supreme Conflict

Jack Rakove reviews Jan Crawford Greenburg's Supreme Conflict in this morning's Chicago Tribune book section .

STATA Graphics

Query:  What are the best reference texts for basic STATA graphics?   Comments are open.

New Edition - The Supreme Court Data Book

Supreme Court Compendium: Data, Decisions, And Developments (4th edition)

by Jeffrey A.  Segal, Harold J.  Spaeth, Lee Epstein, and Thomas G. Walker (Congressional Quarterly Press 2006)

Availability: Amazon (soon) / CQ Press (now)

From the Description: "The Supreme Court Compendium is the only reference that presents historical and statistical information on every important aspect of the U.S. Supreme Court, including its history, development as an institution, the justices’ backgrounds, nominations, and confirmations, and the Court’s relationship with the public and other governmental and judicial bodies. The newest edition of this comprehensive reference includes important new perspective on the legacy of the Rehnquist court.... This new edition includes more than 180 tables and charts and is updated to cover Supreme Court events through the 2005-2006 term. This reference is an invaluable resource to judicial scholars, students, and those interested in the history of the Supreme Court."

New Book - Samples on Campaign Finance

The Fallacy of Campaign Finance Reform

by John Samples (University of Chicago Press 2006)

Availability: Amazon / B&N / U. of C. Press

From the Description: "At first glance, campaign finance reform looks like a good idea. McCain-Feingold, for instance, regulates campaigns by prohibiting national political parties from accepting soft money contributions from corporations, labor unions, and wealthy individuals. But are such measures, or any of the numerous and similarly restrictive proposals that have circulated through Washington in recent years, really good for our democracy? John Samples says no ...."