What is the ELS blog?:
The ELS blog is a collaborative project founded by Professor Jason Czarnezki of the Vermont Law School, Professors Michael Heise and Theodore Eisenberg of the Cornell Law School, and William Ford of the John Marshall Law School. Jason's research can be accessed on his SSRN Author Page. Michael and Ted are editors of the Journal of Empirical Legal Studies. Michael's research, which can also be accessed via SSRN, focuses on bridging empirical methodologies and legal theory. Ted is one of the foremost authorities on the use of empirical analysis in legal scholarship, and his research (available on SSRN) has used innovative statistical methodology to shed light on such diverse subjects as punitive damages, victim impact evidence, capital juries, bias for and against litigants, and chances of success on appeal. Bill is a Ph.D. Candidate in Political Science, and his research focuses on judicial decision-making, public opinion, and intellectual property. Sara Benesh, a political scientist at Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Bill Henderson, a law professor at Indiana,Frank Cross of the University of Texas, Carolyn Shapiro of the Chicago-Kent College of Law, David Stras of the University of Minnesota Law School, and Christopher Zorn are the newest members of the ELS Blog.
Why an ELS blog?:
We hope that the ELS blog will advance productive and interdisciplinary discourse among empirical legal scholars. We believe that this blog will be an especially worthwhile addition to legal and academic discourse at this time due to the recent creation of the Journal of Empirical Legal Studies, and Conference on Empirical Legal Studies, the emergence of empirical scholarship in the legal academy as evidenced by the 2006 American Association of Law Schools' Annual Meeting topic and empirical scholarship law school rankings, and the mainstream acceptance of web logs as successful means to convey current information of interest to the legal academy. The ELS blog serves as an online forum to discuss and provide links for emerging empirical legal scholarship, provide conference updates, discuss empirical claims that have emerged in public and political discourse, facilitate discussion for guest empirical scholars and assess current empirical findings and methodologies.