Empirical Legal Studies

Academic Blogs & Bloggers & Value-Adding

In something of a throw-away line in a recent post describing the birth of a new blog over at PrawfsBlawg Ethan Leib remarks: "... what academic bloggers can do well: actual commentary on scholarship".

What do others feel about Ethan's proposition?  The ELS Blog editors continuously re-think the core premises underneath this blog and how it can (I hope) continue to add value for readers.  Aside from perhaps a single handful of rare (and clearly warranted) departures this blog has steadfastly remained moored in all things germane to empirical legal scholarship, broadly defined.  (And in the interest of full disclosure, this is a position I advocated at this blog's inception and continue to support.)  However, other academic blogs--indeed, many other blogs, including some widely-read law blogs--conspicuously adopt a far wider stance and frequently delve into such areas as pop culture, personal narrative, political commentary, gossip, photography, etc.  To be clear, there is no "right" answer to my general query, only perspectives.

Who runs the ELS blog?

The ELS blog is a collaborative project produced by Professor Jason Czarnezki  of the Marquette University Law School, Professors Michael Heise and Theodore Eisenberg of the Cornell Law School, and William Ford, Bigelow Fellow and Lecturer in Law at the University of Chicago Law School.  Jason’s research uses empirical methodologies to assess the role of judicial selection, political ideology, and interpretive philosophy on judicial decision-making, as well as analyze the impact of institutional relationships on environmental and administrative law and regulatory policy.  Jason's research can be accessed on his SSRN Author Page.  Michael and Ted co-edit 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.

What is the ELS blog?

This first post is devoted to explaining why we started this web log.  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.