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The Center on Lawyers, Civil Justice, and the Media

Cover of Texas Law Review Volume 80 Number 7

Project 1: Conference on the Impact of Civil Justice on the U.S.

In 2002, the Center on Lawyers, Civil Justice, and the Media organized a conference entitled "What We Know and Do Not Know about the Impact of Civil Justice on the American Economy and Polity." Leading empirical researchers from across the country attended the conference and presented papers on a variety of subjects, including law and economic growth, the empirical predicates for successful securities markets, medical malpractice, consumer bankruptcies, attorneys' fees, and litigation costs. The articles were later published in a symposium issue of the Texas Law Review.

The participants were:

  • Richard L. Abel, UCLA School of Law — Judges Write the Darndest Things: Judicial Mystification of Limitations on Tort Liability
  • Lynn Baker, University of Texas School of Law — Commentary: Facts About Fees: Lessons for Legal Ethics
  • Lynn E. Blais, University of Texas School of Law — Commentary: Counting Costs and Calculating Benefits
  • Stephen J. Choi, UC Berkeley, Boalt Hall School of Law — Law, Finance, and Path Dependence: Developing Strong Securities Markets
  • John C. Coffee, Jr., Columbia University Law School — Commentary: Law and Regulatory Competition: Can They Co-Exist?
  • Robert Cooter, UC Berkeley, Boalt Hall School of Law — Commentary: "Can Lawyers Say Anything About Economic Growth?"
  • Frank B. Cross, University of Texas School of Law — Law and Economic Growth
  • Stephen Daniels and Joanne Martin, American Bar Foundation, Chicago, IL — It Was the Best of Times, It Was the Worst of Times: The Precarious Nature of Plaintiffs' Practice in Texas
  • Theodore Eisenberg and Martin T. Wells, Cornell Law School — Trial Outcomes and Demographics: Is There a Bronx Effect?
  • Deborah R. Hensler, Stanford Law School — As Time Goes By: Asbestos Litigation After Amchem and Ortiz
  • David A. Hyman, University of Maryland School of Law — Commentary: Medical Malpractice and the Tort System: What Do We Know and What (If Anything) Should We Do About It?
  • Samuel Issacharoff, Columbia Law School — Commentary: "Shocked": Mass Torts and Aggregate Asbestos Litigation After Amchem and Ortiz
  • Herbert M. Kritzer, University of Wisconsin-Madison — Lawyer Fees and Lawyer Behavior in Litigation: What Does the Empirical Literature Really Say?
  • Lynn M. LoPucki, UCLA Law School — Commentary: The Politics of Research Access to Federal Court Data
  • Thomas O. McGarity, University of Texas School of Law and Ruth Ruttenberg, Ruth Ruttenberg & Associates, Inc, and Senior Staff Associate, George Meany Center for Labor Studies, National Labor College — Counting the cost of Health, Safety, and Environmental Regulation
  • Michelle M. Mello and Troyen A. Brennan, Harvard School of Public Health — Deterrence of Medical Errors: Theory and Evidence for Malpractice Reform
  • Geoffrey P. Miller, New York University Law School — Commentary: On the Costs of Civil Justice
  • Mary R. Rose, American Bar Foundation and Neil Vidmar, Duke University Law School — Commentary: The Bronx "Bronx Jury": A Profile of Civil Jury Awards in New York Counties
  • Michael J. Saks, Arizona State University Law School — Commentary: Trial Outcomes and Demographics: Easy Assumptions Versus Hard Evidence
  • Ted Schneyer, University of Arizona Law School — Commentary: Empirical Research with a Policy Payoff: Market Dynamics for Lawyers Who Represent Plaintiffs for a Contingent Fee
  • Charles Silver, University of Texas School of Law — Does Civil Justice Cost Too Much?
  • Wendy E. Wagner, University of Texas School of Law — Commentary: What's It All About, Cardozo?
  • Jay Lawrence Westbrook, University of Texas School of Law — Empirical Research in Consumer Bankruptcy

A limited number of copies of the symposium issue are available from the Center for $15.00 each. To order, contact Sylvia Ramirez at (512) 471-3352 or write:

Center on Lawyers, Civil Justice, and the Media
University of Texas School of Law
727 E. Dean Keeton St., Austin, TX 78705

Major funding for the conference was provided by Bendinger, Crockett, Peterson & Casey, P.C.; the Law Offices of Fred Misko, Jr.; the Roscoe Pound Institute; the Texas Bar Foundation; the Texas Medical Liability Trust; the University of Texas School of Law; and the Will E. Orgain Endowment. Smaller amounts were received via the Texas Law Review from Baker Botts; Baron & Budd; Carrington, Coleman, Sloman & Blumenthal; Carrin Patman; Fulbright & Jaworski; Gardere, Wynne & Sewell; Graves, Dougherty, Hearon & Moody; Haynes & Boone; Jenkens & Gilchrist; Kelly, Hart & Hallman; Susman Godfrey; Vinson & Elkins; and Weil, Gotshal & Manges.

The conference was co-sponsored by the Texas Center for Legal Ethics and Professionalism.