Confidentiality, Transparency, and the U.S. Civil Justice System

"This superb book on the American judicial system takes a persuasive new approach to reform. Its arguments are carefully grounded in extensive rigorous empirical data. The book escapes the often shallow ideological argumentation about judicial outcomes to provide a more sophisticated and accurate depiction of the system. While typical analysis examines only the tip, this book evaluates the entire iceberg. I commend it to anyone who wants to truly know how the American litigation system works and how it might be improved." Frank Cross, Herbert D. Kelleher Centennial Professor of Business Law and Professor of Law, University of Texas at Austin School of Law

"As these collected essays make clear, the persistent `vanishingtrial' in the United States is a product of more than the absolute and relative decline in the use of completed trials to resolve civil litigation. The growing use of confidentiality agreements further dilutes public access to dispute resolutions. This important book contributes much to the on-going policy debates that engage with the competing costs and benefits to the civil justice system posed by the demands of transparency. Benehtting from an array of methodological approaches, these essays will likely influence policymakers as well as efforts to improve our civil justice system." Michael Heise. Professor of Law, Cornell Law School

"This important book explores perhaps the greatest contemporary challenge to the American civil justice system: lack of outward transparency. The essays within contain novel and important insights about how the established trend towards greater opacity affects our civil justice system, dangers that this trend represents, and constrictive reform proposals to address it. The collection deserves a prominent place on the bookshelves of students, researchers, policy makers, and engaged members of the general public." Eric Tallev. Rosalinde a nd Arthur Gilbert Professor of Law and Director of the Berkeley Center for Law, Business, and the Economy, University of California, Berkeley, School of Law

Joseph W. Doherty is the Director of the Empirical Research Group (ERG) at the UCLA School of Law and the co-Director of the UCLA-RAND Center for Law and Public Policy. He teaches Empirical Legal Studies at UCLA Law. He has co-authored research on bankruptcy with Lynn LoPucki, on the living wage with Richard Sander, on negotiation strategy with Russell Korobkin, on international criminal law with Mi??ximo Langer and Richard Steinberg, on employment discrimination with Gary Blasi, and on administrative law with Jody Freeman. Prof. Doherty has also published articles on voting behaviour and campaign finance. He has a Ph.D. in political science from UCLA.

Robert Reville is a Senior Economist at RAND whose research focuses on insurance and compensation for accidents and injuries. From 2002 to 2008, he served as director of the RAND Institute for Civil Justice (ICJ). During his tenure as director, ICJ started new research streams on corporate ethics and governance and on entrepreneurship. In addition, Dr. Reville founded and co-directed the RAND Center for Terrorism Risk Management Policy, and research from this center was acknowledged as critical in the Congressional decision to renew the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act in 2005 and 2007. He has led a series of studies at RAND on workplace injury compensation policy and the impact of disability on employment, and several recommendations from his work were adopted in reform legislation in California in 2004. He served on the Board of Scientific Counselors of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention until 2009. He received his Ph.D. in Economics from Brown University.

Laura Zakaras is a senior Communications Analyst at RAND and director of the RAND Research Communications Group, which consists of communications specialists who work with multidisciplinary research teams to help them communicate effectively with policymakers. As the Communications Director for RAND's Law, Business, and Regulation division, she has contributed to the clarity and accessibility of many publications and developed dissemination strategies for reaching diverse audiences. Before coming to RAND, she taught writing and literature at a number of universities in the United States and Europe, including the University of Texas at Austin; the University of Maryland, European Division; and Wurzburg University in Germany. She holds a Ph.D. in English from the University of Washington.