Making Law and Courts Research Relevant

"The increasingly challenging public environment for social scientific research often compels scholars to draw policy and normative conclusions from their work. Doing so thoughtfully and carefully, however, is its own challenge. Bartels and Bonneau have assembled a veritable "who's who" in political science, law, and other fields to tackle this challenge head-on. The series of essays that make up this valuable collection offer both explicit advice and valuable examples for engaging with broader audiences. It should be required reading for scholars (new and old) who are grappling with the prescriptive aspects of their empirical work, and how best to connect with those outside the academy. "—Christopher Zorn, Pennsylvania State University

"Through systematic research, scholars have amassed a great deal of insight into the operations, decision-making, and consequences of the judicial system. Ironically, there is relatively little conversation between the researchers, who study the courts, and the policy makers, who manage them. Why? Bartels and Bonneau have assembled an impressive cast of political scientists and legal scholars to address this question --- and to offer some possible solutions. Both academics and governmental officials will benefit from reading this highly original and important book."—Kevin McGuire, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

"Crisis can be opportunity. Recent efforts to cut funding for social science research provides the stimulus for this fresh and important examination of the growing gap between the supposedly value-neutral research on law and courts produced by the social sciences and the deeply normative and prescriptive analysis of the legal academy. Each badly needs to learn from the other. This volume demonstrates this divide is broad and deep – but it also provides more than a few steps on the long and much needed road to rigor and relevance."—Gordon Silverstein, Assistant Dean, Yale Law School