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Full-Text Articles in Law
Simplified Courts Can't Solve Inequality, Colleen F. Shanahan, Anna E. Carpenter
Simplified Courts Can't Solve Inequality, Colleen F. Shanahan, Anna E. Carpenter
Faculty Scholarship
State civil courts struggle to handle the volume of cases before them. Litigants in these courts, most of whom are unrepresented, struggle to navigate the courts to solve their problems. This access-to-justice crisis has led to a range of reform efforts and solutions. One type of reform, court simplification, strives to reduce the complexity of procedures and information used by courts to help unrepresented litigants navigate the judicial system. These reforms mitigate but do not solve the symptoms of the larger underlying problem: state civil courts are struggling because they have been stuck with legal cases that arise from the …
American Trial Films And The Popular Culture Of Law, Jessica Silbey
American Trial Films And The Popular Culture Of Law, Jessica Silbey
Faculty Scholarship
The American trial and American cinema share certain epistemological tendencies. Both stake claims to an authoritative form of knowledge based on the indubitable quality of observable phenomena. And both are preoccupied with sustaining the authority that underlies the knowledge produced by visual perception. The American trial and cinematic form also increasingly share cultural space. Although the trial film (otherwise known as the courtroom drama) is as old as the medium of film, the continuing popularity of the legal drama centered on a courtroom verdict suggests more than a trend. The inherent affinities between law and film not only produce enduring …