Law Commons^™

Life In The Law-Thick World: The Legal Resource Landscape For Ordinary Americans, Gillian K. Hadfield, Jamie Heine

Gillian K Hadfield

The Cost Of Law: Promoting Access To Justice Through The (Un)Corporate Practice Of Law, Gillian K. Hadfield

Gillian K Hadfield

The U.S. faces a mounting crisis in access to justice. Vast numbers of ordinary Americans represent themselves in routine legal matters daily in our over-burdened courts. Obtaining ex ante legal advice is effectively impossible for almost everyone except larger corporate entities, organizations and governments. In this paper, I explain why, as a matter of economic policy, it is essential that the legal profession abandon the prohibition on the corporate practice of law in order to remedy the access problem. The prohibitions on the corporate practice of law rule out the use of essential organizational and contracting tools widely used in …

Producing Law For Innovation, Gillian K. Hadfield

Gillian K Hadfield

In this chapter I first discuss why we need to think of legal infrastructure as economic infrastructure requiring focused economic policymaking, what is wrong with our existing legal infrastructure and why we need to change our modes of legal production. I then set out a vision of what greater reliance on market-based production of legal infrastructure could look like. Finally, I suggest some concrete steps that policymakers can take to move us toward a more open, competitive system of legal production. These include 1) opening up access to the provision of legal services, such as by establishing a federal licensing …

Producing Law For Innovation, Gillian K. Hadfield

Gillian K Hadfield

In this contribution to the forthcoming Rules for Growth prepared by the Kauffman Task Force on Law, Innovation and Growth, I first discuss why we need to think of legal infrastructure as economic infrastructure requiring focused economic policymaking, what is wrong with our existing legal infrastructure and why we need to change our modes of legal production. I then set out a vision of what greater reliance on market-based production of legal infrastructure could look like. Finally, I suggest some concrete steps that policymakers can take to move us toward a more open, competitive system of legal production. These include …

The Role Of International Law Firms And Multijural Legal Human Capital In The Harmonization Of Legal Regimes, Gillian K. Hadfield

Gillian K Hadfield

The problem of harmonizing legal rules across multiple overlapping legal orders is, in part, a problem of knowledge. If the public goal of harmonization is to promote value in transactions and dispute resolution, a legal regime needs institutions that facilitate the production of multijural human capital: expertise about how legal rules interact with each other and with the environment in which economic actors design transactions and dispute processing mechanisms. Because much of this expertise is embedded with the actors involved in transactions and disputes, the production of expertise has to be supported by adequate incentives for private actors to invest …

The Price Of Law: How The Market For Lawyers Distorts The Justice System, Gillian K. Hadfield

Gillian K Hadfield

Why are lawyers so expensive? This paper explores the economics of the markets for lawyers and the reasons why pricing for lawyers departs from competitive pricing. Unlike conventional analyses, which emphasize entry restrictions, this analysis emphasizes market imperfections due to the nature of legal reasoning and practice and in particular the role of increasing returns to specialization and cognitive skill. The analysis also emphasizes the impact of market dynamics on the distribution of legal services, particularly high end legal work, between corporate and individual clients.

The Price Of Law, Gillian K. Hadfield

Gillian K Hadfield

No abstract provided.