Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2011
Keywords
Tom Ulen, Empirical legal scholarship
Disciplines
Law and Economics | Legal Education | Legal Writing and Research
Abstract
Inspired by the retirement of Professor Tom Ulen of the University of Illinois, the author considers the growth and development of empirical legal scholarship over two decades—a period of time that corresponds, not coincidentally, with Professor Ulen’s career. Starting in the 1990s when empirical scholarship had not yet “caught on,” the author first documents the increase in quantity of empirical scholarship over two decades. Next, the author applies a law and economics perspective to the recent surge in empirical scholarship, explaining that the trend has been fueled by an increase in the number of empirically trained scholars and also by increased demand for this type of scholarship. The author concludes by reflecting on Professor Ulen’s contribution to legal scholarship and suggests the time has come to ask not whether empirical legal scholarship has arrived but why it took so long to do so.
Recommended Citation
Heise, Michael R., "An Empirical Analysis of Empirical Legal Scholarship Production, 1990-2009" (2011). Cornell Law Faculty Publications. 700.
https://scholarship.law.cornell.edu/facpub/700
Publication Citation
Published in: University of Illinois Law Review, vol. 2011, no. 5 (2011).