UC Law SF Presents: Scholarship for Judges

The first edition, published in 2017, was dubbed “important and welcome” by Judge MARSHA S. BERZON of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. “It has become commonplace for judges to complain that the articles published in law reviews are abstract, abstruse, and self-absorbed,” she wrote. “The articles in The Judges’ Book do not have this pitch problem—they are pitched just right.” Now, the second edition will build on this earlier success.

Articles in the 2018 Judges’ Book (now available online) include, among others, SCOTT DODSON on issues of jurisdiction; LOIS A. WEITHORN on the vulnerability of children in the law; MORRIS RATNER on class-action conflict management; ZACH PRICE on the reliance on nonenforcement in constitutional law; JOHN CRAWFORD on regulating banks; HADAR AVIRAM on applying the Constitution to criminal law; DAVE OWEN on transformations in environmental law; GREGORY COCHRAN on Canadian medical tourism; DORIT RUBINSTEIN REISS on parents’ resistance to vaccinating their children; CLARK FRESHMAN on judging mindfully; and HEATHER M. FIELD on the ethics of tax lawyering. Chancellor & Dean DAVID FAIGMAN provided the book’s introduction.

LAWRENCE J. O’NEILL ’79, chief judge of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California, spoke about the value of The Judges’ Book in the foreword to the 2018 edition: “The articles presented avoid pure theory in favor of bringing theory to bear on practical topics. But, these works do much more,” he wrote. “They push us to think, to question, and to be better, more consistent, and more conscientious decision makers.”

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