The purpose of this essay is to engage in a critical analysis of two articles that have implemented an empirical legal studies (ELS) methodology. However before the curtain rises on a detailed exploration of the two empirical analyses it is necessary to consider the rise of the modern lawyerly statistician as legal scholarship increasingly becomes “more scientific” (Ulen, 2004, pp.414).
i. Introduction to ELS.
'You can always count on Americans to do the right thing - after they've tried everything ELS.'
Indeed in recent years we have seen the birth of a new breed of legal-empiricists who have brought about radical and exciting changes to the wider academic firmament. Empirical techniques, traditionally the tools of the social scientist have been integrated into the classical trade of legal scholarship, so long dominated by abstraction as well as theoretical and doctrinal work. The orthodox methods of the legal academic or university beard are not questioned, merely updated. Traditional doctrinal jurists are of unrivalled importance; that is not questioned.
