Confidentiality, Transparency, and the U.S. Civil Justice System

American law was founded on the principle of an open court, where the general public could observe judicial proceedings and report to others on the outcomes. In recent decades, however, civil disputes have been increasingly resolved out of court, with the outcomes of the disputes kept secret. While it is widely acknowledged that confidential handling of disputes has great advantages, these trends reduce the transparency of the entire civil justice system. This collection of articles considers whether reversing this trend should be a public policy objective. With special attention to modern mass litigation, leading legal scholars provide empirical, nonpartisan, and multidisciplinary analyses, case studies, and novel prescriptions for reform of various aspects of the system.

Joseph W. Doherty is the Director of the Empirical Research Group (ERG) at the UCLA School of Law and the co-Director of the UCLA-RAND Center for Law and Public Policy. He teaches Empirical Legal Studies at UCLA Law. He has co-authored research on bankruptcy with Lynn LoPucki, on the living wage with Richard Sander, on negotiation strategy with Russell Korobkin, on international criminal law with Máximo Langer and Richard Steinberg, on employment discrimination with Gary Blasi, and on administrative law with Jody Freeman. Professor Doherty has also published articles on voting behaviour and campaign finance. He has a Ph.D. in political science from UCLA.

Robert Reville is a Senior Economist at RAND whose research focuses on insurance and compensation for accidents and injuries. From 2002 to 2008, he served as director of the RAND Institute for Civil Justice (ICJ). During his tenure as director, ICJ started new research streams on corporate ethics and governance and on entrepreneurship. In addition, Dr. Reville founded and co-directed the RAND Center for Terrorism Risk Management Policy, and research from this center was acknowledged as critical in the Congressional decision to renew the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act in 2005 and 2007. He has led a series of studies at RAND on workplace injury compensation policy and the impact of disability on employment, and several recommendations from his work were adopted in reform legislation in California in 2004. He served on the Board of Scientific Counselors of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention until 2009. He received his Ph.D. in Economics from Brown University.

Laura Zakaras is a senior Communications Analyst at RAND and director of the RAND Research Communications Group, which consists of communications specialists who work with multidisciplinary research teams to help them communicate effectively with policymakers. As the Communications Director for RAND's Law, Business, and Regulation division, she has contributed to the clarity and accessibility of many publications and developed dissemination strategies for reaching diverse audiences. Before coming to RAND, she taught writing and literature at a number of universities in the United States and Europe, including the University of Texas at Austin; the University of Maryland, European Division; and Wurzburg University in Germany. She holds a Ph.D. in English from the University of Washington.