Our systems are now restored following recent technical disruption, and we’re working hard to catch up on publishing. We apologise for the inconvenience caused. Find out more

Recommended product

Popular links

Popular links


Vanishing Legal Justice

Vanishing Legal Justice

Vanishing Legal Justice

The Changing Role of Judges in an Era of Settlements and Plea Bargains
Michal Alberstein, Bar-Ilan University, Israel
Nofit Amir, Bar-Ilan University, Israel
March 2025
Adobe eBook Reader
9781009059008
$130.00
USD
Adobe eBook Reader
exc GST
Hardback

    A full trial has become an uncommon phenomenon in many legal systems, replaced largely by promotion of settlement and plea-bargaining. This book uncovers today's judicial role in this radically changed legal setting using multiple methods. Over five years, researchers analyzed court dockets, studied judges in action, and conducted interviews with judges and lawyers. This book, which spans several legal cultures, follows in the footsteps of the 'vanishing trial phenomenon', probing its existence beyond common law systems. In doing so, it provides insights into the changing judicial role and the metamorphosis of legal systems. Offering a new perspective on possible futures of legal systems, including the use of artificial intelligence, the authors provide a rich context for legal scholars and policymakers to redesign the architecture of conflicts. Moreover, they introduce new jurisprudential perspectives on the relationship between law and conflict resolution, with an emphasis on the judicial role.

    • Examines the changing role of the judiciary following pervasive efficiency-focused legal reforms
    • Unveils a worldwide phenomenon that is not popularly known and has many implications for the understanding of contemporary law
    • Demarcates the role of conflict resolution and alternatives to adjudication in a vanishing trial era
    • Offers an empirical inquiry based on court observations and interviews, combined with an analytical examination of contemporary legal systems

    Product details

    March 2025
    Adobe eBook Reader
    9781009059008
    0 pages
    This ISBN is for an eBook version which is distributed on our behalf by a third party.

    Table of Contents

    • Introduction
    • Part I. Vanishing Trials, Transformed Legal Systems:
    • 1. Judicial role in transition
    • 2. The comparative landscape
    • 3. New legal Families
    • Part II. Settlement Practices and Perspectives of Judges:
    • 4. Challenges of studying judges
    • 5. Untold narratives: stories judges and lawyers tell about the Judicial role in settlement
    • 6. Power and persuasion: the judicial role as reflected in courtroom observations
    • Part III. Legal Metamorphosis?:
    • 7. A new paradigm for judicial involvement
    • 8. New horizons of mediation
    • 9. The law – end or turning point?
    • Conclusion
    • Index.
      Authors
    • Michal Alberstein , Bar-Ilan University, Israel

      Michal Alberstein, SJD Harvard University, is Dean of the Faculty of Law, Bar-Ilan University, Israel. A renowned expert in conflict resolution, she has received numerous academic honors and authored several books. This book's findings were made possible by a prestigious five-year granted to her from the European Research Council.

    • Nofit Amir , Bar-Ilan University, Israel

      Nofit Amir is a lawyer, mediator, and researcher in comparative law and civil procedure at Bar Ilan University, Israel. Her research examines the evolving role of judges in an age of settlement through a comparative lens, focusing on judges in Israel, Italy, England and the US.