The Field of State Civil Courts

Authors

Anna E. Carpenter, The University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law
Alyx Mark, Wesleyan University
Colleen F. Shanahan, Columbia Law SchoolFollow
Jessica K. Steinberg, George Washington University Law School

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2022

Abstract

This symposium Issue of the Columbia Law Review marks a moment of convergence and opportunity for an emerging field of legal scholarship focused on America’s state civil trial courts. Historically, legal scholarship has treated state civil courts as, at best, a mere footnote in conversations about civil law and procedure, federalism, and judicial behavior. But the status quo is shifting. As this Issue demonstrates, legal scholars are examining our most common civil courts as sites for understanding law, legal institutions, and how people experience civil justice. This engagement is essential for inquiries into how courts shape and respond to social needs and structural inequality and what all of this means for the present and future of American democracy.

Disciplines

Civil Law | Civil Procedure | Courts | Law

Comments

This article originally appeared in 122 Colum. L. Rev. 1165 (2022). Reprinted by permission.

Recommended Citation

Anna E. Carpenter, Alyx Mark, Colleen F. Shanahan & Jessica K. Steinberg, The Field of State Civil Courts, 122 Colum. L. Rev. 1165 (2022).
Available at: https://scholarship.law.columbia.edu/faculty_scholarship/3838