In many settings, there are preliminary or interim decision points at which legal cases may be terminated: e.g., motions to dismiss and for summary judgment in U.S. civil litigation, grand jury decisions in criminal cases, and agencies' screening and other exercises of discretion in pursuing...

This article develops a simple model using the economist's toolkit to analyze the mechanism of judicial proof. The survey focuses on the notions of burden of proof, legal presumptions, standard of proof, on legal procedure and on the judge's role during the proceedings. The rules of proof are...

We document evidence that firms systematically increase specialized, locally targeted advertising following the firm being taken to trial in that given location - precisely following initiation of the suit. In particular, we use legal actions brought against publicly traded firms over the...

Much of the competition policy discussion today centers around goals of antitrust. Until recently, the only antitrust goals discussed in the US were economic ones. Anyone who thought otherwise was on the fringe and often discounted both academically and within policy circles. Yet today, the...

In this case comment, I explore the two EFTA Court Judgments in the Fosen-Linjen saga and their opposing views on the interaction between EU/EEA rules on procurement remedies and the more general principle of State liability for breaches of EU/EEA law. I review the case law of the Court of...

The EFTA Court adopted two recent Judgments on the liability thresholds for damages claims for breaches of EU/EEA public procurement law. In Fosen-Linjen I, it followed the so-called separation thesis of procurement damages and State aid liability and found that ‘A simple breach of public...

This paper reviews the legal and economic structure of the class action litigation model in the United States, as set forth by rule 23 of US civil procedure, exploring the requirements for obtaining class certification and maintaining a class action. I analyze a number of critical issues and...

In the aftermath of the U.S. financial crisis, Congress created a new federal agency — the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) — with the goal of fashioning a more just and efficient American consumer finance market. The CFPB now serves as the U.S. Government's primary regulator and...

The article discusses the relation between the right of access to court under Article 6(1) of the ECHR and the law of State immunity, in the light of the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights in Al-Adsani v UK, Fogarty v UK and McElhinney v Ireland. First, it considers the...

We study strategic behavior by private litigants when courts' judgments are "inalienable" in the sense that it is unlawful to contract around them ex post. Inalienable judgments arise in many contexts, including antitrust, labor law, intellectual property, unfair competition, and various types...