Professional Judgment for Lawyers

Written by the leading authority on legal decision making, Professional Judgment for Lawyers integrates empirical legal research, cognitive and social psychology, organizational behavior, legal ethics, and neuroscience to illuminate and improve decision making by attorneys, clients, judges, arbitrators, mediators, and juries. Key Features: Analyzes the quality of decision making by lawyers, clients, judges, mediators, and arbitrators Shows how race, gender, age, roles, experience, personality, perception, memory, and emotions affect decision making by lawyers and judges Identifies deficiencies in professional decision making and proposes corrective steps Discusses impact of professional judgment and decision making on major societal issues like access to justice, plea bargaining, mass incarceration, superannuated judges, and public confidence in the judicial system Describes strengths and weaknesses in personal decision-making styles and provides a self-assessment tool to evaluate individual styles Integrates law, neuroscience, psychology, behavioral economics, analytics, and organizational behavior in a comprehensive, multi-disciplinary examination of legal judgment and decision making This book has the unique capacity to replace idealized, theoretical concepts of legal decision making with empirical analyses and practical applications for lawyers, judges, law students, and other knowledgeable readers intrigued by the law, justice, and decision making.