Empirical Legal Scholarship Workshop

Presented By University of Southern California Gould School of Law and Washington University in St. Louis

May 23-25, 2012

The 11th Annual Conducting Empirical Legal Scholarship workshop has moved to the University of Southern California Gould School of Law. The workshop is for law school faculty, political science faculty, and graduate students interested in learning about empirical research. Leading empirical scholars Lee Epstein and Andrew Martin will teach the workshop, which provides the formal training necessary to design, conduct, and assess empirical studies, and to use statistical software (Stata) to analyze and manage data. Participants need no background or knowledge of statistics to enroll in the workshop.

CONFERENCE FACULTY:

Lee Epstein, http://lawweb.usc.edu/who/faculty/directory/contactInfo.cfm?detailID=70057 , Provost Professor and Rader Family Trustee Chair in Law and Political Science at University of Southern California, is a leading empirical legal scholar and a Fellow of the American Academy of Political and Social Science and American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She has co-organized and co-led this annual empirical scholarship workshop for the past ten years. Professor Epstein has received 10 grants from the National Science Foundation for her work on judicial politics and has also authored, co-authored, or edited more than 100 articles and essays, as well as 14 books. Her empirical research focuses on U.S. Supreme Court, as well as constitutional courts abroad.

Andrew D. Martin, http://adm.wustl.edu, Professor of Law and Political Science, and Director of the Center for Empirical Research in the Law at Washington University, specializes in political methodology and has written widely on American political institutions, including the Supreme Court and the Courts of Appeals. He has co-organized and co-taught the empirical scholarship workshop with Professor Epstein for the last ten years. Professor Martin has received grants from the National Science Foundation for his work on the U.S. Supreme Court, and his research has appeared in a number of outlets, including the Journal of Legal Studies; Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization; California Law Review; Columbia Law Review; North Carolina Law Review; and other law reviews as well as leading social science and applied statistics journals.

REGISTRATION: Tuition for the Empirical Scholarship Workshop is $850, which includes all session materials, temporary access to statistical software (STATA), two lunches, three continental breakfasts, and one evening reception. You will need a laptop for this workshop. A check for $850 made payable to USC Gould School of Law must be included with the registration form. Registration and payment should be received by May 11, 2012.

CANCELLATION POLICY: Full refunds for cancellation of attendance to the Empirical Scholarship Workshop will be made for all written cancellation received before 5:00 p.m. on Monday, May 14th. No refunds will be given for any cancellations received after Friday, May 18th.

ACCOMMODATIONS: Special hotel rate for workshop participants are available at the JW Marriott Hotel at the new LA Live; next to Staple Center in Los Angeles, at 900 West Olympic Boulevard, Los Angeles, about 3 miles from the Law School. Contact the JW Marriott Hotel at (213) 765-8600 or use the link below to make reservations. To obtain the $179 per night workshop rate, identify yourself as a USC Law Empirical Workshop guest. In order to receive this special rate, you must book your room by April 23, 2012.

JW Marriott at LA Live: https://resweb.passkey.com/go/USCGould

SCHEDULE: All sessions, meals, and the reception will be held at:

USC Gould School of Law
699 Exposition Boulevard
Los Angeles

Check-in will begin at 8:30 am on May 23. Classes are in session from 9 am to 5 pm on May 24 and May 25 with a one-hour break for lunch (provided) and brief mid-morning and mid-afternoon breaks each day. Class will end at 12pm on May 27 to allow participants time to head to the airport.

Wednesday, May 23

Group Discussion:
- Sunstein, Schkade & Ellman, Ideological Voting on Federal Courts of Appeals: A Preliminary Investigation

Lecture Topics:
- Research Design
- Theory to Observable Implications
- Collecting Data
- Sampling Issues
- Measurement
- Database Management
- Statistical Software (Stata)
- Homework
- Coding exercise

A cocktail reception will take place following class.

Thursday, May 24

Group Discussion:
- Coding exercise

Lecture Topics:
- Data Analysis
- Sampling
- Statistical Inference
- Descriptive Statistics
- Cross-Tabulations
- Hypothesis Testing

Small Group Exercises:
- Basic Database Manipulation
- Generating Descriptive Statistics
- Significance Testing

Friday, May 25

Lecture Topics:
- Simple Linear Regressions
- Inference from Linear Regression
- Statistical Control

Small Group Exercises:
- Bivariate Regression Analysis

Lecture Topics:
- Multiple Regressions
- Logit/Probit
- Displaying Data
- Miscellaneous Statistical Topics (based on student interest)

Question and Answer Session

FURTHER INFORMATION: Please visit http://law.usc.edu/EmpiricalWorkshop for more information.