Legal reform is one of the most important and complex endeavors that legal professionals can undertake. The University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform publishes cutting-edge legal scholarship by both scholars and practicing lawyers on a wide range of reform topics.
The law must adapt to economic and social changes. This means that it must change in ways that are consistent with those changes, rather than attempting to impose the law on them. The journal focuses on research and analysis of a broad range of criminal and civil justice issues, including debtors’ prisons, bail reform, discovery and pre-arrest detention reform, and the use of eyewitness identification. The journal also examines systemic reforms like recoupment of costs of appointed counsel and the recording of custodial interviews.
Even the most well-meaning reforms do not produce results unless they have a powerful political constituency to support them. That is why legal reform should be seen as a public service, not as a way to make money for private practice attorneys.
The American people deserve a civil legal process that can efficiently and fairly resolve disputes for everyone, rich or poor, individuals or businesses. Yet the current system is beset by runaway costs, delays, complexity, and mistrust. The authors propose a series of structural reforms designed to bring it back into the mainstream. These include making the Supreme Court more representative by creating additional seats for judges whose judicial philosophies align with the governing majority’s political objectives.