Legal Mobilization-PSCI 3271

What are the two distinctive features of the U.S. that are important conditions for effective legal mobilization?

1)Having a large and highly professionalized legal community.

2) Having a powerful judicial branch that is relatively accessible to the mass publc

What does Epp (1998) call the critical factor for why some countries experience a "rights revolution"?

The "Support Structure"

Define "Support Structure" in the context of legal mobilization.

A combination of rights-advocacy interest groups, lawyers (or 'cause lawyers'), and sources of funding for litigation. A "rights revolution" requires a large volume of litigation.

How did the rise of organized law schools (starting around 1870 with the Harvard model) influence the legal profession's role in social change?

It routinized training , drew applicants from a wider range of society , and led to more lawyers seeking to contribute to social change (e.g., via law clinics)

Contrast the legal support structure in the U.S. with that of India, according to Epp.

India lacks a sustained rights revolution because most law offices are one-man shops , there are no big umbrella interest groups like the ACLU , and few interest groups subsidize litigation , leading to relatively few cases being brought.

hat is the significance of the Rules Enabling Act of 1938 for legal mobilization?

It allowed federal courts (via the Judicial Conference of the U.S.) to write their own procedural rules , which initially became the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and were extremely favorable to plaintiff

How did the initial Federal Rules of Civil Procedure favor plaintiffs?

They made access to court fairly low cost. Plaintiffs only needed to make claims that could conceivably be supported by some facts in their initial pleadings, and the 'Discovery' phase was broad.

What is the legal term for a right to sue, and which branch of government has the power to create these at will?

Cause of action. Congress has even more power than the judiciary to create these.

According to Farhang (2010), why did Congress deliberately encourage a "litigation explosion" in the U.S.?

To encourage individuals to enforce civil rights laws through a case-by-case lawsuit approach. This was a compromise position intended to limit the executive branch's direct enforcement power (e.g., via agencies like the EEOC).

How can Congress "put a thumb on the scale" to incentivize private litigation?

By setting fees/awards and allowing fee-shifting (forcing losing defendants to pay the plaintiff's fees). For instance, Congress chose different damages schemes for the Civil Rights Act versus the Equal Pay Act.