Week 6

• Ethan Michelson, Decoupling: Gender Injustice in China’s Divorce Courts, 2022, Selection
• Jonathan Kinkel, chapter 4 “High-End Demand for Legal Services and Local Pressure to Professionalize the Judiciary,” and chapter 5 “Expansions in Competitive Promotion and the Implications for Judicial Autonomy” in Growth and Survival: An Ecological Analysis of Court Reform in Urban China, 2022

key metrics used to evaluate judges’ performance? (Michelson 4-5): satisfying the demands of judicial responsibility systems, clearing dockets (moving caseloads), not causing incidents of social unrest, mediation rate vs. trial, appeal rate…

According to Kinkle, judges make attractive lawyers to law firms because they have the same law school training + civil service examination/professional qualification and experience in litigation/handling a variety of legal disputes + local social connections + “inside knowledge” of government and legal system operations

A “High End” market serves company and global clients, and a “Battleground” market (competing for client) in which legal services provided to individuals comprise a substantial part of the legal services market (from S. Liu, 2011a).

typical career progression in US: from bar to bench

Biden abolished the evaluation system that prioritized volume and efficiency

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