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Reports & Studies

Below is a list of a number of past published studies conducted by the Research Division. Some Center reports are not published or made publicly available due to restrictions in place from the source of the research request. Most research reports can be downloaded and in some instances, a hardcopy publication can be requested. See also Manuals, Monographs, & Guides.

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Title Datesort ascending
Implementing and Evaluating the Chapter 7 Filing Fee Waiver Program: Report to the Committee on the Administration of the Bankruptcy System of the Judicial Conference of the United States

A description of the study the Center undertook at the committee's request to examine the congressionally mandated pilot fee-waiver program in six districts. Under the program, which ran from Oct.1, 1994, through Sept.30, 1997, the $175 filing fee was waived for Chapter 7 debtors unable to pay.

January 1, 1998
Mass Tort Settlement Class Actions: Five Case Studies

This report by Professor Jay Tidmarsh of Notre Dame Law School examines five cases in which Rule 23 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure has been used to achieve a settlement of a mass tort controversy. The reason for studying mass tort settlement class actions is simple: Using class actions for this purpose has been, and is, controversial. The mass tort settlement class action was the subject of a significant decision in the last term of the Supreme Court, and it is also the subject of a proposed amendment to Rule 23 that has been under consideration by the Advisory Committee on the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. There has been considerable debate both about the idea of settlement class actions in general and about the proposed amendment in particular. There have also been a number of case studies or anecdotal descriptions about mass torts in which settlement classes have been used. Thus far, however, the studies and descriptions have been narrowly focused on only one case or on only some of the issues relevant to the propriety of settlement class actions.

January 1, 1998
Mediation in Bankruptcy, the Federal Judicial Center Survey of Mediation Participants: Report to the Advisory Committee on Bankruptcy Rules of the Judicial Conference of the United States

At its March 1997 meeting, the Advisory Committee on Bankruptcy Rules asked the Federal Judicial Center to undertake this survey to inform the committee's preliminary look at whether there is a need for national bankruptcy rules to govern mediation. The purpose of the survey is to determine the extent and severity of problems that the committee, lawyers, and mediators believe may affect mediation conducted after judicial referral.

January 1, 1998
Durational Limits on Depositions

Memorandum to the Judicial Conference Subcommittee on Discovery of the Advisory Committee on Civil Rules assisting review of a proposal to limit the length of depositions. Findings were based on data gathered from counsel surveyed on duration of depositions in 1,000 closed civil cases.

 Table 1: Frequency and length (hours) of reported depositions

 Table 2: Frequency of reported depositions by attorney reports that there were “too many depositions"

 Table 3: Reported length of longest deposition by attorney reports that there were “too much time was taken in some or all depositions”

December 22, 1997
Developing the Federal Judicial Television Network: A Preliminary Report

This report describes the purpose, aspirations, and components of the Federal Judicial Television Network (FJTN), which will reach judges and court staff members with a range of essential educational programs and other communications. The network will use formats that take full advantage of professional television production facilities and skills. The Federal Judicial Center (FJC) aspires to create a network with high-quality production values that provides valuable services to judges and court staff in all categories and provides broadcast quantities sufficient to sustain wide audience interest without disrupting daily courthouse activity.

The network's technical backbone consists of the following:

  • the FJC's two broadcast studios: a fully-equipped, broadcast-quality sound stage and a state-of-the-art, automated instructor-presentation studio with a videoteleconference space;
  • downlinks the Administrative Office (AO) is installing at court locations to reach the majority of judges and staff;
  • transmitter and satellite services leased from existing providers; and
  • a viewer response system, preferably the de facto standard of the existing Government Educational Television Network, which provides the broadest range of feedback possibilities and permits incoming data from viewing sites to be summarized and re-presented graphically to the viewing audience.

The FJC has several years of live broadcast and videotape production experience. The AO and Sentencing Commission also anticipate active use of the net­work. The FJC will provide both with program design and production assistance.

September 1, 1997
Standards of Attorney Conduct and Disciplinary Procedures: A Study of the Federal District Courts

The Judicial Conference Committee on Rules and Practice and Procedure studied the effect of having multiple standards of professional conduct for attorneys practicing in the federal district courts. The Federal Judicial Center assisted by reporting on the experiences of federal districts with local rules that govern attorney conduct, and procedures used by the courts to address alleged misconduct.

June 1, 1997
Implementation of Disclosure in United States District Courts, With Specific Attention to Courts' Responses to Selected Amendments to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26 [Superseded]

Updates the March 22, 1996 report on the federal district courts' responses to the 1993 amendments to FRCP 26. Tables describe courts' local rules, general orders, and CJRA plans by indicating which of five key provisions of Rule 26 are in effect.

Superseded by Implementation of Disclosure in United States District Courts, With Specific Attention to Courts' Responses to Selected Amendments to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26 (March 30, 1998).

March 28, 1997
Discovery and Disclosure Practice, Problems, and Proposals for Change: A Case-based National Survey of Counsel in Closed Federal Civil Cases

At the request of the Judicial Conference Advisory Committee on Civil Rules, the Center conducted a study of the discovery process, examining the extent to which discovery is used, the frequency and nature of problems in discovery, the impact of the 1993 amendments, and whether additional rule changes are needed. This is the report of that study. Submitted to the Judicial Conference Advisory Committee on Civil Rules, for Consideration at its Meeting September 4-5, 1997.

Note: A revised version of this study is published at 39 Boston College Law Review 525 (May 1998) under the title An Empirical Study of Discovery and Disclosure Practice Under the 1993 Federal Rule Amendements.

January 1, 1997
The U.S. Sentencing Guidelines: Results of the Federal Judicial Center's 1996 Survey-Report to the Committee on Criminal Law of the Judicial Conference of the United States

Report on a survey that the Center undertook at the request of the Committee on Criminal Law of the Judicial Conference of the United States of all district and circuit judges and chief probation officers regarding their experiences with and views of the Federal Sentencing Guidelines. Overall, responses did not reflect a groundswell of support for major overhaul of the Sentencing Guidelines. In general, chief probation officers were less supportive of change to the current guideline sentencing system than were judges.

January 1, 1997
Chapter 11 Venue Choice by Large Public Companies: A Report to the Judicial Conference Committee on the Administration of the Bankruptcy System

A report that responds to a request by the Judicial Conference Committee on the Administration of the Bankruptcy System for empirical information and analysis on whether the bankruptcy case venue statutes and procedural rule should be amended. The report presents the results of a 1996 survey of federal bankruptcy judges about Chapter 11 venue and judges' views of a proposal to amend 28 U.S.C. Section 1408 to prohibit corporate debtors from filing for relief in a district based solely on the debtor's state of incorporation or based solely on an earlier filing by a subsidiary in the district. The report also presents analyses of administrative and demographic characteristics of large public companies that emerged from Chapter 11 during 1994 and 1995.

January 1, 1997

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