This course offers an introduction to the role of empirical reasoning in legal analysis, legal practice, and policy development. As empirical methods increasingly inform judicial decision-making, litigation strategy, and legislative design, the ability to engage critically with empirical claims has become an essential competency for legal professionals.
The course does not require prior training in mathematics or statistics, or any familiarity with empirical methodology. Rather, it is designed to equip students with the conceptual tools necessary to understand, evaluate, and effectively engage with empirical research in legal contexts. Students will examine how empirical questions are formulated, how data is gathered and interpreted, and how empirical evidence is mobilized – both persuasively and problematically – within legal reasoning.
Course materials include landmark empirical studies spanning areas such as access to justice, gun control, environmental regulation, and consumer behaviour, alongside parts of foundational texts in empirical methodology. Students will develop the ability to assess the strengths and limitations of empirical research, to situate such research within broader legal and institutional contexts, and to reflect critically on the implications of data-driven approaches to law. The course will be of interest to students seeking to hone their analytical capacities and prepare for legal practice in an increasingly data-driven world.
Method of Evaluation: 25% participation, three assignments due at various times during the term, worth 75%.