All Right, Retired Judges, Write!

Abstract

One of the most serious deficiencies in legal literature today is the paucity of books and articles written by judges. It is melancholy that academia has preempted a field once invigorated by the perspective of judges and practitioners. The punishing caseload of the state and federal judiciary is a factor: the more opinions that have to be written by judges, the less time they have to write books and articles. But, retired judges finally have time to do some serious writing on the law. And this is the recommendation that I make for every retired judge--trial or appellate, state or federal: Make yourself heard on scholarly issues, such as the high cost of delivering legal services today and the disaster of the federal notice pleading rules. Because our active judge are totally overburdened with day-to-day caseloads, the leadership in writing serious articles on court matter must come from retired judges.

Keywords: judges, judging, judiciary, legal scholarship, legal writing, judicial process, Aldisert, cost of legal services, pleading rules