18 November 2020, 6:15-7:45 p.m., online (register here for reminder/calendar entry or join directly here with password "FUELS")

In recent years there is an increasing phenomena of self representation in courts in Common-Law countries. This situation raises many legal questions. We conduct a quantitative empirical study about how representatiation (and self representation) influences the results of the trial in Israeli Traffic Courts. We chose traffic court cases in order to tackle possible selection effects, since those cases are similar in their merits, and relatively simple from the procedural point of view. We also focus on how self representation might possibly affect more vulnerable members of  society such as minorities. 

Vera Shikhelman holds a JSD degree from the University of Chicago School of Law. She is currently a post-doctoral fellow at Haifa University, and a visiting scholar at the Empirical Studies Center of the Freie Universität Berlin (FUELS). Her primary research interests are international law, judicial decision-making, human rights and courts and dispute resolution.