Confidentiality, Transparency, and the U.S. Civil Justice System

American law was founded on the principle of an open court, where the general public could observe judicial proceedings and report to others on the outcomes. In recent decades, however, civil disputes have been increasingly resolved out of court, with the outcomes of the disputes kept secret. While it is widely acknowledged that confidential handling of disputes has great advantages, these trends reduce the transparency of the entire civil justice system. This collection of articles considers whether reversing this trend should be a public policy objective. With special attention to modern mass litigation, leading legal scholars provide empirical, nonpartisan, and multidisciplinary analyses, case studies, and novel prescriptions for reform of various aspects of the system.