Explaining Judicial Assistants’ Influence on Adjudication with Principal-Agent Theory and Contextual Factors

What is it about?

This study shows that while three perceived risks of defection—a managerial rule orientation, trust in judicial assistants and favourable risk-benefit perception of assistants’ input—increase the influence that judges allow assistants, contextual factors—panel judgments (vs. single-judge judgments), complexity of court cases and time pressure—do not.

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Why is it important?

As such, our study shows that—when operationalised differently—principal-agent theory can be fruitfully applied to settings apart from the politicised US Supreme Court.