She'll settle it?
she'll settle it?This study seeks to gain new insight into the long-standing debate regarding the effect of judge sex. Relying on research that posits that female leaders and managers will be more likely than men to adopt a management style that favors participation, collaboration, and consensus-building, I argue that female district court judges, utilizing this style in their case management environments, should be more likely than their male colleagues to successfully foster intra-court case settlements. To test this, I compile data from over 23,000 cases terminated in four federal district courts across nine years. Rather than relying solely on standard regression modeling, this study turns first to matching methods. The results provide confirmation that the sex of a district court case's assigned judge matters, with female judges more likely than males to successfully foster settlement in their cases. In addition to having significance for litigants, these findings have broad implications for female decision makers across different institutions and organizations as well as the future of the judging profession and diversity appointments to the judiciary.
[draft (.pdf)]
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