Experienced Advocates and Litigation Outcomes

While the facts and the attendant law are essential components of understanding litigation outcomes, extralegal factors, such as the experience of the attorney representing each party, are also significantly related. The authors assert that the capability of the attorney, as evidenced in previous litigation success, is more significant than experience alone. They test this assertion for the South African appellate court from 1970 to 2000. After controlling for the effects of a number of variables, the results suggest that the previous success of the advocate is a far better predictor of litigation outcomes than previous experience, litigant status, or court ideology. Adapted from the source document.