Judicial Adjuncts

JUDICIAL ADJUNCTS IN MULTIDISTRICT LITIGATION

Elizabeth Chamblee Burch* & Margaret S. Williams**

Peeking under the tent of our nation’s largest and often most impactful cases reveals that judges often act like ringmasters: They dele­gate their authority to a wide array of magistrate judges, special masters, and settlement administrators. Some, like the American Bar Association, see this as a plus that promotes efficiency and cost savings. Critics, how­ever, contend that delegating judicial power, especially to private citizens, removes...