SALIENT INTERACTIONS: THE STATE TRIAL JUDGE AND THE LEGAL PROFESSION

State trial judges affect multitudes of people through their decisions; in practice they are the courts of last resort for most Americans who are involved in litigation. Yet, relatively little attention has been given to systematic research on the question of who or what influences these judges in the way they go about their work. This article, extracted from a more comprehensive study of the role of the state trial judge,2 explores such influences by applying role theory as a basis for studying the relationships between trial judges and other roles in our society that may be important in influencing the nature of the job of the trial judge.