Creating the Judicial Branch: The Unfinished Reform describes and assesses a recent historical phenomenon, the creation of administratively and organizationally coherent judicial systems within state government. Before 1950, the state judicial branch of government existed mostly in concept, not in operational reality. After 1950, state judges, the organized bar, and many students of the judiciary took a hard look at the way state courts were organized and managed. They concluded that state courts, particularly the trial courts, were externally dominated, highly disorganized, often unprofessional, and poorly managed, to the point where the integrity of the state courts was being seriously undermined. State after state initiated court reforms and brought about many remarkable improvements. Courts were caught up in a reform wave that swept all three branches of state government but took a unique form in the courts. Unlike the executive and legislative branches, the state courts were not simply seizing management control of their own domain but literally creating a third branch of government. They sought this objective by integrating the various components of the state judiciary into a more coherent whole and generally upgrading the level of professionalism and the quality of justice.

This “truly important work... a book of signal significance” (The Saturday Review) “gives a vivid picture of (Soviet) courts at work, and therefore, since it is very good reporting, as sharp a picture of (Soviet) life and people... it is an entrancing book.” (The Economist)

“The most vivid reportage in years.”
—The New Statesman

Extraordinary, compelling (and) an inspired achievement,” (The London Listener) it is “the most interesting, perceptive and refreshing book by an American on life in the Soviet Union since time out of mind.” (Newsweek)