Forum Shopping and Legal Labor Markets: Evidence from the Court Competition Era
研究了1991-96年法院竞争时代，上市公司破产重组中的择地行诉现象，发现其抵消了破产对当地法律就业的正面影响，而接收案件的特拉华州以更少人力处理案件，但导致其他地区就业机会损失。
Focusing on Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganizations of publicly listed firms during the court competition era (1991–96), we document local legal employment effects of forum shopping, a stipulation of the law that allows firms to file for bankruptcy far from their headquarters. Bankruptcy shocks increase legal-sector employment in the bankrupt firm’s locale, but forum shopping nullifies this effect. Employment gains of received forum-shopped cases are concentrated in Delaware, with no effect in other receiving forums. Quantification shows that Delaware handled these forum-shopped bankruptcies with just one-fifth of the additional legal workforce that would have been needed if the cases were handled in the firms’ locales. This increase in productivity also coincides with substantial missed potential employment gains in communities where bankruptcies were diverted through forum shopping. The analysis uncovers meaningful effects of forum shopping on local legal labor markets, so far overlooked in the policy debate.