Replication Data for: Challenging the State? Lawyers and the Reformed Administrative Appeals System in Japan

Replication material for article forthcoming in Law and Social Inquiry. Abstract: Across the developed world, citizens typically file many more administrative appeals than administrative lawsuits. Yet in contrast to the rich literature on court decisions, little is known about the determinants of administrative appeals decisions. We seek to fill this scholarly gap. An important feature of administrative review panels is that typically only some of their members have professional legal training. Drawing on original data on Japanese prefectural-level Administrative Complaint Review Boards (ACRBs), we show that ACRBs with more private attorneys rule more often against agencies. Consistent with a socialization perspective, we find preliminary evidence that ACRBs with more experienced private attorneys rule more often against agencies. We also find that consistent with both insights from political insurance theory and the literature on technocratic appointments, more recently elected prefectural governors are more likely to appoint more private attorneys to ACRBs, and that governors’ ideological orientations have little effect on their choices.