Courtroom capital: the value of a good lawyer

Research consistently demonstrates that experienced lawyers achieve better outcomes in court. However, it remains unclear whether knowledge of court procedures or lawyers' familiarity with the judges drives these results. We argue that a lawyer's "courtroom capital" is primarily rooted in their familiarity with specific judges. Given the significance of knowing the judges, we also anticipate that lawyers are more likely to win in court when they argue cases orally in court, in front of judges they are acquainted with. We investigate our claims in the context of the General Court of the European Union, where lawyers may encounter different judges and not all cases have oral hearings. We find that it is familiarity with the reporting judge, and not familiarity with court procedures, that increases lawyers win rates. Our results also reveal that lawyers familiarity with judges only pays off in cases with oral hearings.