This workshop examines the use of court file studies in empirical legal research. Through the textual analysis of court files, researchers can gain access to rich contextual information that is often unavailable from published judgments alone, including evidentiary materials, records of court hearings, and correspondence between parties and the court. The session will address the practical and methodological challenges of conducting court file research, including obtaining access to files, designing coding instruments, collecting data, and analysing results. Participants will also receive guidance on developing efficient scoring forms and avoiding common pitfalls in data collection.

The workshop will be led by Roos Nieuwboer, PhD candidate at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, whose research includes a large-scale court file study of Dutch guardianship cases.