The approach adopted is socio-legal and the work combines empirical and legal analysis to good effect. It succeeds in laying the ground for further research in this important area of law and public policy. Journal of the Commonwealth Lawyers' Association 2005 ...an extremely important contribution...Its significance..is in the provocative questions it poses and the framework for future research that it establishes...an extremely good book that should definitely be on the book shelf of anyone who is interested in the study of law and administration. It is precisely this sort of theoretically grounded empirical work that the study of law and administration needs. Byron Sheldrick Social and Legal Studies, Vol 15, No 2. June 06 ...no one in the UK has done more than Simon Halliday to move this area of work along...The insights he provides will be of tremendous value to researchers...[It] constitutes a very significant contribution to our understanding... Maurice Sunkin Legal Studies, Vol 26, No 1 March 06 Intellectually insightful and focussed... Ridwanul Hoque The Cambridge Law Journal March 2006 This is an outstanding piece of scholarship. It deserves to be read by anyone interested in administrative decision-making and in law as an instrument of policy. It raises and starts to answer important questions about organisational performance and analyses some of the major barriers that law must overcome to have an effective influence on the goods and services that citizens receive from the state. Edward C. Page, London School of Economics Public Law January 2005 ...those with an academic interest in what influence judicial review decisions may have will find Halliday's analytic approach an interesting way of looking at a complex and increasingly important subject. Rona Epstein The Legal Executive February 2006 [This book], will serve as an excellent resource for empirical researchers seeking to isolate the influence of judicial review on administrative decision-making, administrative law teachers wanting to enrich student comprehension with case-studies, and for all scholars interested in understanding the impact of judicial review on government action. Furthermore, Halliday's book will be a tantalizing read for administrative lawyers because it presents, the form of compelling narratives, 'smoking-gun evidence' of non-compliance. He contributes significantly to the field by providing a sound analytical framework for further inquiry. His methodological approach breathes life into the often abstracted and decontextualized world of administrative decision-making, and his revealing interviews with HPU decision-makers make his work accessible to a broad range of readers. ...Halliday's ability to weave narrative, social theory and legal doctrine creates a thought provoking text. Eli Paul Mazur The Law and Politics Book Review December 2004
