Standardization of Judicial Opinions: Work of Judges in a Changing Environment Tomasz Raburski, Maciej Wojciechowski Introduction Judges are the most significant knowledge workers within the legal field. They occupy the central position in the legal system, and their work is crucial for modern democracies and the capitalist system (Epstein, 2005). The role and position of judges in modern society go through major transformation. Their importance increasesas the most heated debates move from the parliaments to the courts. This shift has led some researchers to call modern democracies “juristocracies” - regimes in which courts play the dominant role (Goldstein, 2004). The recent advance of technology is another factor that deeply transforms the legal field (Tiersma, 2010). In many countries the transition from manual and typewriter bureaucracies to computer bureaucracies is still at the initial stage (Waseda University International e- Government Ranking 2013, 2013). Among variety of crises discernible in the contemporary world legal field is particularly affected by a crisis of legitimacy(Habermas, 1980). It concerns many institutions whose reason of being (raison d’etre) has never been questioned before. Infallibility of judges' is now commonly considered a myth, and their role as " only the mouth that pronounces the words of law" (Montesquieu), seems no longer an adequate view of their professional activity, regardless of common law or civil law system. Judges are regarded neither as the only legal experts nor "high priests of law" whose decisions are correct just because they have been rendered by them (Łętowska, 1997). The body of literature on the work of judges is immense, however many areas remain under- researched. Legal institutions are essentially local phenomenons, deeply embedded in local language, legal culture and social context, and yet the bulk of the socio-legal research comes from the common law countries. This Anglo-Saxon bias is challenged by the growing number of comparative studies and legal ethnographies (Bell, 2006; Darian-Smith, 2004). Although many aspects of legal work are specific to every country, we can observe some similarities. The powers and duties of the judges may vary, but they face similar challenges and pressures. They have to harmonize the values of the legal system with the demands of the administration of justice. Judging is a craft (Kritzer, 2007; Tata, 2007). The