Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Acronyms and Abbreviations -- Executive Summary -- 1 Introduction -- 2 The First Decade of Reform -- Antecedents -- The Reform Agenda: Legislation and Institutional Change -- Donor Support -- The EU Imperative -- Citizens' Views on the First Reform Decade -- 3 Legal and Judicial Institutions Ten Years Into Transition -- The "Implementation Gap" -- Court Performance -- Understanding the Linkages Among Reforms -- What Makes Courts Problematic for Firms? -- Toward a Typology for Judicial Reforms -- 4 Conclusion: Lessons for Future Reform -- General Lessons -- Setting Priorities -- Appendices -- 1 Turkey-A Different Path for Legal and Judicial Reform -- 2 The World Bank's Support for Judicial Reform in Transition Economies -- 3 Methodology -- Bibliography -- Index -- Boxes -- 1.1 Sources -- 2.1 The Drive to Pass Laws to Meet European Union Deadlines -- 3.1 The Need to Upgrade Technology -- Figures -- Summary Figure 1 Evaluations of Courts by Firms, 1999 and 2002 -- Summary Figure 2 Perceptions of the Efficiency and Neutrality of the Legal System, 2004 -- Summary Figure 3 Capacity and Demand for Judicial Reforms -- 1.1 Lagging Improvements in the Judiciary, 1999 and 2002 -- 2.1 Views of the State and the Economy, 1990 -- 2.2 Accessibility of Draft Laws, 1999 -- 2.3 Ability to Comment on Draft Laws, 1999 -- 2.4 Trust in Courts, 1993-8 -- 2.5 Trust in Courts Relative to Parliament and Government, 1993-8 -- 3.1 Institutions Have Lagged Lawmaking, 1999 -- 3.2 Changes in the "Implementation Gap," 1999 and 2002 -- 3.3 Assessments of Aspects of the Judiciary in 14 Transition Economies -- 3.4 Are Courts Independent Enough to Challenge the State? Relative Perceptions of Firms, 1998, 2001, and 2004 -- 3.5 Efficiency Considerations Lag Independence -- 3.6 Assessments of Courts as "Quick," 1999 and 2002.

3.7 The Time Delay to Collect on a Debt Through Courts -- 3.8 Average Length of Time to Collect a Debt in Various Regions -- 3.9 Assessments of Courts as "Affordable," 1999 and 2002 -- 3.10 Independence and Accountability -- 3.11 Assessments of Courts as "Fair," 1999 and 2002 -- 3.12 Assessments of Courts as "Honest," 1999 and 2002 -- 3.13 Unofficial Payments and Gifts When Dealing With Courts, 1999 and 2002 -- 3.14 Do Judges' Salaries Relative to Lawyers' Salaries Affect the Fairness of Courts? -- 3.15 Assessments of Courts as "Able to Enforce Decisions," 1999 and 2002 -- 3.16 Procedural Complexity and the Effect on Firms -- 3.17 Reforms Increase Pressure on Courts, 2002 -- 3.18 Pressure on the Courts Slows Them Down, 2002 -- 3.19 Courts are Viewed as Less Problematic Where They Are Less Relevant, 2002 -- 3.20 Functioning of the Judiciary as a Problem Doing Business, 1999 and 2002 -- 3.21 The Judiciary Compared to Other "Problems," 2002 -- 3.22 Relative Importance of Various Factors in Explaining the Functioning of the Judiciary in Transition Countries, 1999 and 2002 -- 3.23 Capacity and Demand for Judicial Services, 2002 -- 3.24 The Judiciary as a Problem, by Capacity and Demand for Judicial Services, 2002 -- A1.1 Judicial Independence -- A1.2 Speed of Court Proceedings -- A1.3 Cost of Enforcing a Contract -- A1.4 Time to Enforce a Contract -- A1.5 Courts' Enforcement Capacity -- A1.6 Reliability of Courts -- Tables -- 2.1 Evolution of World Bank Legal Reform Projects in Europe and Central Asia -- A3.1 Estimation of the Relationship Between Court Use, Court Speed, and Perceptions of the Qualities of Courts.