Four case studies, focusing on typical strings of judgments, trace the use of soft law in state aid and pharmaceutical regulation, revealing mechanisms and effects that complement the quantitative findings of the previous chapters. In state aid, the EU’s exclusive regulatory competence (‘hierarchical governance’) drives courts’ use of soft law, while in pharmaceutical regulation, the entanglement between national and EU administrations (‘composite administration’) influences courts’ approach to soft law. The case studies also point to significant wider effects of the phenomenon—on the role of the state in the economy in state aid policy, and on the level of risk regulation in pharmaceutical regulation.