Reversing the Decline of the Civil Jury Trial
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If you’ve been to a federal courthouse lately, you might have been struck by the pin-drop silence. Fewer than 1% of federal civil cases are resolved by juries these days, down from 5.5% in the 1960s.
The picture is the same in state courts. The 75 largest counties in the U.S. saw a 50% drop-off in jury and bench trials from 1992 to 2005, and the trend has continued, according to state-level studies.
Plaintiff’s lawyer Stephen D. Susman has tried about 50 cases in his career, and at 74, he hopes his legacy will include helping to reverse the decline of one of his favorite pastimes. To that end, he has ponied up $2 million for a first-of-its-kind project at New York University School of Law to research and promote public discussion about the vanishing jury trial.
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