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Fewer trials cause courtroom drama; Young lawyers lack experience; firms seek extra training
Watching episodes of Law & Order and Boston Legal are the closest many lawyers may ever get to a courtroom as the number of civil and criminal trials declines. In New York state, 3,050 felony trials began in 2004, compared with 3,899 in 1999 and 4,992 in 1994. The trend was similar in civil court, where 12,021 cases were brought to trial in 2004, versus 14,876 in 1999. The same holds true on the national level. Though the number of civil trials in federal court remained essentially flat between 1962 and 2005, the number of cases grew fivefold, according to a study conducted by University of Wisconsin law professor Marc Galanter. Only 1.7% of cases are resolved at trial today, down from 4.7% 40 years ago. ``It is now quite possible, and at some law firms almost the norm, for a young litigator to practice for many years without trying a case,'' says Gregory P. Joseph, a New York attorney who runs a 10-member practice. ``There are simply not enough trials each year to give the average litigator trial experience.'' Vanishing trials the phenomenon, known to legal professionals as ``vanishing trials,'' is growing. Because of their concern that new lawyers have less opportunity to try cases, firms are ramping up in-house training with techniques like mock trials and insisting that newcomers perform pro bono work to gain experience. ``An attorney may never need to go to trial, but every attorney needs to believe that one day he will have to,'' says Marty Karlinsky, a partner with Katten Muchin Rosenman in New York.
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