Advocacy in the Era of the Vanishing Trial

Abstract:     
This short paper, written for a conference marking the seventy-fifth anniversary of the adoption of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, does four things. First, it summarizes the evidence that the trial is disappearing and expresses the author's ambivalence about preparing lawyers to adapt to a world without trials. Second, it discusses the place of the trial within the envisioned structure of the federal rules and argues that some imagination for the ways of the trial court will remain important for litigators. Third, it speculates about the ways in which civil practice and advocacy is likely changing in a world without trials. Finally, it identifies a number of aspects of the trial which cannot be replaced by other procedures.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 17

Keywords: Trial Advocacy, Civil Procedure

JEL Classification: K10, K19, K40, K41, K49

Accepted Paper Series