Register for the Kravitz Symposium
Connecticut Bar Foundation to host Symposium — “The Vanishing Trial: A problem in Need of Solution?” Friday, November 14
20 years ago, the Honorable Mark R. Kravitz, U.S. District Court Judge, noted that trial by jury, a right enshrined in the U.S. Constitution, would drastically decline. Today, less than 1% of civil cases are decided by a jury, down from 6% in 1962, when federal judicial statistics were able to be tracked.
On Friday, November 14th, legal professionals and scholars will come together at the University of Connecticut School of Law for a nuanced dialogue on the causes and consequences of the vanishing trial at the Sixth Hon. Mark R. Kravitz Symposium. Established in 2012 in memory of Judge Kravitz, Connecticut Bar Foundation’s James W. Cooper Fellows have organized a dynamic three-part symposium to examine the decline of jury trials in today’s civil legal system.
The Honorable Jed S. Rakoff, U.S. District Judge for the Southern District of New York, will deliver the keynote lecture. Judge Rakoff frequently sits on the 2nd and 9th Circuit Courts of Appeals, with noteworthy decisions in the areas of securities and criminal law. He has written over 200 articles, 900 speeches, and 2800 judicial opinions, and has co-authored five books. He is a regular contributor to the New York Review of Books and is the author of Why the Innocent Plead Guilty and the Guilty Go Free, and Other Paradoxes of our Broken Legal System.
Panel speakers will explore how the aspiration for more efficient trials and the practical limitations of court resources, coupled with the development of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) methods, resulted in a significant decline in jury trials. Panel topics will include divergent views on the value and relevance of jury trials as well as procedural and practical reforms to make jury trials more efficient, accessible, and likely.
Tickets for general admission are $50. Discounts are available for James W. Cooper Fellows, students, and UConn faculty and students. Visit the website for more information on panelists, panel topics, and to register: https://www.ctbarfdn.org/fellows/programs/symposia/honorable-mark-r-kravitz-symposium-series/overview.html
