State Bar Annual Meeting

Attending the Litigation Section/Alternative Dispute Resolution section today, there was a lot of discussion about the Vanishing Jury Trial and the rise of mediation and arbitration.  Most of these people talking seemed to recall the "old days" fondly.  But those old day are so old, that I never experienced anything like they discuss.  Certainly in the last 15 years, there has been nothing like they remember.  Every case gets mediated, like it or not.  The only civil cases that go to trials are those where there is so much $$$$$$$$ at stake that the clients/attorneys can afford to litigate them to the bitter end.  In fact there is a cottage industry in supporting these few cases.  For the rest of society, it's better to consider how things are NOW, rather than how things used to be.