Dear NELA Members:
The Civil Jury Project at the New York
University School of Law currently is studying the causes and
consequences of the pronounced decline in civil jury trials in both
state and federal courts. As part of that effort, they have developed a
survey that they would like NELA members to complete, and we have agreed
to forward their request to the NELA membership. Please note the time-sensitive nature of the request, as the survey will remain open only through the end of May. A
brief description of what The Civil Jury Project hopes to accomplish,
and a link to the survey, is reproduced below in italics. Please feel
free to respond to this posting, or contact me at mkoski@nelahq.org,
with any questions or concerns.
The Civil Jury Project at
the New York University School of Law has, during its first six months,
concluded that any effort to save the civil jury trial depends on
cooperation of the public (which is unaware of the decline in trials),
the judiciary (which recognizes the problem but needs encouragement and
support to do something about it), and the trial bar (whose
self-interest is most obvious). We have been informally surveying
judges (we now have over 150 Judicial Advisors) and former jurors, and
now we are ready to seek initial input from the bar, which will be a
crucial element in this undertaking.
The Civil Jury
Project, through our Jury Consultant Advisors, is teaming up with the
American Society of Trial Consultants to survey lawyers who try cases in
state and federal courts around the country as to how their dockets
have changed, what they perceive as the causes, and what they think can
be done to improve jury trials. We have prepared a questionnaire for
the members of the National Employment Lawyers Association to complete
by the end of May.
The survey can be accessed at the following link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/NELA1
Once
we have gathered the data, (less the names of any respondents), our
Advisors will study and analyze it, hopefully generating conclusions
that can be shared with the public. We are also hopeful that this
initial survey data can promote further research.
Sincerely yours,
Professors Samuel Issacharoff, Catherine Sharkey and Steve Susman, Co-Directors