Recently, The Legal published an article that asked, “Is the Golden Age of Trial Attorneys Over?” The answer from this board is no. While we stipulate that the increased use of ADR methods, rising costs of trials and courtroom technology, and added pressure to settle have led to a reduced number of civil trials across the board, these factors do not fully explain why the reduction in trial opportunities disproportionately impacts younger attorneys. Despite all the commentary in the article about young litigators, no young litigators were asked to comment. Instead, senior attorneys framed declining trial opportunities from their own perspective, and conveniently omitted that, for those cases that do go to trial, they choose who staffs each trial and who performs each examination. Often, they choose to exclude younger attorneys. Thus, this trend is not merely the result of circumstance; it is also the result of choice.
Diagnosing Decreased Opportunities
The article suggested that in “the old days” young lawyers would “cut their teeth” on smaller cases and those opportunities no longer exist. However, in private conversations, senior trial lawyers concede that in decades past, it was much easier to reach a settlement in the early stages of litigation or even with a demand letter and a few phone calls. Presumably, these claims are now being litigated. The actual reduction in the number of cases going to trial has not been accurately quantified or studied; thus, it is not clear how many opportunities have truly been gained or lost. What can be quantified is the number of opportunities that senior counsel allow their colleagues to have.
