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Tuesday, October 14, 2003

No mo trial lawyers--how sad--they are the only true lawyers

� As Trials Decrease, Lawyers' Fears For Craft Rise (Kansas City Business
Journal)
http://www.bizjournals.com/kansascity/stories/2003/10/13/story3.html

Tom Kokoruda isn't hanging up his briefcase anytime soon, but the trial
lawyer sometimes wonders who will take his place when he's filed his last
motion.

As chairman of Shughart Thomson & Kilroy PC's litigation department,
Kokoruda watches the development of young lawyers in his shop and in firms
throughout Kansas City.

What he sees -- or, more important, doesn't see -- worries him.

Few cases go to trial these days, especially the minor, low-dollar lawsuits
that once were the pool in which many beginning lawyers got their feet wet.

Look at the federal docket. During the past 25 years, the annual number of
civil cases filed nationwide has increased 74 percent, from 117,061 to
203,931. During that time, the number of cases going to trial has dropped
44 percent, from 11,656 to 6,513. In Jackson County, record-keeping has
changed through the years, but the number of completed jury trials has
decreased from 168 in 1997 to 100 last year.

Legal groups said a surge in arbitration/mediation and a push by clients
and insurers to cut legal bills have dried up opportunities for new
lawyers, leaving some, especially those in large firms, going years without
facing a jury.

"I think we, as stewards of the profession, need to look at how we're going
to train the next generation of trial attorneys," said Kokoruda, who has
practiced for 31 years. "The experience of thinking in court on your feet,
your client there, the judge on the bench, the jury there -- it's difficult
to duplicate in an educational setting.

"There are things (in trial practice) that no matter how prepared you are,
you have to deal with instinctively. That's my concern."

He isn't alone. Longtime litigator Paul Wickens is a member of the American
Board of Trial Advocates, a professional organization that recruits lawyers
who have participated in a certain number of trials. Recently, he said, the
group has had to reconsider its entrance criteria.

"It's becoming difficult to find people who qualify," said Wickens of
Foland & Wickens PC of Kansas City. "My big concern is as more and more
true trial attorneys disappear, there will be less interest in why the jury
system is valuable and less concern on how to preserve it."

The issue has attracted the attention of the American Bar Association,
which plans a national conference in December to share findings and discuss
solutions.

Not everyone is sounding the alarm.

Arbitration and mediation sometimes are much cheaper than a trial, can be
quicker and free up the court system's overburdened and underfinanced dockets.

This last observation is more anecdotal than statistical because the court
system, by design, never records many arbitrations, and state court
administrators don't track alternative dispute resolution.

Lawyers in small firms or busy plaintiff practices said their newbies see
the inside of a courtroom fairly frequently. Also, they said, alternative
dispute resolutions may lack some of the drama of trial, but lawyers still
must prepare their cases and sell their argument to a hearing officer.

Bill Sanders Jr., a lawyer with plaintiff firm Sanders Conkright & Warren
LLP, said the 19-lawyer firm keeps busy doing insurance and product
liability cases because its fees still are relatively low.

"It has helped in our recruiting," Sanders said. "(Young lawyers) know in
their first year they'll be taking depositions, getting in court and
getting that experience."

So how do big firms plan to get real-life experience to their newer
associates?

Kent Sullivan, leader of commercial litigation at 300-lawyer Stinson
Morrison Hecker LLP, said the firm continues to focus on internal training.

If lawyers adequately prepare and show they have the confidence to take it
to trial, he said, they more often will end up settling or mediating the
case to the client's benefit.

Kokoruda said he encourages clients to allow younger lawyers to handle
cases if the firm thinks they're ready. To alleviate some nervousness, he
said he has sat in on cases at no cost to the client as part of the firm's
investment in new lawyers.

"The vast majority of successful plaintiff lawyers are also good trial
attorneys, or they wouldn't have gotten where they are," he said.

Reach David Twiddy at 816-421-5900 or dtwiddy@bizjournals.com.

Sheldon (Shelly) Waxman, Writer/Lawyer
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posted by FLoA # 10/14/2003 04:47:48 PM

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