期刊名称：Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review
印刷版ISSN：0017-8039
电子版ISSN：1943-5061
出版年度：2011
卷号：46
期号：2
出版社：Harvard Law School
摘要：It struck us as odd. At some time, probably in the middle 1970s orearly 1980s, we heard that major law firms were conducting mock trials sothat their young lawyers could experience what it was like to be in a court-room. This was something new. Historically, young lawyers witnessedcases in real courts, argued motions before judges, and watched partners andolder associates try cases. Young lawyers soon tried simple cases beforejudges and later with juries. This is how they learned to be trial lawyers andnot just litigators.At about the same time, what Professor David Shapiro described as a"sea-change" was taking place among federal trial judges.1Many no longerperceived their primary tasks as deciding motions after oral argument andpresiding as neutral referees at trials. They were encouraged to considerthemselves managers whose job was to dispose of cases expeditiously. Fromthat perspective trials came to seem wasteful. As early as 1971, one federaldistrict court judge candidly said: "'[M]y goal is to settle all my cases . . .Most of the time when I try a case I consider that I have somehow failed thelawyers and the litigants.'"2
