Overview

The Challenge of 2020: Preparing a Civil Justice Reform Agenda for the Coming Decade

American civil justice finds itself facing a number of substantial challenges today. How these issues are addressed in the coming decade will profoundly affect the legal framework we will use in 2020 and beyond. This year’s Clifford Symposium will attempt to sketch what the legal world will look like, and what the bar, judiciary and academy can do during the coming decade to ensure a stronger and more effective civil justice system when we reach 2020. The symposium will focus on four areas where challenges and reforms deserve to be considered. The first is procedure, which will address courtroom adaptation to changing technology, more effective management of mass litigation and the growing importance of transnational litigation. The second is the scope of future reliance on public proceedings especially in the era of the “vanishing trial.” Among topics to be explored are the wavering allegiance of major players like insurance companies, the preemption of claims through legislative or administrative action, and the barriers to justice confronted by those of limited means. The third is the heightened difficulties faced by the judiciary caused by intrusions upon judicial independence, the shrinking number of trials and a variety of other factors. The last is the bar's role in creating and effectuating a reform agenda for improvement over the next decade. The symposium faculty will feature not only outstanding academics but an equal number of distinguished judges and bar leaders. The objectives of the symposium include a scholarly examination of reform ideas and a robust vetting of those ideas by both the judges and lawyers.