Survey of Experienced Litigators Finds Serious Cracks in U.S. Civil Justice System

In order to explore concerns about the impact of cost and delay on the legal system with specificity, in June 2007 IAALS and the ACTL Task Force on Discovery jointly began work to examine perceived problems associated with pretrial practice—primarily discovery—in civil cases.

The focus of the research grew out of reports that the costs and burdens of discovery were precluding some potential plaintiffs from bringing meritorious claims, and were forcing some defendants to settle non-meritorious claims based purely on cost considerations.