The Difference Between Jury Trials and Bench Trials

By Jim Bleeke

After a successful jury trial in May and a favorable bench trial result in June, I was just reflecting on the difference between the two.

Jury trials are more fun, more unpredictable, more of a strategic match of wits and thus more exhilarating. Choosing the jury, finding ways to keep the jurors engaged and trying to educate them while letting them “find the answer” themselves is more what most trial lawyers envision as what they really do.

On the other hand, bench trials, in front of a well-informed and contentious judge strike me more like being back in law school engaging in legal banter with a favorite professor. When the judge thinks out loud together with the attorneys for each side in trying to reach the best result, we can actually observe the cogs of the wheels of justice working. It is less mysterious than a jury trial, but satisfying in a different way.
Both forms of trial remind me how blessed we are to live in America, where we have such a great system designed to reach to reach the fairest resolution to disputes among our citizens.