James Oldham 93 Geo. Wash. L. Rev. 1457 In his 2014 article Unearthing Mansfield’s Rule: Analyzing the Appropriateness of Federal Rule of Evidence 606(b) in Light of the Common Law Tradition, Andrew Hull takes issue with the Mansfield Rule, which prohibits verdict impeachment by juror testimony, and its modern-day embodiment in Rule 606(b). Hull contends... Read More

Anna Offit 93 Geo. Wash. L. Rev. 1386 Jury impartiality in the contemporary court often justifies the perpetuation of exclusionary selection practices that make juries more—not less—biased. This Article calls for a rethinking of this important but flawed concept. Constitutional interpretations and conceptions of “impartiality” frame it as a transient orientation toward particular evidence or... Read More

The Honorable Stephanos Bibas 93 Geo. Wash. L. Rev. 1377 Juries and jury trials are an important pillar of American democracy but have increasingly become obsolete, due largely to the professionalization of lawyers and the resulting complexity of litigation. Judges can do much to reverse this trend—for instance, by streamlining pretrial management, limiting discovery, employing... Read More

Suja A. Thomas 93 Geo. Wash. L. Rev. 1327 Years ago, the United Kingdom (“U.K.”) recognized the fact-intense nature of employment cases and developed a system for their adjudication—a mixed tribunal system that uses two laypeople and a judge to decide employment cases. While there have been changes to the jurisdiction of these tribunals, employment... Read More

Carissa Byrne Hessick 93 Geo. Wash. L. Rev. 1299 Juries have long been considered a key common law institution, yet their use has become quite uncommon in common law systems over time. Rather than trials by juries, most criminal cases are instead resolved by way of guilty pleas. The prevalence of guilty pleas is not... Read More

Philip Hamburger 93 Geo. Wash. L. Rev. 1283 The right to a civil jury trial is often dismissed as an inefficient anachronism ill suited to the complexities of modern litigation, and these efficiency concerns have long overshadowed any serious defense of the Seventh Amendment. This Article argues that such skepticism profoundly misunderstands the constitutional function... Read More

This Foreword overviews the rich fund of ideas for reform of the jury and templates for how that reform can be achieved that were discussed at The George Washington Law Review's Volume 93 Symposium. This Symposium brought together distinguished guests from different branches of the legal profession and exposed audience members and panelists alike to new ideas and methods of reform concerning one of the most venerable and celebrated legal institutions.