The Philadelphia Inquirer has an article today on the fading number of jury trials. So many trials are settled these days, trial lawyering is becoming a lost art.

Fewer than 2 percent of all cases in federal courts are heard by juries, and available statistics suggest that fewer than 1 percent of cases in state courts are resolved by jury trial....Federal court statistics show that only 1.7 percent of all civil and criminal cases in U.S. District courts were tried before juries in 2002, compared with 6.6 percent in 1962. The volume of cases increased four-fold, but the number of jury trials was nearly the same in 2002 as 40 years earlier.

The reasons differ for civil and criminal trials. As to criminal trials:

On the criminal side, lawyers say jury trials are diminishing largely because sentencing guidelines in federal and state courts tacitly discourage trials. The guidelines can penalize a defendant who invokes his right to trial and is found guilty. Prosecutors can seek a tougher sentence arguing that the defendant - by denying guilt and asking for a trial in the first place - failed to take responsibility for his misdeeds. Most defendants don't take that chance. They cut a deal and plead guilty.

Money is also a factor, particularly for the middle-class defendant. The poor get appointed counsel, which (theoretically) includes costs of things such as scientific testing and expert witness fees. The defendant who makes too money to qualify for appointed counsel, usually has to foot the bill alone....without adequate funds, or not wanting to expend funds needed elsewhere in their lives, particularly in providing for their families, they feel pressured to take a deal.

For the rich, like Kobe and the Enron defendants, it's no sweat. Look at OJ though, while he won the criminal case,it wiped him out financially--before the civil judgment even hit the deck.