4 Trial Lawyer • Summer 2022 By Judge Shelley Russell Multnomah County Circuit Court Since the onset of the global pandemic two years ago, it has been difficult to get civil cases to trial. One of the most useful tools for resolving cases during this time has been the judicial settlement conference. While we are hopefully nearing the end of rising case View From The Bench Hon. Shelley Russell Preparing for a judicial settlement conference counts, rapidly developing variants, social distancing and getting back to civil jury trials, judicial settlement conferences remain a viable method of reaching a quicker resolution of cases. Judicial settlement conferences have advantages and disadvantages as compared to private settlement conferences. For one thing, judicial settlement conferences are far less costly. They are also less time consuming as they are generally limited in duration, which, depending on your perspective, is either an advantage or a disadvantage. As a former employment lawyer, I tend to think employment cases lend themselves particularly well to judicial settlement conferences. They provide employee plaintiffs an opportunity to “have their day in court” with a judge
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