DALLAS, Jan. 4 /PRNewswire/ -- Saving the jury trial will be the focus of next month's National Jury Summit hosted by the American Board of Trial Advocates. The Summit will be held at the Wynn Las Vegas, Las Vegas, Nev., Feb. 8-9.

A myriad of issues raised by the threats to the system

will be addressed. "The American jury system is dying. It is dying faster in the Federal Courts than in the State Courts. It is dying faster in the civil side than in the criminal, but it is dying nonetheless," said Chief Judge William G. Young, United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts.

The presentations will deal with the civil jury system, factors causing its deterioration, the benefits of preserving the jury trial, and what changes are needed to bring about recovery. The Summit will also cover the media's reporting of jury cases.

   Speakers include:
   -- The Hon. George Greer of the Pinellas County/Pasco County (Florida)
      Circuit Court will address judicial independence and the civil jury
      system.  He will discuss how the Terri Schiavo case and other recent
      events impact and damage the civil jury system in America.
   -- ABC News Correspondent Manuel Medrano is the first Latino in the
      history of the Supreme Court press corps.  He covers the high court
      and provides legal analysis for all ABC News broadcasts.
   -- Jennifer Hamm, formerly of the Los Angeles Daily News, the Prague
      Post and other places, now the new business editor at the L.A. Daily
      Journal.
   -- John T. Nockleby directs the Civil Justice Program at Loyola Law
      School.  He has been instrumental in jury research and in 2006 helped
      Loyola launch its Journalist Law School program.
   -- Paula L. Hannaford-Agor is a staff attorney and Principal Court
      Research Consultant for the Research Division of the National Center
      for State Courts.  Her areas of expertise include jury system
      management and trial procedure; access to justice for
      self-represented litigants; management of complex litigation; legal
      and judicial ethics and discipline; state-federal jurisdiction; and
      probate and guardianship procedure.

  Other speakers include:
   -- Judge Barry Schneider, Arizona Superior Court
   -- Judge Pendleton Gaines, Arizona Superior Court
   -- Professor Nancy Marder, Chicago-Kent College of Law
   -- the Hon. Mark Bennett, Chief Judge, Northern Iowa
   -- Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman.

  For more information, call (800) 932-2682 or go to http://www.abota.org/ .

   For more information:
   Brian Tyson
   briant@abota.org
   (214) 871-7523

CONTACT: Brian Tyson of American Board of Trial Advocates, +1-214-871-7523, or briant@abota.org

Web site: http://www.abota.org/