The American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA) was created to defend and preserve the rights granted to all Americans by the 7th Amendment to the Constitution. What this means to ABOTA members is simply the right to trial by jury. We have seen that right eroded both nationally and in our state. Therefore, CAL-ABOTA has a strong interest in continuing to promote civil jury trials. Moreover, the California chapters comprising CAL-ABOTA are strongly interested in younger lawyers being given the opportunity to try lawsuits. This not only brings about the continued growth of ABOTA as an organization, but enables the next generation to continue the fight to maintain a right to civil jury trial as guaranteed by the 7th Amendment. This is why California's Expedited Jury Trial (EJT) is so important to CAL-ABOTA. CAL-ABOTA strongly endorses both the Mandatory and Voluntary Expedited Jury Trials in California. As part of this, CAL-ABOTA has collected a number of materials regarding Voluntary and Mandatory EJT’s. Our purpose here is to provide an easy set of reference materials, a menu if you will, that ABOTA members and their law firms can use as a resource. As part of these materials, both Plaintiff and Defense Bar Groups have endorsed the EJT, having provided to their respective members many beneficial seminars and materials. Additionally, a great amount of literature and study has been generated on EJTs that we also thought would be helpful. And, we have also collected all of the applicable statutes and forms to be utilized in both Voluntary and Mandatory EJT proceedings. This collection of materials is easily referenced on this website by simply clicking below. It is CAL-ABOTA’s hope that the use of EJT’s will grow, and as it grows the strength of ABOTA and our Civil Jury System will also grow.


Proceed to Expedited Jury Trial Resources