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1 John E. Shapard, The 1987 District Court Case Time Study: A Brief Description [i] (1990)

handle is hein.congcourts/dctiudb0001 and id is 1 raw text is: THE 1987 DISTRICT COURT CASE TIME STUDY A Brief Description John E. Shapard, Project Director, August 28, 1990 In November 1987, the Federal Judicial Center commenced its third major time study in the U.S. district courts. Like studies conducted in 1969 and 1979,' the purpose of the new study is to develop case weights for district court civil and criminal cases. Case weights reflect the difference in average judge time demanded by different types of cases (antitrust cases, for instance, have a much higher weight than automobile personal injury cases). Totalling the weights assigned to all cases filed in a district in a particular year yields a measure of the total judicial workload in that district, the district's weighted filings. Compared to a simple count of the number of cases filed, the weighted filings index is a superior statistical indicator of the burden imposed by a district's caseload. The 1987 time study employs a method different from that of the 1969 and 1979 studies. In the earlier studies, a large number of judges (about 200 in 1969, 100 in 1979) maintained diaries of all their case-related time expenditures during a period of several months. These diary time studies yielded reliable case weights through a simple series of calculations,2 but the diary method made it very difficult to assess the accuracy of the resulting case weights or weighted filings indices, or to analyze the data for other purposes (e.g., to determine what factors about a case most strongly influence the amount of time it.consumes). The 1987 study uses a longitudinal method: cases enter the study when they are filed, and all time spent on time study cases is reported from the time of filing until final case disposition. Because the study provides complete histories of each of the roughly 12,000 cases in the study, it will permit computation of weights of optimal reliability, will facilitate straightforward analysis of weight accuracy, and will permit further statistical analyses addressing a range of issues concerning civil and criminal litigation. 'See U.S. Dep't of Agriculture, Statistical Reporting Service, The 1969-70 Federal District Court Time Study (Federal Judicial Center 1971), and S. Flanders, The 1979 District Court Time Study (Federal Judicial Center 1980) 2The calculations require computing the percentage of judge time and the percentage of the caseload accounted for by each case type. The ratio of percent time to percent caseload is the case weight for that case type, with the unit of measurement being the average case.

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