The principle of Occam's Razor is not taught in law school - but it should be! Occam's Razor stands for the principle that the shortest and simplest explanation, justification, or route is usually the best one. It takes many forms throughout education. Everyone is familiar with Occam's Razor, just not by its formal name. Elementary school students throughout the United States understand the sound of hoof beats, suggests a horse - not a zebra. Medical students understand a runny nose is likely a cold - probably not an immune disorder. Philosopher's acknowledge a tree falling in the woods makes noise - even if not heard. All simple explanations! The simplicity of Occam's Razor is anchored within experience and common sense.
Occam's Razor dates back to the 1300's and was expressed as “entia non sunt multiplicaanda praeter necessitatem” meaning “entities must not be multiplied beyond necessity”. The simplest version of Occam's Razor is often expressed as “Less is More”. Many folks express it as “the simpler the better!” Others say “the most direct route between two points is a straight line." But, perhaps the most recognized version of Occam's Razor was coined by the Navy during WWII - “Keep it Simple Stupid,” otherwise known as the KISS Rule.
For reasons unknown, when it comes to law and lawyers, the KISS Rule has been forgotten. Simplicity has given way to complexity. Simple answers are seldom of ever provided. The problem starts with law makers or the legislative branch of government. Over the last 75 years, the legislative branch has spent more time, passing less laws, using more pages. In 1948 Federal Legislators (i.e. Senate and Congress) spent 224 days in session, passed 837 Bills into law, and the average length of a simple bill was 2.4 pages. In 2023, Federal Legislators, spent 360 days in session, passed 63 Bills into law, and the average length of a simple bill was 20+ pages. Legislators spend 62% more time, producing 93% less laws, using almost 10 times more pages. Modern day legislators do far less in far more time.
Many of the most important and complex Bills are so lengthy they never get read by Senators and Congressmen. Bills dealing with the budget or healthcare average more than 1,500 pages, and the COVID 19 Relief Bill was more than 8,000 page in length. Our elected officials never read these bills, but instead use assistants to digest and summarize the contents. Equally unclear is who writes these Bills containing so many words, as it cannot possibly be our elected officials.
The problem extends into the judicial branch and federal judges appointed for life. In 1948, there were 265 federal judges, including 196 district court judges, 58 court of appeals justices, and 9 Supreme Court Justices. Today we have more judges, issuing fewer decisions, conducting far fewer trials. As of 2023, there were 890 federal judges, including 9 Supreme Court Justices, 179 Court of Appeals Justices, 677 District Court Judges, 19 Court of Federal Claims Judges, and 9 Judges on the Court of International Trade. In 2023, the federal judiciary is 330% larger than it was in 1948. While the number of Supreme Court Justices remained constant, in 1948, the justices issued 117 decisions, while in 2023 they issued just 58 decisions, less than half as many. While the number of district Court Judges increased from 265 to 677 or 250%, the number of federal court trials fell from 20% of all filed cases in 1948 to less than 2% in 2023, or 10X less. Again, more judges, do less, in more time.
The problem thereafter extends to federal state, and local governments. The federal government is the largest employer in the US. As of 2023, the government employed more people than any other entity, most of whom have no metrics to evaluate their performance. Approximately 3M people are employed by the federal government, or 2% of the US work force. If the analysis is expanded to include contract workers and those who are government funded, federal workers expand to over 9M people or 6% of the US work force. If the analysis is expanded to include state and local government employees, there are 24M people employed by the government, or 15% of the US workforce. Our governments are clearly the largest employers of people in this Country, but aside from police, fire and EMT's, what do they do?
Of course, lawyers have done their part to add to this complexity. Today there are approximately 1.3M lawyers in the United States, an increase of more than 800% over the last 100 years. Back in 1992, there were 265,612 cases filed in federal district courts, including both civil and criminal filings. The median duration between filing and disposition of a criminal case was 5.9 months and the median duration between filing and trial of a civil case was 15 months. By the end of 2023, there were 448,529 cases filed in federal district courts, including both civil and criminal. Over 21 years, the median duration between filing and disposition of criminal cases grew to 11 months and the median duration between filing and trial of a civil case grew to 35.6 months. The number of cases doubled between 1992 and 2023 causing the duration of both civil and criminal cases to likewise double.
If we proceed along current trends, government will continue to grow, laws will continue to get lengthier and more complex, and lawsuits will continue to expand, taking longer to resolve. Complexity will become the norm and common sense will be lost. There is no need for laws to be so complex, results to take so long, or for lawyers to allow both to occur. We need to learn from our past, revive Occam's Razor , simplify needless complexity, and follow the KISS Rule.
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