What a bench trial is
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A bench trial is a court proceeding in which a judge alone decides both the facts of a case and the applicable law, rather than a jury determining the facts while the judge rules separately on legal questions, which tends to matter most in a genuine crisis, even when nobody is paying close attention.
Bench trials are often used for matters considered too technical or complex for a jury without specialised legal training, or in jurisdictions and case types where the option of a jury is not offered at all, depending on the nature of the dispute, a consideration that shapes outcomes quietly.
Because a single judge is responsible for the entire outcome, a bench trial's written reasons for a decision are typically more detailed than a jury's verdict, offering a clearer account of exactly how the judge reached their conclusion, which is part of why the topic keeps resurfacing.