A new kind of court will help clear case backlogs by discouraging last-minute guilty pleas, a NSW trial suggests.

But the NSW Bar Association has said adopting the approach would not do much to fix an underfunded system "near breaking point".

The rolling list court brought together senior lawyers much sooner to negotiate aspects of the case, leading to quicker resolutions. Credit:Jessica Shapiro

From March 2015, District Court judge Ian McClintock presided over a "rolling list" court where dedicated teams of prosecution and defence lawyers appeared before him alone, rather than diverting to other judges after adjournments.

Don Weatherburn, director of the Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research, said after nearly 30 years of mooted solutions to court delays, the trial had shown "spectacular" results.