When reading through Moshe recapping the judicial reform that we are told about in parshas Yisro, one cannot help but noting a glaring omission from the psukim.
Though it seemed to be Yisro’s idea to set up a body of judges to lighten Moshe’s workload, in parshas Devarim Moshe Rabeinu leaves out any reference to Yisro. The Torah attests to the fact that Moshe was the most humble man that ever lived; so why did he not give Yisro the credit for his own idea?
Some write that Moshe had this idea of Yisro himself first – he just did not plan to implement it until after Mattan Torah.
Others point out that Yisro’s plan differed from that of Moshe. Yisro wanted Moshe to be purely involved with the spiritual matters and to let the judges come to case decisions based on their own logic. But Moshe knew that Torah is the only true logic, and thus that he should be involved in some level in the judicial system, and that only after the Torah was given and learnt properly could there be a wholesome, true, and fair judicial system.