Guide to Law Library Study Aids

Moving beyond the outline format used by most students, this book uses a checklist format to lead students through the questions they need to ask and answer to fully analyze the legal questions they are trying to resolve. It assembles the different issues, presenting a clear guide to procedural analysis that students can draw upon when writing their exams. Other study aids provide sample problems, but this book offers a systematic approach to problem solving.

This Concise Hornbook covers the main points of civil procedure that any student needs to understand, and covers them briefly but thoroughly enough to be understandable. It focuses on the material covered in a typical law school course on civil procedure, tied to no one casebook. It breaks down the subject of civil procedure along the standard lines: a brief orientation; then a lengthier overview of the stages of litigation, followed by a close inspection of the major procedural problems (governing law, authority to adjudicate, former adjudication, and complex litigation); and finally some reflections in conclusion. It discusses specific problems and illustrations, with the aid of generously sprinkled diagrams and special text boxes. Special attention was given to fitting the civil procedure course's main points together to form the big picture, with each topic ending in a section on the "big idea" (separation of powers, vertical federalism, horizontal federalism, full faith and credit, or procedural due process) that the student is supposed to take from the topic.

Gain insight into the laws governing all of the major steps in the civil litigation process, starting with investigation and ending with post-appeal collateral attacks. This text covers the major themes underlying the governing legal standards and those basic issues that the case law and literature suggest to be the most pressing. References to federal practice and procedure are provided with a discussion on the burden of complex, multi-party litigation on the judicial system.

Mastering Civil Procedure provides a thorough and practical guide to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure as well as related doctrines, including personal jurisdiction, subject matter jurisdiction, and claim and issue preclusion. Not only does the book provide a concise and clear road map to civil procedure, it is designed to complement leading civil procedure case books by discussing many of the principal cases from those books. The book benefits from having been written by a civil procedure professor who, prior to teaching, litigated civil lawsuits in federal courts for 14 years with both large and small law firms. This updated edition not only addresses all of the latest amendments to the rules and updates to most major casebooks, but has also been expanded to include numerous flowcharts and other visual aids to help readers master civil procedure.

Rules of civil procedure govern everything that happens outside of criminal proceedings. This Nutshell provides a road map to navigating civil procedure rules and helps build a foundation for understanding the overall picture. Topics discussed include how to choose the proper court, pretrial and trial preparation, adjudication, judgments, appeals, and specialized multi-party/multi-claim proceedings.