Civil Procedure: Doctrine, Practice, and Context

Written by respected scholars and experienced educators, this book showcases rules and doctrine of civil procedure at work in the actual practice of law. The procedural and nonprocedural aspects of the cases are framed to hold students’ interest: doctrines reflect the choices of policymakers and also present strategic options for litigators. Each chapter contains a well-written introduction, cases, and clear explanations of the doctrine, supported by review questions and comments which deepen students’ understanding and clarify key concepts. Offering more than forty well-crafted problems (both for class use and review), these practice exercises and review exercises help students solidify their understanding of the materials whether used in class or as out-of-class assignments. In-class exercises and simulations based on two sample case files are integrated throughout. Pleadings, memoranda, transcripts, exhibits, motions, and more – all taken from real cases – appear in the Appendix. Civil Procedure: Doctrine, Practice, and Context consistently emphasizes the skills and values of lawyering as it offers a consideration of social responsibility.
New to the Sixth Edition:
- A new, more digestible format
- Updated cases and all new chapters on Discovery and ADR
- Revised review questions to enhance student learning
- Updated historical narratives and questions to ponder that promote critical thinking
Professors and students will benefit from:
- Practice exercises that allow students to learn by doing – integrating doctrine, practice, and context. These exercises can be covered in class or, instead, recommended as content for study groups.
- Rewritten sections on topics that are especially hard to teach (like discovery) and those that require a lot of time to teach in response to adopters’ requests.
- The case files – one involving New York City Police Department’s stop-and-frisk policy, the other a car accident – continue to be accessible and provide good teaching tools for procedure professors.
- Review questions that have been revised to focus on student comprehension, while broader critical questions have been separated out in “questions to ponder” sections.
- More background material integrated into the text to promote critical thinking and engage students with the latest debates over civil procedure. New practice problems promote engagement with cutting edge issues like Multidistrict Litigation.
- Authors that are continuously developing new teaching materials for those who use the book