Civil procedure

Synopsis

Professors choosing a Civil Procedure book have always faced difficult dilemmas. The ?breadth vs. depth? trade-off is particularly acute in this field, and the matter is complicated by the fact that Civil Procedure might be allocated as few as 3 or as many as 6 credits. This book aims to ease that dilemma by structuring the material so that it can be taught quickly but at a high level: the cases and notes are short but intellectually challenging. At an estimated 650 pages, most of the book can be covered in as few as 4 credit hours, but the materials are rich enough to expand discussion to 6 credit hours. For each individual topic, it is possible to use this book to cover the basics or to probe the issues in depth, depending on the time allocated. Coverage is comparable to most books currently on the market. The book also introduces students to the themes that run through Civil Procedure: efficiency and fairness, the advantages and disadvantages of the adversarial system, real-life litigation strategies, and issues of federalism and separation of powers inherent in the American judicial system. Each chapter begins by exploring these themes through excerpts from scholarship in the field, followed by notes and questions. These thematic materials can be used to structure discussion, but the remainder of each chapter'm ore traditional cases and notes'can also be taught independently should a professor choose not to assign the introductory section.