Learning Civil Procedure

The second edition of Learning Civil Procedure provides an updated explanation of the various issues encountered in what is often a difficult first-year course in law school. The book includes discussions of the important Supreme Court decisions issued after publication of the first edition. Some of these decisions clarify an interpretation of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Others consider new rules concerning federal subject matter jurisdiction, personal jurisdiction, and the ever-popular Erie doctrine.

This edition also uses fact-based hypotheticals to show how the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and the pertinent federal judicial decisions can be applied in practice. Each hypothetical is followed by an explanation of how federal law would resolve these problems, which reduces the confusion inherent in a focus on the law as general rules or abstract legal principles.

The second edition has also been adjusted to include topics that were listed in the table of contents for civil procedure provided by the NextGen bar exam. For example, the second edition explains the law applicable to permanent and provisional injunctive orders: the NextGen procedure outline includes injunctive orders because these equitable remedies have become more significant in modern litigation, especially in regard to civil rights cases.

The purpose of the second edition is to provide an approach that allows students to more easily understand federal civil litigation. And the focus on federal procedure is justified by the importance of that litigation and by the fact that many state procedural rules have adopted the federal approach.