In this course, students litigate a civil case — interviewing the client, investigating the facts, researching the law, drafting the pleadings, engaging in discovery, preparing the trial brief, and negotiating a settlement. I will divide the class into two law firms, so that half of you will represent the Plaintiff and half of you will represent the Defendant. Each of you will be assigned an adversary from the opposing law firm.

There is one required text: THOMAS A. MAUET, PRETRIAL (8th ed. 2012) (Wolters Kluwer). It is a superb treatise on how to handle the pretrial litigation of a civil suit. As we move through the semester, the pages I assign will guide you at every stage of our lawsuit.

What lawsuit will we be litigating? It's a case called Sullivan v. Royal Life Insurance Company, and you'll find it among the case files contained in the CD-ROM that accompanies the PRETRIAL text. (It's listed as Case #5.) The CD-ROM contains two different files for this case — one for the Plaintiff and one for the Defendant. Please don't read either file until I have confirmed which side you'll represent. You are forbidden to read your adversary's file.

Sullivan is a contract dispute between an insurance company (Defendant) and the insured's widow (Plaintiff). The Plaintiff claims that her husband's death was accidental, entitling her to recover under the double indemnity provisions of the insurance agreement. Defendant claims that the husband's death was a suicide, brought on by the husband's increasing financial and health problems. There are eight witnesses in the case; I will play all eight of them. Each of you will be given the job of interviewing, deposing, and/or defending the deposition of at least one witness.

For our first class session — on Tuesday, August 25, at 2:00 in Room 207 — please read PRETRIAL, Part A, Section I.