In this course you will learn how to try a civil case in federal court.

There are three required books:

(1) O'CONNOR'S FEDERAL RULES — CIVIL TRIALS 2015 (Jones McClure Publishing), which I'll refer to as your "Rules Handbook." This book contains all of the rules and statutes that you'll be learning this semester.

(2) Bocchino & Sonenshein, DEPOSITION EVIDENCE: OBJECTIONS, INSTRUCTIONS NOT TO ANSWER, AND RESPONSES — LAW AND TACTICS (2005) (National Institute for Trial Advocacy), which I'll refer to as your "Deposition Handbook." We'll use this book in learning how to take and defend depositions. It's particularly useful in teaching you when, and on what grounds, to object at a deposition.

(3) Erichson, INSIDE CIVIL PROCEDURE (2d ed. 2012) (Wolters Kluwer). This book provides a clear, concise overview of all the topics we'll study this semester.

As you can see, I teach this course without a traditional casebook. Instead, I have created 49 "Problems" that pose real-world questions in specific factual settings. Answering my questions — i.e., applying the rules and statutes to those fact patterns — will be the main way that you learn Civil Procedure. We will certainly read some cases in this class, but those cases (and all of the Problems) will be posted on my course web page, which you'll find on the Law School's website when the semester begins. (Specifically, you'll find it among the "Online Course Materials" after clicking on "Academics.") As soon as my course page is up and running, I'll give you the password for gaining access to it.

How will you know what to read for each class? The reading assignments are not in my syllabus. Instead, the reading assignments appear on the first page of each Problem. After each class session, I will send you an e-mail telling you which Problems we'll cover in our next class session. The Problems drive this course.

How will you make use of the three books listed above? The Rules Handbook and the Deposition Handbook will provide the resources you'll need to answer almost every question posed by my Problems. INSIDE CIVIL PROCEDURE will give you a concise, big-picture understanding of every major topic to be covered in this course. As we move through the semester, the Problems will direct you to read an excerpt from INSIDE CIVIL PROCEDURE every time we enter a new section of this course.

In our first few class sessions, we won't be doing any Problems. Instead, I'll give you an introduction to the Civil Rules and the path of a civil suit.

For our first class session, please read the following materials in your Rules Handbook:

(1) U.S. Constitution, Article III, section 1, and the first four lines of section 2 [page 1610].

(2) The Rules Enabling Act, 28 U.S.C. §§ 2071(a) and 2072(a) [pages 1541-42].

(3) Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 1 and 3 [page 905]. Don't worry about the "Annotations," which take up most of the page. Simply focus on the text of each rule. (Rule 1 is only two sentences long; Rule 3 is only one sentence long.)

(4) Finally, please scan the table of contents for the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (focusing on page 903), which will give you an overview of their scope.

I look forward to seeing you at our first class session — on Tuesday, January 12, commencing at 9:00 a.m. in Room 12.