Course Section | Columbia Law School

Section Description Provided by Instructor

Mastery of procedure is one of the most important tools a lawyer has. It is also one of the key languages lawyers speak to one another. Cases are won and lost on procedural grounds much more often than students realize. Procedure also guarantees critical fundamental and constitutional rights, including access to courts, due process and fair notice. This course will introduce law students to these critical tools. We will do this by learnng the principal elements of the civil litigation process and the procedural arguments and rules that lawyers and litigants use to try to win their cases, or secure a fair proceeding, each step of the way. The subjects studied include jurisdiction, federalism, pleadings, discovery, trial, and judgments, including the effects of prior adjudication, and we will learn these subjects through a wide array of cases concerning numerous subject matter areas.