Book Review, 0818 UTBJ, Vol. 31, No. 4. 46

AuthorRobert L Haig, J.
PositionVol. 31 4 Pg. 46

Book Review

Vol. 31 No. 4 Pg. 46

Utah Bar Journal

August, 2018

July, 2018

Business and Commercial Litigation in Federal Courts, Fourth Edition

Robert L Haig, J.

Reviewed by Matthew I. lalli

Several years ago someone gave me a gag gift, a small tin box, about 4x6 inches, with an elaborately painted label, "Law School in a Box." On one end of the box is a price list, almost certainly outdated now, comparing the cost of law school at a few top universities to the cost of Law School in a Box at $ 14.95. Inside, there is a booklet titled "Law School in % Pages" filled with tongue-in-cheek sections like "talking the talk" and "Latin terminology." When I received the gift, I instantly appreciated the joke on multiple levels. It was a joke about the value of law school, the cost of law school, and what many find to be the lack of any practical application to the practice of law. Mostly, the notion that three years of lectures, I intense study, sometimes ruthless competition, esoteric exam questions, and training to "think like a lawyer" could be encapsulated into a 4 x 6 tin box is, well, funny. I keep the Law School in a Box on a shelf in my office as a constant reminder of the miles one travels in the law not only through law school but over a long career in practice.

When I received the two large boxes filled with fourteen volumes of the Fourth Edition of Business and Commercial Litigation In Federal Courts, my first thought- all jokes aside - was this really is federal court litigation practice in a box. There are numerous valuable treatises in the law, but none so comprehensive yet so focused as this.

The range of topics in this Fourth Edition is vast, starting in volumes one and two with the procedural basics of subject matter and personal jurisdiction, removal, joinder and consolidation, multidistrict litigation, provisional remedies, and class actions. Volumes three and four cover practice pointers in discovery, including interrogatories, depositions, and experts; various kinds of motions, such as summary judgments and motions in limine; and trial, with detailed chapters on trial strategy, opening statements and closing arguments. Volumes five and six cover jury instructions and verdicts, various damages I and remedies, arbitration and mediation, court costs, sanctions, appeals, and various techniques for managing and streamlining litigation.

The remainder of the treatise...

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