Business and Commercial Litigation In Federal Courts.

• Author: Richard, Barry
• Position: Review

Business and Commercial Litigation In Federal Courts (Robert L. Haig ed.)

I am asked from time to time which field of law I consider the most interesting. The answer is easy: complex commercial litigation. No other field offers the same degree of variety and challenge. Under the umbrella of commercial litigation falls a myriad of subject areas which continues to increase as new technologies and commercial enterprises develop. Add the federal forum to the mix and the litigation becomes a multilevel chess game.

The same factors which make federal commercial litigation interesting and challenging also pose burdensome obstacles for the commercial litigator. The general practitioner must frequently become an authority on new fields, and even the specialist must be prepared to recognize and deal with unfamiliar territory now and then. Case preparation often involves resort to numerous unrelated sources of authority which is tedious for the lawyer and costly for the client. Now West Group and the ABA Section of Litigation have collaborated on an ambitious project to make life easier for the federal commercial litigator. They have succeeded.

Business and Commercial Litigation In Federal Courts brings together in six volumes the work product of 152 authors composed of federal commercial litigators in active practice and sitting federal judges. The 80 chapters are designed to concisely but thoroughly cover the most frequently litigated areas of federal commercial practice. Throughout the treatise, special consideration is given to matters unique to federal practice, with emphasis on strategy considerations as well as the latest developments in procedural and substantive law.

The format is logical and user friendly. The material is essentially presented in two parts. The first, comprising 52 chapters in the first three volumes and a portion of the fourth, follows the procedural and strategic aspects of preparation and presentation of a case in order of occurrence. Beginning with jurisdiction and venue, the chapters proceed through investigation of the case, pleadings and motions, discovery and trial, post trial enforcement, and appeals to the courts of appeals and the United States Supreme Court. The last 28 chapters are devoted to substantive law. Each substantive law chapter contains a checklist of essential allegations and defenses and an illustrative complaint. Some chapters contain sample jury instructions. Pleadings and instructions are also...