For well-experienced lawyers, the Federal Civil Procedure Manual provides a comprehensive treatment of civil procedural law in federal courts that an attorney or judge can rely on for quick answers to discrete issues. For new attorneys, it provides a complete blueprint for commencing and working through a case in court. The copious and very recent caselaw updates provide authoritative sources that go into great detail about the designated issues.
The Manual was first created by authors who were deeply involved in the amendment process for virtually all the Civil Rules. The updated and improved second edition now brings the talents of a new author to hand, a Harvard Law School alum and recipient of multiple teaching awards at Campbell University School of Law, Law Professor Marcus Gadson. He is a deeply respected scholar in civil procedure and state constitutional law issues. He was voted Professor of the Year three times by his students. Now he has channeled his skills into the new second edition, which includes.
1. The amendments made to the federal rules since the last edition was published in 2015.
2. The significant changes the U.S. Supreme Court has made to personal and subject matter jurisdiction since 2015;
3. Areas of procedure unexplored by the previous edition such as pendent venue and supplemental personal jurisdiction;
4. More comprehensive treatment of the development of pleading standards in the wake of Ashcroft v. Iqbal and Bell Atlantic v. Twombly; and explanation of how lower courts are interpreting these decisions;
5. More comprehensive treatment of choice of law issues;
6. Discussion of Shady Grove Orthopedic Associates, P.A. v. Allstate Ins. Co., and explanation of how lower courts have applied that decision,
and
7. Recent caselaw for every major topic even when there have not been large doctrinal shifts since the previous edition.
The Federal Civil Procedure Manual, second edition, remains a clear, concise and comprehensive reference work that will be of great use to the new lawyer, seasoned lawyer, and judge alike.
Marcus A. Gadson is an assistant professor of law at Campbell University in Raleigh, North Carolina where he has won several teaching awards for his courses in Civil Procedure. He has published law review articles dealing with Civil Procedure in the Michigan Law Review, U.C.L.A. Law Review, Georgetown Law Journal, and the Washington Law Review. He also serves on the Local Rules Advisory Committee for the Eastern District of North Carolina.
