Teaching the Law School Curriculum - Institute for Law Teaching ...

Introduction to the Civil Procedure Puzzle
Civil Procedure 19
Approach
In assembling a jigsaw puzzle, it is most important that you see the entire puzzle. The individual pieces are
meaningless unless you are familiar with the final product. Civil procedure is somewhat similar. To most students
the individual steps or pieces are meaningless unless they have some idea as to how these pieces relate to the
whole game of litigating disputes through the court system. Thus, in commencing a course in civil procedure, I
will quickly take the students through the entire process so that when we look at the individual pieces in greater
depth they will have an appreciation of how the piece relates to the whole process. I will also point out that the
puzzle solver is the lawyer and begin to get them to focus on why the lawyer did what she did.
I introduce an overview of civil litigation by first pointing out that there are two basic systems in operation,
a state system and a federal system. The choice as to the system will depend on how the puzzle solver, or lawyer,
designs the lawsuit.
I go through the process using three tools. First, the book: I use Civil Procedure (5th ed.) by Yeasel, which has an
introductory overview section. (Note: Many books have this. See Subrin, Minnow, Brodin, and Main.) I use this text
mostly as background to explain and to further elaborate my class discussion. The second tool I use is a hypothetical
involving an individual (Sam Smoker) with a dispute against a large company (R.J. Reynolds). (Note: This hypothetical
was originally devised by my colleague, Mark Brodin.) I begin with Sam and explore his initial options,
i.e., can he call Reynolds and say their cigarettes injured him? This discussion points out the complexity of the system
and the need for a lawyer. Ultimately, Sam goes to a lawyer who decides whether or not to sue. Then he decides
whom to sue and where to sue. Suit is ultimately filed and we talk about each of the steps along the process through
appeal. This usually takes no more than two classes. While doing the Sam hypo, they will be reading The Buffalo Creek
Disaster by Gerald Stern, a story about a lawsuit involving a coal mining disaster. Using The Buffalo Creek Disaster, I
will take them through the same pre-trial steps that Sam Smoker went through. Since most of our emphasis in Civil
Procedure involves pre-trial issues, they see for a second time such issues as choosing whom to sue and where.
(Throughout the course when I introduce a new topic I will often utilize a Buffalo Creek Disaster hypothetical.)
The overview gives the students a better appreciation of how the various topics that make up a course in civil
procedure interrelate to one another and their role in the design of the lawsuit.
A Problem-Based Approach Using Real Court Documents
Robert M. Bloom, Boston College Law School
I approach Civil Procedure as a problem-based course and work problems into class discussion on a regular
basis. My use of problems includes both shorter hypotheticals, such as a series of Rule 8 notice pleading problems,
and scheduled “Problem Days,” where the entire class revolves around a particular problem. In addition,
because I managed as a law student to not see a real complaint until my third year, my Problem Days are almost
always based on real pleadings from federal and state courts, doctored to eliminate unnecessarily complicated issues
and the names of the parties and the attorneys involved. In the course of a year of Civil Procedure, therefore,
my students see real-life legal problems on the following issues: (1) federal notice pleading compared to
state fact pleading (Oregon, where I began teaching law, is a fact-pleading state); (2) the differences between the
various Rule 12 motions; (3) amended pleading and relation back; (4) essential parties; (5) summary judgment;
(6) jurisdiction and venue; (7) removal; (8) the Erie doctrine; and (9) right to a jury trial. In addition, at the end
of the class discussion, I often distribute the actual court opinion on the case my students have just been wrestling
with. In addition to validating their own reasoning, the court opinion often cites to cases the students have been
reading — especially in the jurisdiction, venue, Erie, and jury trial problems — and thus gives my students a much