Study Guides for Law Student Success

"This well-established treatise is premised on the assumption that the key to understanding the principles of civil procedure is to know why: why the principles were created and why they are invoked. The treatise is written to answer these questions as it lays out the basic principles of civil procedure. It also reflects the authors' belief that students of civil procedure can understand and appreciate complex principles when they are clearly presented; teaching civil procedure does not require dumbing it down.
The authors use the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure as a model, but they also refer to different state rules and doctrines where appropriate in order to present a representative cross-section of state models. Although they discuss important civil procedure cases in the text, thus supporting the most widely used civil procedure casebooks using these same cases, they also provide useful references to secondary sources and illustrative cases for the reader who wants to explore further. Finally, they also treat thoroughly the most recent developments in personal jurisdiction and electronic discovery, with special attention to the latest rule changes affecting such discovery.
The resulting treatise is sophisticated, clear, and current, equally accessible and useful to students and practitioners. "

"​This book combines different strategies to allow you to master civil procedure, from subject matter jurisdiction through final judgment and appeal. It uses short chapters focused on distinct topics, flow charts and other diagrams, and also discusses the cases that the major civil procedure case books rely upon to help you prepare for class. In addition, the author actually litigated federal cases for more than 20 years, and so the book emphasizes the practical impact of the rules and case law."

"This study guide uses over 300 multiple-choice and short-answer questions to test your students' knowledge of the nature and operation of the rules that govern procedure in the federal courts in the United States. Each multiple-choice question is accompanied by a detailed answer that indicates which of four options is the best answer and explains why that option is better than the other three options. Each short-answer question (designed to be answered in no more than fifteen minutes) is followed by a thoughtful, yet brief, model answer. The 2015 Q & A: Civil Procedure, Fourth Edition also includes a comprehensive topical index.
The eBook versions of this title feature links to Lexis Advance for further legal research options. "

Description: Rules of civil procedure govern everything that happens outside of criminal proceedings. This Nutshell provides a road map to navigating civil procedure rules and helps build a foundation for understanding the overall picture. Topics discussed include how to choose the proper court, pretrial and trial preparation, adjudication, judgments, appeals, and specialized multi-party/multi-claim proceedings.

Description: Moving beyond the outline format used by most students, this book uses a checklist format to lead students through the questions they need to ask and answer to fully analyze the legal questions they are trying to resolve. It assembles the different issues, presenting a clear guide to procedural analysis that students can draw upon when writing their exams. Other study aids provide sample problems, but this book offers a systematic approach to problem solving.

Description: Of all the first-year subjects, Civil Procedure is the most foreign to students’ experience. This book will demystify Civil Procedure. It will explain the doctrine and make it easy to remember. It includes numerous tips for civil procedure exams (as well as regarding law school exams generally). Before you know it, you’ll be part of the hip crowd – the Civ Pro crowd.

Gain insight into the laws governing all of the major steps in the civil litigation process, starting with jurisdiction, venue, and ascertaining the governing law, and moving through pleading, joinder, discovery, pretrial management and adjudication, trials, appeals, and the effect and enforcement of judgments. Class actions and other forms of complex, multiparty litigation, as well as Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR), are also covered. This text addresses the major themes underlying the various rules and procedures, and it has continuing utility as a desk book in legal practice and as an entrée into deeper research.

BarBri outlines are available from Lexis. Use your Law School Lexis password.

Westlaw provides outline shells and suggested resources with their Law School Tool Kit.

The Center is best known for CALI Lessons, online interactive tutorials in legal subjects.

Please contact the reference desk at 780-4351 or lawref@maine.edu or maureen.quinlan@maine.edu
The CALI database is only available to University of Maine School of Law students.

Lessons are available to registered University of Maine School of Law students.