Study Guides for 1L Classes

The Center for Computer-Assisted Legal Instruction (CALI) provides are computer-based, interactive tutorials that cover narrow topics of law. There are over 1,200 lessons available on 60 different topics. Current W&L Law students can click here for the Authorization Code to sign up for a free account.

The Lexis Digital Library is an e-book collection of primary and secondary legal materials, plus a range of study aids for law school subjects from LexisNexis. Contains over 700 titles on 60+ legal topics, including the Understanding, Skills & Values, and Questions & Answers study aids series. Complimentary access is provided by the W&L Law Library to current W&L Law students.

West Academic offers hundreds of study aids written by top legal scholars that are designed to help you succeed in law school, including Nutshells, Hornbooks, Black Letter Outlines, Sum and Substance Audio Lectures, and more. All are free to view online or download to your mobile device with a valid W&L Law account through the linked heading above.

Online access available through West Academic. 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.

Online access available through West Academic. This outline summarizes the black-letter rules of civil procedure. It covers general considerations, litigating step-by-step, authority to adjudicate, complex litigation, governing law, and former adjudication. It allows students to understand how their course materials fit together, doing so by conveying a conception of civil procedure-the relationships among the ideas and the law that constitute the subject. This book is carefully designed and written as a study aid in preparing for classes and as a review aid in studying for examinations, containing all the many special features that characterize the highly successful Black Letter Series of books, such as a glossary and sample examination questions and answers.

Online access available through West Academic. This outline covers: structure of the judicial system; choosing the forum - personal jurisdiction; choosing the forum - subject matter jurisdiction; removal of litigation from state court to federal court; venue; forum non conveniens; ascertaining applicable law (Erie doctrine); procedural due process and prejudgment seizures; commencing the action - notice and service of process; pleadings (plausible pleading standard; complaint, answer, reply); amendment of pleadings; attorney sanctions; joinder of parties and claims; cross claims and counterclaims; intervention; interpleader; obtaining information prior to trial - discovery (discovery mechanisms; protective orders; privileges and immunities; discovery sanctions); resolution without trial (voluntary and involuntary dismissal; summary judgment); pretrial judicial case management; trial (including right to trial by jury; trial motions; post-trial motions); appellate review (including mandamus and collateral order doctrine); and the binding, preclusive effects of judgments (res judicata; collateral estoppel; intersystem preclusion).

Popular casebook author and bar review lecturer Richard Freer makes the complex principles of civil procedure accessible for students and practitioners in this treatise. Filled with hundreds of examples, the book integrates legal doctrine with factual analysis. The book breaks the doctrines of civil procedure into easy-to-understand components, and then brings them together to show how they form a comprehensive body of law.

Online access available through West Academic. 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.

Online access available through West Academic. BARBRI & West Academic’s Cold Call Companion provides you with resources to critically analyze and brief a case, distill the main points of law, prepare for the kinds of questions professors may ask in class, and so much more.

Online access available through West Academic. 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: jurisdiction, venue, and other court-selection issues; pleading, discovery, summary judgment, and other pretrial matters; adjudication, judgments, and appeals; multi-party/multi-claim proceedings, including class actions and multidistrict litigation; plus standing, the Erie doctrine, arbitration, and other important procedural issues.

Online access available through West Academic. This book analyzes legal procedure as part of a complicated interaction between private ordering and public intervention. The central thrust of this book is to examine the overall structure of public dispute resolution through six basic concepts: 1. rudimentary fairness and the trade off between equity and efficiency; 2. defining the parameters of a dispute in terms of the presentation of issues and the obtaining of information; 3. defining the scope of the dispute in terms of parties, particularly as the judicial system confronts increasingly complex litigation; 4. defining the power of the courts; 5. securing finality; and 6. the costs of procedure.

Any law school graduate will tell you that when picking your outline tool you need to pick the best because your outlines are the most important study tool you will use throughout your law school career. Developed by legendary study aid author Steve Emanuel, Emanuel® Law Outlines (ELOs) are the #1 outline choice among law students. An ELO ensures that you understand the concepts as you learn them in class and helps you study for exams throughout the semester.

Online access available through West Academic. The new edition contains five objective exams in civil procedure with a total of 125 objective questions. Each exam consists of 25 objective problems followed by five multiple-choice answers. Each problem is based on recently decided federal district or appellate court decisions. Exam Pro provides the answers and a detailed analysis to enhance understanding of civil procedure. The tear-out answer sheets simulate exam conditions.This edition reflects the typical course coverage in the now standard four credit-hour, one semester civil procedure course. The exam problems have been updated to reflect recent Supreme Court decisions on civil procedure issues, as well as recent amendments to the Federal Rules that became effective December 2015.

With this ninth edition of Civil Procedure: Examples & Explanations, Joseph Glannon's uniquely entertaining style teaches and engages students in all aspects of the first-year Civil Procedure course. Accessible introductions and explanations combined with a proven pedagogy in the popular Examples & Explanations format that is effective for learning and applying the fundamental concepts and rules covered in the Civil Procedure course. New to the Ninth Edition: A chapter that covers the full range of proper bases for personal jurisdiction.

Online access available through West Academic. This thorough, full-color, easy-to-follow set of logic maps guides users visually through the structure and nuances of federal civil procedure—including the function and operation of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, personal jurisdiction, federal subject-matter jurisdiction with removal/remand, federal venue, justiciability, the Erie doctrine, and claim and issue preclusion (res judicata and collateral estoppel). Using graphical and color cues, these logic maps provide readers with a linear, methodical orientation to connections between essential concepts in federal civil practice.

Online access available through West Academic. This short book summarizes the law of federal civil procedure. It uses diagrams and charts to provide a fresh look at civil procedure concepts. It will help the first-year law student grasp civil procedure principles, fill gaps in the practitioners' knowledge, and provide a quick-start tool for civil procedure research. The author is a law professor and experienced practitioner who teaches civil procedure at Tulane Law School.

In the Eighth Edition of Federal Jurisdiction, luminary author Erwin Chemerinsky unpacks the black letter law and underlying policy issues of his subject with the clarity and penetrating insight for which he is renowned. An accessible and thorough exposition of the laws, issues, and policies that determine the jurisdiction of federal courts-- students know they can rely on Federal Jurisdiction, Eighth Edition to inform and enrich their understanding of the cases and materials covered in this course.

Online access available through West Academic. The topics discussed in this law-school study outline include territorial (personal) jurisdiction (including venue and forum non conveniens) and subject-matter jurisdiction (covering diversity jurisdiction, federal-question jurisdiction, removal and supplemental jurisdiction). The Summary provides an accessible explanation of the Erie doctrine and federal common law. It introduces contemporary doctrine on pleadings (including counterclaims, crossclaims, amendments and supplemental pleadings) and joinder of parties (including joinder and class actions).

A Guide to Civil Procedure aims to serve as one such tool by centering questions of systemic injustice in the teaching, learning, and practice of civil procedure. Featuring an outstanding group of diverse scholars, the contributors illustrate how law school curriculums often ignore issues such as race, gender, disability, class, immigration status, and sexual orientation. Too often, students view the #MeToo movement, Black Lives Matter, immigration/citizenship controversy, or LGBTQ+ issues as mere footnotes to their legal education, often leading to the marginalization of many students and the production of graduates that do not view issues of systemic injustice as central to their profession. A Guide to Civil Procedure reveals how procedure is, and always has been, a central pressure point in the struggle to eradicate structural inequality and oppression through the courts. This book will give students and scholars alike a more complex view of their roles as attorneys, sharpen their litigation skills, and provide a stronger sense of community and purpose in the law school classroom.

Online access available through West Academic. This title contains briefs for each major case in Friedenthal’s casebook on Civil Procedure. The briefs will help readers identify, understand, and absorb the core knowledge points from each case. They are followed by legal analysis, providing contextual background about each case, and connecting the case to the broader concepts developed throughout the book. This title also supplies case vocabulary, with definitions of new or unusual legal words found throughout the cases.

Online access available through West Academic. This title contains briefs for each major case in Glannon’s casebook on Civil Procedure. These briefs will help you identify, understand, and absorb the core knowledge points from each case. They are followed by legal analysis, providing contextual background about each case, and connecting the case to the broader concepts developed throughout the casebook. This title also supplies case vocabulary, with definitions of new or unusual legal words found throughout the cases. Finally, to enhance your recall, there is a corresponding memory graphic for each brief that portrays a visual representation of the relevant facts or law of the case.

Online access available through West Academic. This product contains well-prepared briefs for each major case in Subrin's casebook on civil procedure. High Court briefs are written to present the essential facts, issue, decision, and rationale for each case in a clear, concise manner. These briefs will help readers to identify, understand, and absorb the key points from each case. The briefs are followed by a legal analysis, which provides extra tips and contextual background about each case, connecting the case to the broader concepts in the casebook.

Online access available through West Academic. This title contains briefs for each major case in Yeazell's casebook on Civil Procedure. These briefs will help you identify, understand, and absorb the core knowledge points from each case. They are followed by legal analysis, providing contextual background about each case, and connecting the case to the broader concepts developed throughout the casebook. This title also supplies case vocabulary, with definitions of new or unusual legal words found throughout the cases.

Online access available through West Academic. This title contains briefs for each major case in Marcus, Redish, Pfander, and Zambrano's casebook on Civil Procedure. The briefs will help readers identify, understand, and absorb the core knowledge points from each case. They are followed by legal analysis, providing contextual background about each case, and connecting the case to the broader concepts developed throughout the book. This title also supplies case vocabulary, with definitions of new or unusual legal words found throughout the cases.

Inside Civil Procedure: What Matters and Why, like a great teacher, helps law students understand civil procedure clearly and deeply. Unlike oversimplified outlines or lengthy treatises, it actually teaches with clear explanations and features designed to help students master the material. By the end of each chapter, students will have a clear understanding of not only how the rules and doctrines work, but also how the pieces of the puzzle fit together. Overviews set up each topic FAQs give straight answers to questions and clear up common mistakes and misconceptions. Sidebars offer insights, study tips, and practice pointers. Step-by-step analyses demonstrate how to apply the material. Chapter summaries provide quick review guides. Connections helps students fit the material with other topics in civil procedure.

Looking to quiz yourself and review important definitions, hypotheticals, and black letter law throughout the semester and at exam time? Emanuel® Law in a Flash cards are ideal for reviewing legal topics point by point during any time of the semester. Each card has a question on one side and a concise answer on the reverse side.

Online access available through West Academic. This audio lecture covers subject matter jurisdiction, personal jurisdiction, long arm statutes, and constitutional limitations. It also discusses in rem and quasi in rem jurisdiction, service of process, venue, transfer, forum non conviens, removal, waiver, governing law, pleadings, and joinder of claims. Also included are permissive and compulsory joinder of parties, counterclaims and cross-claims, ancillary jurisdiction, impleader, class actions, discovery, pretrial adjudication, summary judgment trial, post trial motions, appeals, res judicata, and collateral estoppel. The lecture references all the newly restyled Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.

Online access available through West Academic. The West Academic Office Hours series is a collection of short audio and video tracks that tackle some of the thorniest questions plaguing law students. The professors answer students' most frequently asked office hour questions.

Online access available through West Academic. This Concise Hornbook covers the main points of civil procedure that any student needs to understand, and covers them briefly but thoroughly enough to be understandable. It focuses on the material covered in a typical law school course on civil procedure, tied to no one casebook. It discusses specific problems and illustrations, with the aid of generously sprinkled diagrams and special text boxes. Special attention was given to fitting the civil procedure course's main points together to form the big picture, with each topic ending in a section on the "big idea" (separation of powers, vertical federalism, horizontal federalism, full faith and credit, or procedural due process) that the student is supposed to take from the topic.

Online access available through the Lexis Digital Library. Questions and Answers: Civil Procedure is a supplementary text for use primarily by first-year civil procedure students to obtain a clear understanding of the subject. The book is divided into easy-to-find subject areas so students can pinpoint the questions where they need more review. For students seeking a comprehensive review of civil procedure, the book also includes a sample exam covering a wide array of civil procedure subjects. This edition of the book builds on the foundation established in the first four editions, by revising and updating the topics covered to include new developments in the law. It also includes coverage of all the civil procedure subject areas covered on the Multistate Bar Examination.

Online access available through West Academic. Of the first-year subjects, Civil Procedure is the most foreign to students' experience. This book unlocks Civil Procedure by explaining doctrine and rules and placing them in context - explaining the role of each and how each doctrine relates to the others. It includes a chapter on how law school differs from college and what that means for class- and exam-preparation. It provides concrete analytical frameworks for resolving exam questions. And throughout, scores of examples allow you to apply the law to fact patterns.

Like most supplements, the Student’s Guide supplies the primary material your students need—the text of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (as amended through December 1, 2024), the frequently-consulted sections of the U.S. Judiciary Code (as amended through February 1, 2025), and the text of the U.S. Constitution. But where most supplements stop, A Student’s Guide continues on…. What many students often find challenging in studying Civil Procedure—and what is less likely to be found in either a casebook or a conventional study aid—is an understanding of how each Rule fits into the master scheme of federal civil practice generally. A Student’s Guide offers students that very guidance. Three features follow the text of each Rule: "How This Rule Fits In" explains for students the broad context of each Rule and the role each plays in federal civil practice;
"The Architecture of this Rule" guides students in unpacking the structure of those Rules that are especially long and confusing; “How This Rule Works in Practice” helps students understand each Rule’s application, subpart by subpart, in the real-world, practical life of practicing attorneys.

Online access available through West Academic. Convenient and effective, Sum and Substance Audio Set on Civil Procedure, 8th presents the essentials of civil procedure in a clear, succinct, time-saving format. Includes quick reference indexing, allowing you to quickly locate all topics in the recording, and informed exam tips to help maximize your performance. Sections discuss: clusters of procedure, citizenship, traditional basis of jurisdiction, constitutional principles, illustrative application, federal court jurisdiction, service of process, venue principles, pleading, sanctions, joinder, counterclaims, class actions, discovery, summary judgment, trial, jury trial, posttrial motions, new trial motions, motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict, collateral estoppel, and appeals.

Online access available through the Lexis Digital Library. 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. 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, among the most dynamic topics in modern procedure.