Posts For Practicing Lawyers

In this post, I’ll explain the plain error standard of appellate review. The plain error standard generally comes into play... Read More

Rather than summarizing a single procedural or litigation topic in this post, I’ll summarize the recent Supreme Court cases that... Read More

In this post, I’ll explain how Rule 19, addressing required parties, works. The Rules establish a number of procedures governing... Read More

In this post, I’ll explain how advisory juries work. Authorized by Rule 39(c)(1), an advisory jury listens to the evidence... Read More

In a recent post, I explored requests for admission. This post shifts to a very similar discovery device, contention interrogatories.... Read More

Requests for Admission Requests for permission are under-utilized in many cases. They are a uniquely powerful discovery tool, yet many... Read More

This post explains the procedures for making a jury trial demand—the process for a party to advise the court and... Read More

Supplemental Jurisdiction This post explores supplemental jurisdiction. At the most fundamental level, this doctrine is relatively straightforward. The concept of... Read More

2024 Amendments to the Federal Rules In April, the Supreme Court sent to Congress amendments to the Federal Rules of... Read More

This post explains the procedures for impleading a nonparty by filing a third-party complaint under Rule 14. Impleader is an... Read More