Federal Courts: Cases and Materials on Judicial Federalism and the Lawyering Process Book

This book is the product of the authors' rethinking of what a Federal Courts course can be. Although fully attentive to the deeper theoretical issues of federalism and separation of powers raised by the cases, the book also focuses on giving students the grounding they will need to be effective lawyer-litigators. The book's objective is to provide students with the doctrinal, theoretical, and practical education that will enable them to identify and strategically employ jurisdictional tools to effectively serve their clients in litigation.

Two major themes distinguish this book from others on the market:

• First, the book gives sustained and systematic attention to the role of state courts as a forum for litigation of federal issues.

• : Second, the book is grounded in the realities of litigation today -- in particular, the strong tendency of defendants in civil litigation to prefer federal court over state court. The statutory device of removal, and other issues that dominate contemporary litigation, are addressed throughout this book.

In addition, the book is organized in a way that reinforces learning and facilitates interstitial reiteration of important points. A modular design enables teachers to select particular aspects of larger topics for made-to-order course coverage.

Based on the authors' extensive classroom experience teaching Federal Courts, the book effectively integrates problems as teaching and learning tools. The problems have been carefully designed to require students to identify and apply relevant concepts from the governing law, including the cases in the book, from the perspective of a lawyer seeking to accomplish a particular goal. Many of the problems are based on recent appellate cases that the Supreme Court declined to hear. The book provides thorough coverage of the public law issues that dominate scholarly writings on federal courts, but it is also uniquely geared to preparing students to serve their clients effectively ordinary litigation.

This publication is also accompanied by the Judicial Code Supplement. A unique feature of this Supplement is the inclusion of selected provisions of other titles of the United States Code -- not just procedural provisions like the Administrative Procedure Act and the Federal Arbitration Act, but also ERISA, FELA, RICO, and other substantive statutes that bear on the issues treated in a Federal Courts course.