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Introduction To A Festschrift Honoring Professor Rhonda Wasserman, Deborah L. Brake

Articles

Rhonda Wasserman joined the faculty of the University of Pittsburgh School of Law in 1986, after graduating from Yale Law School and practicing law in New York City for three years. She has been a powerhouse on the Pitt Law faculty for three and a half decades. In that time, she served in many roles, including Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and, outside the law school, Reporter to the Local Rules Committee of the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania. She has been recognized with numerous titles and honors, such as John E. Murray Faculty Scholar, …

Pro Se Appellants: Opportunities For Law Libraries, Liz Reppe

Dickinson Law Review (2017-Present)

This article is part of the 2018 Dickinson Law Review Symposium entitled “Access to Justice: Innovations and Challenges in Providing Assistance to Pro Se Litigants.” The author is the state law librarian for Minnesota who reports to the Minnesota Supreme Court. This article surveys various resources that Minnesota provides to unrepresented clients, including the website resources found here: https://perma.cc/R2DP-K9YB. The bulk of the article, however, focuses on Minnesota’s innovative in-person “Appeals Self-Help Clinics.” See https://perma.cc/Y2VN-H2L3.

The article’s discussion of Minnesota’s Appeals Self-Help Clinics begins by highlighting some of the factors that provided the impetus for the development …

Erie Step Zero, Alexander A. Reinert

Faculty Articles

Courts and commentators have assumed that the Erie doctrine, while originating in diversity cases, applies in all cases whatever the basis for federal jurisdiction. Thus, when a federal court asserts jurisdiction over pendent state law claims through the exercise of supplemental jurisdiction in a federal question case, courts regularly apply the Erie doctrine to resolve conflict between federal and state law. This Article shows why this common wisdom is wrong.

To understand why, it is necessary to return to Erie’s goals, elaborated over time by the U.S. Supreme Court. Erie and its progeny are steeped in diversity-driven policy concerns: concerns …

Introduction To The Civil Procedure Puzzle, Robert Bloom

Robert Bloom

No abstract provided.

They Were Meant For Each Other: Proffessor Edward Cooper And The Rules Enabling Act, Anthony J. Scirica, Mark R. Kravitz, David F. Levi, Lee H. Rosenthal

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Thinking, Big And Small, Stephen B. Burbank

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

California Practicum: A Guide To Coordination Of Civil Actions In California, Darren L. Brooks

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

A Reflection On American Justice At A Crossroads: A Public And Private Crisis, Maureen A. Weston

Pepperdine Dispute Resolution Law Journal

In April, 2010, a prominent group of judges, attorneys, academics, private dispute resolution professionals, and policymakers gathered to reflect upon the current state and future of the American justice system. A symposium entitled American Justice at a Crossroads: A Public and Private Crisis was held at Pepperdine University School of Law under the joint sponsorship of the Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution, the Pepperdine Dispute Resolution Law Journal, and the International Institute for Conflict Prevention and Resolution (CPR Institute). This special symposium edition of the Journal is comprised of select papers and speeches presented at that event and provide thoughtful …

Economical Litigation Agreements: The "Civil Litigation Prenup" Need, Basis, And Enforceability , Daniel B. Winslow, Alexandra Bedell-Healy

Pepperdine Dispute Resolution Law Journal

This article identifies the basis and limits of the parties' abilities to define and enforce discovery in an ex ante contract. Despite the deficiencies of litigation, the free, public dispute resolution forum of the civil justice system provides significant value in commercial disputes. That value can be used to maximum mutual advantage only if parties replace the infinite discovery permitted in conventional litigation with the finite discovery contracted in Economical Litigation Agreement (ELA) litigation. This article will help parties to understand the benefit and enforceability of the ELA.

Keynote Address: Civil Justice At A Crossroads , Rebecca Love Kourlis

Pepperdine Dispute Resolution Law Journal

I really do believe that, as your title suggests, the civil justice system is at a crossroads and that, as a result, we all have new opportunities and old responsibilities. Four years ago, concerns about skyrocketing costs, unprofessional gamesmanship, and long delays in civil litigation were the stuff of grousing and shoulder shrugs. We all had a level of fatalism or cynicism about our inability to change any of those factors. Now, that is not true. There is a window of opportunity that has opened-a convergence of various forces resulting in a willingness of decision-makers to consider change. As a …

A Wise Man Of The Law, Anthony J. Scirica

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Saving Civil Justice: Judging Civil Justice, Elizabeth G. Thornburg

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

No abstract provided.

It's All About The People: Creating A "Community Of Memory" In Civil Procedure Ii, Part One, Jennifer E. Spreng

Jennifer E Spreng

In Fall 2008, a nascent classroom community emerged among my Civil Procedure students, teaching assistants and I. That term’s adventure eventually became the vital “past” for the fully formed community that would knit students of future classes together as one.

The genesis of this early classroom community was my ideal of “the good lawyer” as the small-firm or small-jurisdiction practitioner I had known as a seven-year solo practitioner in a town of 50,000 people. That ideal was a combination of “the rhythms of the law” that run throughout the specialties; a more respectful and less stratified model of professionalism, and …

Jury Trial And The Principles Of Transnational Civil Procedure, Geoffrey C. Hazard Jr.

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Introduction To The Civil Procedure Puzzle, Robert Bloom

Robert M. Bloom

No abstract provided.

Lawyers On The Auction Block: Evaluation And Selection Of Class Counsel By Auction, Jill E. Fisch

All Faculty Scholarship

The lead counsel auction has attracted increasing attention. Auction advocates argue that auctions introduce competitive market forces that improve the selection and compensation of class counsel. The benefits of the auction, the;' claim, include lower legal fees and better representation. Careful scrutiny reveals that auction advocates have overlooked substantial methodological problems with the design and implementation of the lead counsel auction. Even if these problems were overcome, the auction procedure is flawed: Auctions are poor tools for selecting firms based on multiple criteria, compromise the judicial role, and are unlikely to produce reasonable fee awards. Although the existing record is …

Semtek, Forum Shopping, And Federal Common Law, Stephen B. Burbank

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The Report Of The Third Circuit Task Force On Federal Rule Of Civil Procedure 11: An Update, Stephen B. Burbank

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Hold The Corks: A Comment On Paul Carrington's "Substance" And "Procedure" In The Rules Enabling Act, Stephen B. Burbank

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Sanctions In The Proposed Amendments To The Federal Rules Of Civil Procedure: Some Questions About Power, Stephen B. Burbank

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.