Manual for complex litigation trird / Estados Unidos. Federal Judicial Center

This manual is divided into four parts. Part I. contains a brief description of the purpose and use of the manual. Part II, " Management of Complex Litigation,, discusses basic principles of effective management of complex litigation and then describes various procedures for their implementation as the litigation moves through the pretrial phase, issue definition, dicovery, motion practice, and preparation for trial and to summary disposition, settlement, or trial. Part III discusses the application of management techniques and procedures to particular types of complex civil and criminal litigation. The reader interested in a particular kind of action may wish to begin by reviewing the applicable sections in this part before consulting the generic material in Part II. Part IV contains litigation checklists and sample orders and forms. Th eorganization of this manual belies the fact that its subject matter is not neatly divisible into distinct topics. Finally, although the manual is textually directed at the federal courts, the thechniques and procedures may be useful in state courts as well, particularly in view of the convergence that is occurring in related litigation pending in both state and federal court systems.