Civil Pretrial Proceedings - Professor Foley

PRETRIAL PRACTICE   - FIRST ASSIGNMENT

Professor Kevin P. Foley

The required book for Pretrial Practice is:

• Mauet, Pretrial, Ninth Edition, Aspen Publishers, Inc. (2015), ISBN 978-1-4548-5633-7. 
• National Institute of Trial Advocacy (NITA) case file: Fulbright v. Americraft Industries & Parker, 4^th Ed. - ISBN 978-1-6015-6487-0

The first assignment for the course is:

• Mauet, Pretrial, Ninth Edition, Aspen Publishers, Inc. (2015), pages 1-119.
• Read NITA case file Fulbright v Americraft and prepare a summary of file materials. (Due at the beginning of class 8/27/21)

I will be dividing the class into separate groups for Plaintiff and Defendant.  Once you are assigned a party, I will give you additional materials that are not known to the other side.  Your job is two-fold.  First, you must discover what is in the opposing side’s materials through discovery (Interrogatories, Requests for Production of Documents, Admissions, Depositions, etc.).  Second, you are required to respond to the opposing party’s discovery producing any documents if specifically requested.  If the opposing party’s request is broad, lazy or not concise, you are permitted to fashion your response to protect your materials.  However, if asked a direct question, you must respond.  Your grade will increase based on the amount of opposing party’s material you discover and the amount of your material you protected from the opposing party’s discovery.  You will lose points for material not discovered from opposing counsel and equally as important, material that is improperly withheld that will subject you to sanctions from the Court for failure to comply with discovery.  This section will teach you to make precise discovery requests and ask precise questions in depositions.  It will also teach you the importance of ethically responding to discovery while still vigorously representing your client.

Please send all assignments and email to Kfoley@reminger.com. I do not check my capital email account.