The burden upon every author of a legal treatise — and the blessing for every reader — is that the writing must remain current. Hence are born multiple editions of valuable texts. Unfortunately, these subsequent editions often lack the energy and timeliness of the original volumes. Not so with Business and Commercial Litigation in Federal Courts, redux.
This second edition is even better than the first, which appeared seven years ago. With the publication of this colossal eight-volume work, chief editor Robert L. Haig and 99 authors have achieved perfection in explaining almost every phase of business litigation.
When I reviewed the first edition for The Daily Record in 1999, I stated “the work is remarkable and a ‘must have’ for at least three reasons: (1) its comprehensive nature; (2) its high quality of writing including its clarity of instructions; and (3) the added bonus that much of the work can be of valuable assistance on cases outside the scope of business litigation.” I add a fourth reason that the second edition is a “must have”: there are 16 new chapters which will help any litigator remain up to date in his understanding of most aspects of commercial litigation.
The new material explores a host of pertinent and evolving subjects, including the following: case evaluation; electronic discovery; litigation avoidance and prevention; techniques for expediting and streamlining litigation; litigation technology and management; civility; director and officer liability; mergers and acquisitions; broker dealer arbitration; partnerships; commercial defamation and disparagement; commercial real estate; government entity litigation; and e-commerce.
These additions combined with previous chapters give us a small library on commercial litigation that can prove useful to just about every brand of commercial litigator out there. The writers exhaustively address the complaint; removal to federal court; class-actions; derivative actions by stockholders; litigating international disputes in federal courts; discovery strategy; admiralty and maritime law; ERISA; banking; insurance; copyrights; and just about every other topic you can think of.
As there were in the original work, the new edition includes chapters devoted to federal question jurisdiction, diversity jurisdiction and supplemental jurisdiction. Even if your case is not related to business and commercial litigation in the federal courts, these chapters, like so many of the others, will be well worth your perusal if not study.
Each chapter explains the particular litigation discussed and presents issues to consider, suggestions for filing or answering complaints, as well as sample complaints, illustrative answers, checklists and strategy considerations. A full table of contents can be viewed at http://west.thomson.com/product/15342716/product.asp.
A CD of forms and jury instructions is also available with the books. The price of $960 is well worth it. The 500 pages of forms and jury charges, in print and on the CD, are a treasure trove. As long as it is, the work can be read as primer on commercial litigation and certainly is the finest reference work of its kind.
If your choice of conflict resolution is arbitration, you will find a thorough chapter here devoted to alternative dispute resolution, with discussions on mediation and the practice of arbitration using AAA’s commercial arbitration rules. When considering your next complaint in federal court you will certainly improve your drafting if you review chapter 6, “The Complaint” by Francis Burch, Jr., James D. Mathias, and Glen K. Allen of Baltimore, Maryland.
The last volume contains tables and a thorough index that helps users quickly locate points of interest. One does not appreciate an excellent index until it is needed.
I wrote previously that while readers of this work may be challenged to absorb all they read, the editor and authors will be challenged to keep the volumes current. The editors and authors have met their challenge superbly. Readers, meet yours.