Introduction -- Essential steps in initial case handling -- Choosing the forum : subject matter jurisdiction, personal jurisdiction, and venue -- Pleading the case and joinder of claims and parties -- Service of process -- The defendant strikes back : responding on behalf of a client who has been sued -- Defaults, limbo, and pretrial dismissal -- Discovery : the balltle for information -- The right to a jury trial and summary judgment -- Pretrial considerations -- Procedures at trial -- Post-trial motions and knowing the deadline for appeal
