Chapter 26: The American Civil Trial in Outline

As in ________, the basic purpose of discovery is to ensure that both sides have adequate knowledge of the evidence known to the other.

________ is the use of a third party by agreement to decide disputes between the plaintiff and defendant, in lieu of hearing the dispute in courts.

In the ________, discovery is managed almost entirely by the counsel for the parties.

________ is the use of a neutral third party to assist in negotiation.

If the ________ is entered for the defendant, the court enters an order dismissing the case.

The ________ is probably better known than any other to both lawyers and nonlawyers across the globe.

________ are usually made by the losing party.

________ is regulated by constitutional provisions, statutes, national and local court rules, and judicial decisions, but the bulk of this regulation comes from court rules.

The ________ includes researching and considering not only what doctrines of law might have been violated by the other party but also what remedies might be available against that party for those violations.

Although ________ begins with the service of a pleading by the plaintiff upon the defendant, in a manner of speaking the litigation begins much earlier- when the person, which may be a government or corporation, an individual, or a group, first discusses its problems with its lawyers.

subject to considerable bodies of interpretative judicial precedent

Initial Investigation, Drafting and Service of Pleadings, Preliminary Motions, Discovery, Summary Motions, Pretrial Conference, Jury Selection, Trial, Jury Instruction, Verdict and Judgment, Post-trial Motions, Appeal, Execution, Settlements and Alternative Dispute Resolution

and inquiry-by judges in the civilian system at this stage is very rare indeed in the common law