General Resources:  Chapters from Open Educational Resources Legal Environment of Business textbooks

Reading:  Litigation, Ch. 3 from The Legal and Ethical Environment of Business by Lau and Johnson.

Reading:  Litigation and Alternative Dispute Resolution, Unit 2 from the Business Law textbook by the Saylor Academy.

Readings and Videos:  Civil Litigation from Prof. Jason Gordon.  This opens an Introduction to Civil Litigation video, with subsequent links to each stage of the litigation process.

Video:  Introduction to the Legal System:  The Role of the Attorney (8:09).  Prof Ida Jones looks at the role of the attorney in civil and criminal cases, as well as the attorney’s role in preventing legal issues.  She also explores attorney fees, attorney-client privilege, and how to hire an attorney.

Cost-Benefit Analysis of Deciding to File a Lawsuit

Reading:  How to decide if your Civil Case is worth the expense of a trial.  Posted by the law firm of Arenstein and Anderson in 2013, this short reading discusses some of the expenses of litigation (e.g., hourly and contingent attorney fees), the uncertainty of winning, and some of the benefits of ADR.

Reading:  Cost Benefit Criteria in American Litigation.  The law firm of Stimmel, Stimmel, and Roeser provides a deeper examination of the costs of litigation, starting about halfway down the page.  They also consider the cost of counter-claims, the likelihood of recovering a judgment if the plaintiff wins, the possibility of collateral damage such as damage to the client’s reputation, and the benefits of ADR.

Reading:  A Legal Costs-Benefit Analysis — What is It?  An Australian law firm posted this short blog in 2021.  It can also help you understand some of the monetary and non-economic costs associated with filing a lawsuit.

The Litigation Process 

Reading:  Steps in a Civil Case (from Business Law Basics).  This reading provides an overview of each stage in the litigation process, as well as brief explanations of several common motions made before, during, and after a trial.  It also introduces you to alternative dispute resolution.  You might find it useful before you watch any of the videos below on specific topics or after you’ve studied the module to reinforce what you’ve learned!

Video:  Primer on the Litigation Process (12:24) In the first two minutes of this video prepared for first-year law students, Professor Upchurch discusses appellate court decisions.  She begins discussing the litigation process at 2:00 minutes, explaining each stage very clearly and simply, with easy to understand graphics.  At 10:30, she turns to the different roles played by the judge and a jury in a civil trial.

Video:  Introduction to Civil Litigation by Prof Jason Gordon (7:17).  This is the opening video to Prof Gordon’s unit on Civil Litigation (identified in the General Resources above).

Reading:  The Civil Litigation Process Explained in Steps.  This short article, posted by the law firm TorHoerman Law, explains the litigation process from jurisdiction and venue (that you learned about in the previous module) through appeal.

Reading/Website:  How Courts Work:  Steps in a Trial.  This website created by the American Bar Association’s Division for Public Education provides a short, clear explanation of pleadings.  Beneath this discussion, you’ll find links to similar brief explanations of jury selection, trial (opening statements, introduction of evidence, examination and cross-examination, motions during trial, closing arguments, jury instruction deliberation, and verdict), post-trial motions, judgment, and appeal, noting the differences between civil and criminal trials.

Pleadings

Video:  Process of Filing a Lawsuit (4:13).  Attorney David Henson provides a basic overview of a personal injury lawsuit for prospective clients who might be seeking an attorney, from complaint to judgment.  He notes that in North Carolina, the parties participate in court-ordered mediation between discovery and trial to see if they can resolve the dispute without a trial.

Video:  What is an Answer to a Complaint?  (3:47)  This video produced by USLawEssentials uses simple drawings and clear explanations to illustrate the components of a complaint in a fraud case (sale of a “masterpiece” painting) and the defendant’s answer, admitting, denying or stating that she is without knowledge to each of the statements in the complaint.

Video:  Pleadings and Motions (15:22).  This animated video produced by LawShelf provides a very good explanation of complaints, answers, and other pleadings, as well as a very brief summary of motions to dismiss, which are filed at the pleadings stage.  LawShelf, which is owned by the National Paralegal College, has produced more than 650 educational videos on the law — many of them pertinent to this course.  If you find this one helpful, check out some of their other videos on YouTube if you encounter concepts you don’t understand in other modules.

Reading and Video:  (7:15)  Filing Small Claims Cases in Fulton County, GA Magistrate’s Court.  The Honorable Cassandra Kirk, Chief Magistrate Judge in Fulton County, explains the process for filing small claims lawsuits.

Discovery

Video:  What is Discovery in a Lawsuit? (1:43).  Attorney Damon Duncan provides you with an overview of depositions, interrogatories and admissions in this very short video.

Video:  Major Discovery Tools (4:29).  This video prepared for paralegal students provides a more detailed look at depositions, interrogatories, and requests for production of documents, three tools available under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.

Pre-trial Motions

Video:  What is summary judgment?  (2:29)  After the discovery process, a party might move for summary judgment, arguing that because the parties don’t dispute the facts of what happened, a trial is unnecessary.  This video by USLawEssentials explains when and why the judge might grant this motion through the use of a simple example.

Video:   What is Judgment as a Matter of Law?  (3:45)   This USLawEssentials video explains what a JMOL is and how it can be ordered either before the case goes to the jury (sometimes called a directed verdict at this stage) and why a party might request JMOL.

Jury Selection

Video:  Before Juror Service produced by Gwinnett County Courts (6:41)

Video:  This is what they ask you in jury duty- real questions (8:50).  An attorney explains voir dire, including the types of questions that prospective jurors are likely to be asked.

Video:  Voir Dire:  The Jury Selection Process (8:15).  The attorney in this video asks one or more prospective jurors what evidence would they need to see or hear to decide for his client while watching the other jurors, so that he can tailor his presentation of his client’s case during trial.

Video:  Voir Dire in Action (5:00).  This video is an excerpt from a longer video prepared for prospective jurors in an Arizona county.  The full mock jury selection takes about 75 minutes.

Video:  A Breakdown of the Juror Selection Process (2:08).  This video was produced by Headline News to explain the process for selecting the jury in the George Zimmerman prosecution of Trayvon Martin in Florida — or as the narrator explains, the process for “rejecting” potential jurors to arrive at those who will hear the case.  Like many of the videos, this one is case-specific (not all juries have 6 members and 4 alternates and the number of peremptories available to each attorney depends on state law, whether it is a civil or criminal trial, and the way voir dire is structured.

Trial

Video:  Steps in a Civil Trial  (3:41)  Professor Jason Gordon explains the stages in a trial.

Video:  Motions and How They are Used  (1:24)  In this video, Professor Jason Gordon explains trial motions.

Video:  The Preponderance of the Evidence Standard in a Civil Trial  (1:15)  Professor Jason Gordon explains what we mean by “preponderance of the evidence” in a civil case.

Video:  Payne v. Davis, a mock trial demonstration (28:00) The first 9 minutes introduce you to the jury system, but you can start at 9:10 to view the 20-minute mock trial.  And if you really enjoy it, you might want to watch Payne v Davis (Part II, also 28 minutes)

AppealVideo:  What is an Appeal in Civil Litigation? (2:13)  This USLawEssentials video explains what an appeal is, when it can be filed, and the requirement that an appeal is premised on an error or mistake by the trial judge.

Alternative Forms of Dispute Resolution

Reading:  ADR Defined

Video:  Introduction to Alternative Dispute Resolution by Professor Jason Gordon (4:56)

Video:  Alternative Dispute Resolution (2:02)

Reading:  President Biden Signs Law Limiting Arbitration Agreements for Sexual Assault, Harassment Claims.  In March 2022, President Biden signed a law to limit the use of pre-dispute arbitration agreements and class action waivers in cases alleging sexual assault and sexual harassment.  This analysis by the Jackson Lewis law firm explains the law, what employers need to know, and how to find additional information.  You can read the text of the statute here.

Website: Definition of Mediation as a Form of ADR

Video:  Arbitration: An Alternative to Litigation for Dispute Resolution (6:46)

Reading:  Arbitration Basics

Reading:  Pros and Cons of Arbitration

Reading:  Amazon did the math and would actually prefer getting sued (June 2021).  This article from The Verge explores the recent decision by Amazon to change its terms of service to allow customers to sue in the courts of Kings County, Washington, instead of requiring that all disputes be arbitrated.