This paper selects amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure that bear promise for cutting the costs of civil litigation. It suggests how to teach students (and lawyers) to take advantage of the amendments to protect one's client from overly costly or abusive discovery. It also includes...

Third-party funding is an arrangement whereby an outside entity finances the legal representation of a party involved in litigation or arbitration. The outside entity — called a “third-party funder” — could be a bank, hedge fund, insurance company, or some other entity or individual that...

Federal Rule of Evidence 407 prohibits the introduction of subsequent remedial measures for the purposes of demonstrating negligence, culpable conduct, or product defect. But the rule breaks down, in application and purpose, when a defendant undertakes the new safety measure after the...

This paper takes an early look at the concussion-related issue for the NFL on how to take care of former NFL players who are currently suffering, often because of concussions they sustained while playing in the NFL. It discusses the Merril Hoge suit, the first case in the US based on a team...

This short paper focuses on the problem of reference class in evidentiary assessment as it relates to probability and weight of evidence. The reluctance to inject mathematical formalism into the factfinding function is justified. Objective probability requires a reference class from which a...

This article examines the benefits of the class action for New Zealand consumers. It analyses the current operation of the New Zealand class action and recommends significant reform to expand the use of the class action and to give clear specific guidelines on its operation. The author defines a...

A negotiator's Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement ("BATNA") is a key source of negotiating power. The BATNA concept was originally developed in the United States and has been exported to other countries through negotiation books and courses. But can negotiators legally rely on BATNA...

In 2006, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) celebrated 100 years of providing opportunities for students to participate in intercollegiate athletics. During that time intercollegiate athletics underwent tremendous transformation. Beginning as student-run endeavors on Ivy League...

John Bronsteen, Christopher Buccafusco, and Jonathan Masur argue in Hedonic Adaptation and the Settlement of Civil Lawsuits, 108 Columbia Law Review 1516 (2008) that prolonged litigation allows tort victims to adapt emotionally to even permanent injuries, and hence those lawsuits are more likely...