Fact Investigation II
Spring Semester 2012
Cardozo Law School
Professor Peter Tillers

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This spring semester course is a continuation of Fact Investigation I. In this course, teams of students carry forward and bring to a conclusion one or more of the investigations launched by the members of the previous semester's course in fact investigation. Although this course (Fact Investigation II) and the fall semester course in fact investigation (Fact Investigation I) have some common objectives and themes, this course differs in important ways from its predecessor. In the spring semester, there is a greater emphasis on sources of evidence apart from databases and public records; for example, there is a greater emphasis on witness interviews. More generally, this semester there is less emphasis on exploratory investigation and more emphasis on bringing an investigation to a successful conclusion. For this reason, close attention is given to the relationship between (i) decisions and steps during investigation and (ii) matters such as (a) the legal requirements governing the admissibility of evidence in settings such as trials and (b) the persuasiveness of evidence submitted to a trier of fact or audience such as a judge, a jury, a legislative committee, a corporate executive, or the public.

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Study of of Evidence, Investigation, and Proof in Three Major Phases of Formal Litigation

In keeping with the philosophy of last semester's course (Fact Investigation I) -- the philosophy that no one, including the instructor, knows precisely how a process of discovery and proof will unfold -- this course supposes and presupposes that the precise steps, including steps in litigation, taken by the members of the course this semester cannot be predicted (and that it cannot be predicted how the case they pursue will unfold). However, it can be said that the case the team members will work on will involve three major phases of litigation: (i) pleadings, (ii) formal discovery (esp. a deposition or two), and (iii) trial. The emphasis in these three phases (especially during formal discovery and trial) will be on the marshaling of evidence in an orderly and persuasive fashion while working within the legal constraints (e.g., rules of evidence) that apply to the pretrial and trial process.

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Required texts:

Essential legal source material:

NEW JERSEY RULES GOVERNING CIVIL PRACTICE IN THE SUPERIOR COURT, TAX COURT AND SURROGATE'S COURTS

New Jersey Rules of Evidence

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Recommended texts:

Moore, Binder, Bergman & Light, DEPOSITIONS IN A NUTSHELL (West 2011) ISBN: 978-0-314-19489-3

Robert P. Burns, A THEORY OF THE TRIAL (Princeton 1999) ISBN 0-691-00727-6

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Reference material:

Consult the following material as appropriate:

LexisNexis Practice Guide New Jersey Pleadings

LexisNexis Practice Guide New Jersey Civil Discovery

LexisNexis Practice Guide New Jersey Pretrial Practice

LexisNexis Practice Guide New Jersey Trial, Post-Trial, & Appellate Proceedings

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Assignments

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If you do not have a Google account, sign up for one here (The account is free.) The litigation teams in this course will be using "Google Docs [documents]" and you must have a Google account to access your team's Google Docs.

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