Pretrial Litigation

About the Book

Overview

Fundamentals of Pretrial Litigation is a working manual for the long stretch of a civil case that begins at intake and ends just before trial — the phase where, statistically, most cases are actually resolved. Written by three veteran practitioners and teachers (Roger S. Haydock, Jeffrey W. Stempel, and Damien Riehl) and grounded in decades of federal, state, arbitral, and administrative practice, the book covers case planning, investigation, pleading, motion practice, the full sweep of discovery, pretrial conferences, motion advocacy, and settlement. Each of the sixteen chapters and two appendices pairs a thesis with the underlying rules, strategies, and tactics, so a litigator can locate a specific procedure and apply it under deadline. A companion AI tool surfaces the same framework on demand — trained on the book’s foundational, authoritative voice.

Chapters

1. Case Planning — the integrated planning that distinguishes prepared advocates from improvising ones.
2. Investigation — the legal research, fact gathering, and calendar discipline that turn a client’s tale into a litigable claim.
3. Pleading the Case — subject-matter jurisdiction, personal jurisdiction, and venue as the doctrinal preliminaries that shape every strategic choice.
4. Motions Attacking the Pleadings — Rule 12(b) attacks on service, jurisdiction, venue, and the post-Twiqbal plausibility standard.
5. Scope of Discovery — the discovery regime in which automatic disclosures and written requests equip advocates to know nearly as much as the opposition.
6. Depositions — sworn oral testimony from parties and non-parties; pinning down stories, exploring documents, and preserving evidence.
7. Interrogatories — economical, written, party-binding discovery that locates witnesses and documents and particularizes pleadings.
8. Document Requests — Rule 34 production of documents, ESI, property, and tangible things; the highest-yield discovery method alongside depositions.
9. Physical and Mental Examinations — Rule 35 examinations of any party who places bodily, health, or emotional condition in controversy.
10. Requests for Admissions — Rule 36 binding commitments that streamline proof and isolate which matters will be contested.
11. Enforcing Discovery Rights — Rule 37 meet-and-confer, motions to compel, fee-shifting, and sanctions when cooperative discovery breaks down.
12. Pretrial Motion Practice — the procedural package, dispositive-versus-nondispositive distinction, and long-term motion strategies.
13. Pretrial Motions to the Merits and Trial — consolidation, MDL centralization, severance, and separate trials that shape how cases are tried.
14. Effective Motion Advocacy — brevity and clarity in written submissions and oral argument before judge, arbitrator, or ALJ.
15. The Settlement — negotiation, BATNA, and mediator-assisted compromise as the central craft of pretrial practice.
16. Pretrial Conferences and Orders — Rule 16 scheduling and the procedural bridge from pleading and discovery into trial.
17. Appendix A — Client Deposition Instructions — verbatim instructions an advocate can hand a deponent witness.
18. Appendix B — Case Files — fourteen mythical disputes set in the City of Mitchell that the book exercises in classroom and CLE settings.

About the Authors

Roger S. Haydock

Roger S. Haydock is a nationally recognized authority in trial advocacy and dispute resolution with decades of experience in teaching and practice.

He has authored or co-authored dozens of books and treatises on litigation, arbitration, mediation, and negotiation. Haydock has served as a mediator in hundreds of cases and has played leadership roles in arbitration organizations and dispute resolution institutes. His work spans courtroom advocacy, alternative dispute resolution, and legal education, making him a prominent figure in shaping modern litigation practice and training. Fundamentals of Pretrial Litigation carries his long arc as both practitioner and teacher of advocates.

Jeffrey W. Stempel

Jeffrey W. Stempel is a leading scholar in civil procedure, insurance law, and dispute resolution with decades of experience in legal practice and academia. He is a graduate of Yale Law School, where he served on the Yale Law Journal, and began his career with a federal judicial clerkship and private practice before entering teaching. He has authored numerous books, treatises, and articles on litigation, arbitration, and insurance law, including widely cited works on insurance contract interpretation. Internationally recognized for his scholarship, he has received honors such as an honorary doctorate for his contributions to legal thought.

Damien Riehl

Damien Riehl is a lawyer-technologist whose practice spans complex litigation, cybersecurity, and applied AI. He clerked for chief judges, tried federal and state cases, led global digital-forensics teams, and now builds AI-driven legal systems at Clio. He co-authors this book from the working bench.

Admitted in 2002 and coding since 1985, Riehl co-chairs Minnesota’s Connected and Automated Vehicles Council and chairs the MSBA AI Committee, where he advances access-to-justice initiatives. He helped develop SALI’s 18,000+ legal data standards and contributes to FOLIO’s legal ontology. At Clio he integrates AI into large-scale legal datasets. He engages AI ethics work with global Catholic leaders and created the public-domain “All the Music” project. Across teaching, scholarship, and practice, his contribution to Fundamentals of Pretrial Litigation is the lived-courtroom register — viewed through the lens of an AI builder.