It focuses on the material covered in a typical law school course on civil procedure, tied to no one casebook. It breaks down the subject of civil procedure along the standard lines: a brief orientation and a lengthier overview of the stages of litigation, followed by a close inspection of the major procedural problems (governing law, authority to adjudicate, former adjudication, and complex litigation), and then some reflections in conclusion. It discusses specific problems and illustrations, with the aid of generously sprinkled diagrams and special text boxes. Special attention was given to fitting the civil procedure course's main points together to form the big picture, with each topic ending in a section on the big idea the student is supposed to take from the topic.