Some notes on reading the rules

The rules governing civil procedure come from several sources.  Most law school civil procedure courses, including the courses we teach at the University of Iowa College of Law, focus substantially on the federal courts.  As a result, our students read the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, as well as the Constitution of the United States and a variety of different federal statutory provisions.  Learning civil procedure effectively requires you to engage actively with these materials.  When you encounter the rules for the first time, the sheer volume of text may seem overwhelming, and so we offer the following notes and suggestions on how to approach reading the rules:

• Both the rules and statutes are organized by topic. For example, the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure begin with some general rules, then move through the stages of litigation, from commencing an action, to the discovery process, to trials, judgments, and remedies. Paying attention to the headings of the Federal Rules and statutes at the outset will help you build a mental framework of the rules more quickly.
• Many of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure are interconnected, so be aware of cross-references between the rules. For example, Rule 14(a)(3) references defenses under Rule 12, counterclaims under Rules 13(a) and 13(b), and cross-claims under Rule 13(g). It may be helpful to draw a diagram or construct a table to aid you in learning the relationships between Federal Rules.
• Some of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure are especially long. For example, Rule 26 (generally governing discovery) is quite lengthy with multiple sub-parts. When approaching any especially long rules, it may be useful to break them down into sub-components. Your professor will help guide you as to which parts you should focus on.
• Your professors will not expect you to memorize every single word of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure or to know the statutory provisions by rote; although you may be surprised by how many you do know by the end of the semester! Instead, the most valuable skill you can acquire is the ability to quickly look up the relevant Federal Rules and statutory provisions, when needed. This means building a mental framework of the Federal Rules and statutes and developing a sense of the general topics and where to search for the specific provision that you need.
• Sometimes you will see that a Federal Rule of Civil Procedure has been “abrogated.” This means that a provision that once existed has been eliminated. Because it would be confusing to renumber the existing Federal Rules, entire rules or statutory codifications that have been removed are replaced with “abrogated.”
• Most likely, if there’s a procedural issue, there is a Federal Rule relating to it. You can use the table of contents of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure to identify the applicable rule and then review its provisions.