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Aug 2019
31m 3s

The Four Myths of the Federal Rules of C...

Professor Leslie Garfield Tenzer
About this episode

In this episode...
Michael Mushlin, Professor at the Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University, responds to one of the most perplexing issues for law students: How do the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure fit within the Civil Procedure class framework.  This episode is essential for any student studying Civil Procedure.

Some key takeaways are:  

  1. The Rules Cover the Waterfront (that they apply to everything)
  2. The Rules are Indecipherable (that you can't read them even if you try)
  3. The Rules are Divinely Inspired (courts are not permitted to interpret them)
  4. The Rules Don't Always Apply as Written. 


About our guest…
Professor Michael B. Mushlin teaches Civil Procedure, Evidence, and Prisoners' Rights. He is the author of book chapters, and articles on a variety of subjects involving evidence, federal jurisdiction, civil procedure, children's rights, and prisoners' rights that have appeared in journals such as the Yale Law and Policy Review, UCLA Law Review, Harvard Civil Rights Civil Liberties Law Review, The Journal of Legal Education, Brooklyn Law Review, and the Fordham Urban Law Journal. He also is the author of RIGHTS OF PRISONERS (4th ed West) a four-volume comprehensive treatise on the law regarding prisoners' rights and NEW YORK EVIDENCE WITH OBJECTIONS (4th ed National Institute of Trial Advocacy 2013) (with Jo Ann Harris).

Professor Mushlin was appointed Charles A. Frueauff Research Professor of Law during the 1991-1992 academic year, and James D. Hopkins Chair in Law during the 2005-2007 academic years at Pace Law School. He received his J.D. cum laude, from Northwestern University School of Law. Professor Mushlin practiced as a public interest and civil rights lawyer for 15 years as staff attorney with Harlem Assertion of Rights, Inc., as staff attorney and Project Director of the Prisoners' Rights Project of the Legal Aid Society, and as Associate Director of the Children's Rights Project of the American Civil Liberties Union.
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