Overview of Major Topics Covered:
Pleading; Joinder of Claims; Joinder of Parties; Certification and Sanctions Under Rule 11; Pre-Answer Motions Under Rule 12; Defendant's Answer and Affirmative Defenses; Counterclaims; Impleader and Cross-Claims; Amendments; Personal Jurisdiction (Notice, Service of Process, and Constitutional Limits on Jurisdiction); Venue and Transfer; Forum Non Conveniens; Subject Matter Jurisdiction (Diversity and Federal Question Jurisdiction); Removal; Supplemental Jurisdiction; Ascertaining the Applicable Law: Choice of Law and Erie; Discovery (Mandatory Disclosures, Discovery Methods, and Attorney-Client Privilege/Work Product Doctrine); Summary Judgment; Judgment as a Matter of Law; Default Judgments and Collateral Attacks; Preclusion (Claim and Issue Preclusion)

About the Professor:
Professor Hoffman received his B.A., cum laude, from Columbia College, Columbia University, and his J.D. from the University of Texas School of Law, where he served on the Editorial Board of the Texas Law Review. After practicing as a trial attorney for seven years, Professor Hoffman joined the University of Cincinnati College of Law as a visiting assistant professor. In his first year at Cincinnati, he won the College's most prestigious faculty teaching award, the Goldman Prize for Excellence in Teaching. After joining the University of Houston Law Center as an assistant professor, he shortly thereafter received the University of Houston Enron Teaching Excellence Award for the 2003-2004 academic year. The award, the highest annual teaching honor accorded university-wide, was given to only three other faculty members in the University of Houston System in 2004. Professor Hoffman was a visiting professor at the University of Texas School of Law in 2006, and in March of 2006 was appointed to the Texas Supreme Court Rules Advisory Committee. Professor Hoffman's scholarly work has been cited by the United States Supreme Court and by other state and federal courts. His articles have appeared in some of the leading law reviews in the country.