Highlights of the new release include:

• Chapter 15: Significant expansion of discussion regarding jury instructions, including the respective roles of the judge and counsel; due process limits on jury discretion; the plain error standard; objections to instructions; timing of instructions, requests and actions on requests; jury instruction drafting principles; and review of preserved and unpreserved instruction errors.  

• Chapter 18: In-depth analysis of the harmless error rule, including of Supreme Court jurisprudence on the issue and the Court’s differentiation between three classes of errors that can have an adverse impact on a litigant’s substantial rights during trial: (1) non-constitutional errors; (2) “trial errors”; and (3) “structural defects.”

• Chapter 19: Discussion of recent amendments to Rule 3 of the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure addressing how an appeal of right is taken, and specifically affecting the content of the notice of appeal that is required, with important clarifications regarding the scope of the judgment or appealable order designated in the notice of appeal.

In addition, numerous recent law review articles are added to the Additional Resources section of many chapters, and the chronological circuit-by-circuit Compendium of Recent Cases (Vol. 1 & Vol. 2) is updated.

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