Book Review by William R. Forrester, Jr.
During May, 1994, Judge Steven R. Plotkin published the first volume in a multi-volume treatise on Louisiana civil procedure. The treatise, which is in looseleaf form, is part of the State Practice Library Series published by the Lawyers Cooperative Publishing Company.
Previously, Louisiana legal literature has been without up-to-date general textual guidance on state court practice. This has been unfortunate for students and new attorneys who usually find the comprehension of Louisiana's unique procedural techniques and terminology, created largely by the influence of Spanish and French civilian concepts, particularly formidable. Likewise, general practitioners have long needed a reference book to assist them in remaining proficient in the vast number of procedural rules and varying interpretive cases sprawled throughout the Code of Civil Procedure, the Louisiana Civil Code and Title 13 of the Louisiana Revised Statutes often with confusing and incomplete cross-references.
Without an authoritative text, even experienced litigators, confident of their knowledge of the rules, were not immune to procedural traps. Louisiana's procedural rules, “modernized” through a partial merger with the federal rules, are not as simple and trouble free as might appear. The result in some instances has been judicial applications of the rules beyond their literal wording. Though Judge Plotkin's book does not promise to teach the neophyte everything there is to know, or to protect a busy litigator from the potential for procedural miscues during the litigation process, it is a thorough working and learning tool for students and lawyers alike.
About the Author
William R. Forrester, Jr. Partner, Lemle & Kelleher. B.A., University of Virginia, 1965; J.D., Tulane University School of Law, 1968.
Citation
69 Tul. L. Rev. 1759 (1995)