UC Law SF
Richard Marcus holds the Coil Chair in Litigation at UC Law SF, where he has been teaching since 1988. He is lead author on two casebooks — on Civil Procedure and Complex Litigation. He is also the author of four volumes of the Federal Practice & Procedure treatise (“Wright & Miller”), including the three about the discovery rules. Internationally, he has served as Vice-President of the International Association on Procedural Law and received recognition from proceduralists in several other countries, including Japan, Poland, and Italy.
Most pertinently, however, he has since 1996 served as a Reporter of the US Judicial Conference Advisory Committee on Civil Rules. That body — created under the Rules Enabling Act of 1934 — develops proposed amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Often those favoring rule changes use ethical considerations as grounds for changing the rules. Most recently, for example, in developing Rule 16.1 — dealing with MDL proceedings — the question whether attorneys who file claims in such litigations always comply with their Rule 11 duties was frequently raised. Over the 29 years Prof. Marcus has served the Advisory Committee, his work has focused not only on MDL proceedings, but also on discovery and class actions. That work is ongoing, and submissions with “ethical” overtones continue to make their way onto the Advisory Committee’s agenda.
