Federal Legal Guides
18 guides covering Federal topics, each with Caselaw search beside the article.
Where to search federal lawFree caselaw search for Federal — search by citation, case name, or legal issue, with full text and PDFs.
What treaties, protocols, and conventions is the United States a party to?Each instrument, with a short explanation and a link to its page.
- Federal Diversity Jurisdiction: Complete Diversity, Entity Citizenship, Amount in Controversy, CAFA, Removal, and Erie
A working guide to 28 U.S.C. § 1332: the complete-diversity rule and why it is statutory rather than constitutional, citizenship by entity type including the LLC tracing problem that has killed judgments, amount in controversy and aggregation, CAFA, removal mechanics, and the Erie and Klaxon framework. Every authority is linked to its full text.
- Federal Expert Witnesses: Rule 702 After the 2023 Amendment, the Daubert Trilogy, Rule 26 Disclosure, and the Confrontation Clause Overlay
A working guide to federal expert practice: the amended text of Rule 702 and why the December 2023 changes matter, the Frye-to-Daubert replacement and the Joiner/Kumho/Weisgram trilogy that followed, Rules 701 through 706, the Rule 26 disclosure machinery that decides most exclusion fights, and the Confrontation Clause line running from Crawford to Smith v. Arizona — with every case and rule linked to the full text.
- Federal Hearsay: Rules 801-807, the Exceptions That Matter, and the Confrontation Clause After Crawford
A working guide to federal hearsay practice: why most hearsay fights are won on the Rule 801(c) definition rather than an exception, how the 801(d) exclusions and the 803, 804, and 807 exceptions actually operate, and how the Confrontation Clause displaced reliability with a categorical testimonial rule after Crawford — with every case and rule linked to the full text.
- Federal Jurisdiction Over Copyright: Section 1338(a) Exclusivity, the Registration Prerequisite, Accrual, Preemption, and Fee-Shifting
A working guide to federal copyright litigation: where 28 U.S.C. § 1338(a) exclusivity ends and state contract law begins, how Reed Elsevier and Fourth Estate reshaped the registration prerequisite, what Petrella and Warner Chappell did and did not decide about accrual, section 301 preemption after Dastar, sovereign immunity after Allen v. Cooper, and fair use after Warhol. Every case and statute links to its full text.
- Federal Jurisdiction Over Persons Outside the United States: Rule 4(k)(2), the Fifth Amendment, the FSIA, Service Abroad, and Extraterritorial Reach
A working guide to suing foreign defendants in federal court: which amendment supplies the due process test, how Rule 4(k)(2) fills the gap left by state long-arm statutes, general and specific jurisdiction after Daimler and Nicastro, the FSIA's exclusive framework, the Hague Conventions on service and evidence, the presumption against extraterritoriality, and forum non conveniens as the practical exit — with every case, statute, and rule linked to full text.
- Federal Jurisdiction Over Trademark Issues: Concurrent Jurisdiction, Lanham Act Standing, Extraterritorial Reach After Abitron, Remedies, and PTO Preclusion
A working guide to federal trademark litigation: why Lanham Act jurisdiction is concurrent rather than exclusive, how Lexmark replaced prudential standing with a zone-of-interests test, what Abitron did to sixty years of extraterritoriality doctrine, when a TTAB ruling forecloses a district court case, and the First Amendment limits on registration — with every case, statute, and rule linked to the full text.
- Federal Motions to Dismiss Under Rule 12: The 12(b) Grounds, Waiver and Consolidation, and the Twombly-Iqbal Plausibility Standard
A working guide to Rule 12 practice in federal court: the seven 12(b) grounds and which of them 12(h)(1) waives, the consolidation trap in 12(g)(2), the Supreme Court's retirement of Conley's no-set-of-facts formula in Twombly and Iqbal, Rule 9(b) and PSLRA particularity, the 12(b)(1)/12(b)(6) line, and qualified immunity at the pleading stage — with every case, statute, and rule linked to the full text.
- Federal Patent Jurisdiction and Venue: Section 1338 Arising Under, Section 1400(b) After TC Heartland, PTAB Review, and Federal Circuit Appellate Jurisdiction
A working guide to jurisdiction over patent matters: exclusive federal subject-matter jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. 1338(a), the arising-under test from Christianson through Gunn, the restoration of Fourco by TC Heartland and the regular-and-established-place-of-business fights that followed, PTAB reviewability under the AIA, and the Supreme Court's decade-long displacement of Federal Circuit-specific rules — with every case and statute linked to the full text.
- Federal Subject-Matter Jurisdiction: Federal Question, the Well-Pleaded Complaint Rule, Embedded Federal Issues, and Supplemental Jurisdiction
A working guide to federal subject-matter jurisdiction: why it can never be waived or forfeited, how the well-pleaded complaint rule decides most cases, when a state-law claim carries a federal issue under Grable and Gunn, how 28 U.S.C. § 1367 supplemental jurisdiction actually operates, and the Supreme Court's twenty-year project of demoting ordinary filing deadlines out of jurisdiction — with every case and statute linked to the full text.
- How to File for Bankruptcy: Chapter 7 vs. Chapter 13, the Automatic Stay, and Discharge
A practical guide to filing personal bankruptcy under Title 11: when Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 fits, how the automatic stay works, what the means test and exemptions decide, and what a discharge actually erases — with the key Bankruptcy Code sections linked.
- How to Get a Copyright: Protection, Registration, and Why the Certificate Matters
A practical guide to U.S. copyright for creators and small businesses: what § 102 protects, exclusive rights under § 106, how registration under §§ 408–412 works after Fourth Estate, and when fair use may apply — with key Title 17 sections and leading cases linked.
- How to Get a Patent: Utility, Design, and Plant Patents Under Title 35
A practical guide to U.S. patents for inventors and small businesses: patentable subject matter under § 101, novelty and nonobviousness under §§ 102–103, enablement under § 112, provisional vs. nonprovisional applications, and high-level USPTO process — with key statutes linked.
- How to Get a Trademark: Use in Commerce, Registration, and Brand Protection
A practical guide to U.S. trademarks for small businesses: how rights arise from use in commerce, federal registration under the Lanham Act, distinctiveness and refusal grounds, ® vs. ™, and infringement basics — with key Title 15 sections and leading cases linked.
- Personal Jurisdiction Over Corporations in Federal Court: The \"At Home\" Test, Consent by Registration After Mallory, Stream of Commerce, and Relatedness
How a federal court acquires authority over a corporate defendant: the Goodyear/Daimler/BNSF narrowing of general jurisdiction to the place of incorporation and principal place of business, consent by registration after Mallory v. Norfolk Southern, the unresolved stream-of-commerce split, and relatedness after Bristol-Myers Squibb and Ford — every case, statute, and rule linked to its full text.
- Personal Jurisdiction Over Individuals in Federal Court: Domicile, Tag Service, Minimum Contacts, and the Rule 4(k) Trap
How a federal court acquires authority over a natural person: domicile and tag jurisdiction, the purposeful-availment test as applied to individuals, the Calder effects test after Walden v. Fiore, consent and forum-selection clauses, and the Rule 4(k)(1)(A) borrowing rule that ties most federal courts to state long-arm statutes — every case and statute linked.
- Relevance and Admissibility Under the Federal Rules of Evidence: Rules 401-403, Other-Acts Evidence, Character, Impeachment, and the Balancing That Decides Trials
A working guide to federal relevance practice: why Rule 401 admits almost everything and Rule 403 does the real work, how Old Chief and Huddleston structure other-acts evidence, what Sprint v. Mendelsohn teaches about context-dependent relevance, and how to preserve an evidentiary record that survives abuse-of-discretion review — with every case and rule linked to the full text.
- Summary Judgment in Federal Court: Rule 56, the 1986 Trilogy, and the Evidentiary Record That Decides the Motion
A working guide to Rule 56: the post-2010 text and its subdivision-by-subdivision mechanics, the Celotex/Anderson/Matsushita trilogy that displaced Adickes, what a court may not do with the record under Tolan and Scott, the employment and antitrust fact patterns that dominate the docket, and the appellate consequences of winning or losing — with every case and rule linked to the full text.
- What Is the FMLA? Eligibility, Leave Entitlement, Job Restoration, and Employer Duties
A clear guide to the federal Family and Medical Leave Act: which employers and employees are covered, when you get up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave, what counts as a serious health condition, military caregiver leave, and job restoration rights — with key Title 29 sections linked.