Law students to whom procedure is a remote mystery, lawyers to whom it is a continual headache, may alike find it possible and useful to read the book through. Each chapter in Witkin begins with a detailed outline that organizes the subject matter is the same way lawyers have learned to analyze legal problems. The outline reveals the structure of the relevant law and calls attention to variations and distinctions. Each section discusses and explains a topic in concise and readable terms. The style is narrative, without distracting footnotes.
Italic subdivisions pinpoint relevant subject matter.
The discussion explains the law and illustrates how legal authorities fit together. At times, a citation alone or a citation with a short bracketed statement explaining the case is sufficient. At other times, where a case involves a question of first impression or resolves an unsettled area, for example, extensive briefing is required. The Witkin Library includes extensive cross-referencing among the four treatises, linking the various substantive and procedural aspects of topics. The treatises also include extensive pinpoint citations to the best secondary sources, regardless of publisher.