The book This book explains various areas of private, public and criminal practice in the United States, as well as US legal research, to the audience of practising civil lawyers who may interact with US lawyers. Each chapter is written by a recognised specialist in his or her respective field who has practiced and taught in that field. Further, the first chapter is an introduction to the "foreign" nature of US law for civil lawyers, written by the editor, Kirk W Junker, who holds the Chair in US Law at the University of Cologne, who has been teaching US law to law students in Germany and France for ten years, and who previously practiced US law for nine years. As a practitioner's guide, a special feature of the book is that every term of art, regardless of which field of law, is translated into both German and French in accompanying footnotes on each page. In addition, every chapter includes ?Practice Tips," ?Checklists for Practice," and illustrative ?Examples," each of which is clearly marked in a separate box. Some chapters offer tables, example draft documents and templates to make the book easy to use as a reference book and a handbook. Contents: Chapter 1: US Law as Foreign Law (Kirk W. Junker) Chapter 2: Federal Civil Litigation (Steven F. Baicker-McKee) Chapter 3: Civil Procedure Brief Drafting Strategy (Heidi K. Brown) Chapter 4: U.S. Arbitration Law and Practice (Katherine M. Simpson) Chapter 5: Aspects of United States Application of International Maritime Law: A Focus on Jurisdictional, Procedural and Substantive Issues Unique to the US System Chapter 6: Contracts-Drafting and Content (Keith E. Wilder) Chapter 7: The Back to Back Contract. The Birth of a New Contract Type (Antonio Lordi) Chapter 8: Confidential Information and Restrictive Covenants in Employment (Patrick Sorek) Chapter 9: Income Taxation and Audits (P. Matthew Roy) Chapter 10: The U.S.' Charitable Sector: Nonprofit Organizations (Ryan Kraski) Chapter 11: Intellectual Property Protection and Enforcement in the United States: An Introduction (Jacob H. Rooksby) Chapter 12: Food Law: Implementing Food Sovereignty in Local Sustainable Food Systems (Gabriela Steier) Chapter 13: Issues of United States Immigration Law - A View from the Inside (Katherine M. Simpson) Chapter 14: Issues of US Environmental Law Encountered from Abroad (Kirk W. Junker) Chapter 15: White Collar Crime (Barbara Carlin)