For Monday, August 25

Tuesday audio.

Prep the remainder of Introduction to Relevance. Become familiar with the facts and basics of both cases.

Move to the beginning of Character Evidence. Read FRE 404(a) and the ACN, along with Capra pp.n69-71. We will just get into the basics of what character evidence is and why it is problematic.

 

For August 19

Monday audio. Very nice first day.

I will circulate a seating chart tomorrow; please try to keep the room reasonably balanced. We will spend the first few minutes tomorrow on the Syllabus.

Here, again, are the discussion questions. 

 We move to Relevance: Introduction to Relevance, with special attention to FRE 401-403. Become familiar with Mitchell and prep Questions #3-8 (that is as far as we will get). We will do the remaining questions and move on in class next Monday.

Welcome to Evidence and First Week Assignments

Welcome to Evidence. 

This blog will be my means of communicating outside of class.

Please download and read the Syllabus for complete details about the course, assignments, pedagogical approach, grading methods, and course rules. Review it prior to the first class. You should bring the Syllabus with you to every class.

Here are Class Discussion Questions that we will use to guide class conversations (in addition to the problems in Evidence in Context). You now have most of the questions for the entire semester. You should print this and keep it with the Syllabus.

Required Class Materials
1) Robert P. Burns, Steven Lubet, and James H. Seckinger, Evidence in Context (6th ed. 2023) (NITA) (Case Files for People v. Mitchell and McIntyre v. Easterfield) (Problems) 

2) Daniel J. Capra & Stephen A. Saltzburg, Principles of Evidence (9th ed. 2022) (West) ("C&S")

3) Federal Rules of Evidence (2025) (Wolters Kluwer) (Rules Pamphlet)

 

4) Additional statutes, cases, and other materials can be downloaded from the Additional Materials post (which you should bookmark).

 

I know many of you will be doing OCI this semester and that some interviews will be during class (including the first classes this week). I will discuss this at the beginning of the first session on Mony, but the short of it is: I know and of course you can leave early, come in late, or both for an interview; please notify me in advance and leave or return through the backdoor of the room.

Assignments for First Day of Class: After the jump

Good Writing and Talking Procedure

You will write two short-answer essay exams. Because you will have the time, I want to see them well-written and that you discuss the evidence and procedure in proper terms. Much of this is a review from Civ Pro last semester.

After the jump.

Name Cards

At our first meeting on Monday, August 18, I will provide a stack of tent cards on the table in the front of the classroom. When you come to the room, please find the card with your name on it and place it in front of you at your seat. You are responsible for keeping that card and having it with you at every class throughout the full semester.

I will distribute a seating chart on the second day of class, Tuesday, August 19.

Please try to distribute yourselves evenly between the two halves of the room.

OCI

Many of you do OCI this semester and interviews may be during class time, requiring you to leave early or come in late. That is fine and understood. Please try to notify me in advance and leave through the back door.

Additional Course Materials

After the jump are the additional materials (statutes, cases, readings, etc.) assigned throughout the semester, as indicated by the notation Blog on the Syllabus. This will be the post to return to for those materials and I will relink to this post periodically. You may want to bookmark this one so you can easily get to it later in the semester.