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

Introduction: Evidence and the Adversary System

   Provisions:

      Fed. R. Evid. 101-102, 611, 614

      28 U.S.C. §§ 2072-2074 (Rules Enabling Act) (pp. 349-50)

   Problems: Review case file in People v. Mitchell (in Evidence in Context)  

   Commentary:

      C&S 1-7, 11-18, 68-69 (§ 3.5)

Questions to Consider: See Class Discussion Questions.