Author Description

This casebook presents the study of evidence in the context of a trial. It is co-authored by the Reporter to the Judicial Conference Advisory Committee on Evidence Rules, so there is an emphasis on how the Evidence Rules work and how they have been and can be amended. The book provides transcript-style problems in which lawyers present evidence and argue evidentiary points, and a trial judge is called on to rule. Special effort has been made to update and amplify those problems, which appear at the end of each chapter. Substantive changes for the seventh edition include treatment of eight new amendments to the Evidence Rules, including new rule governing illustrative aids and a major amendment to Rule 702; innovations by courts on questions of character evidence and expert testimony; issues involving the admissibility of electronic evidence, artificial intelligence, "deepfakes," and machine-learning; new Supreme Court cases on the right to confrontation and on expert testimony in criminal case; admissibility of rap lyrics; and the consideration of the possibility of conducting trials remotely.