There are two required books for this course:

Mueller & Kirkpatrick, EVIDENCE UNDER THE RULES (8th ed. 2014) (Wolters Kluwer); and

Goode & Wellborn, COURTROOM EVIDENCE HANDBOOK: 2015-2016 STUDENT EDITION (West Academic Publishing), which I'll refer to as your "Rules Handbook."

Recommended, but not required, is: Arthur Best, EVIDENCE: EXAMPLES & EXPLANATIONS (8th ed. 2012) (Wolters Kluwer).

For our first class session (on Tuesday morning, August 25, commencing at 10:30 in Room 202), please open your Rules Handbook and read Rules 611 and 612 of the Federal Rules of Evidence. At the very start of our first class session, I'll be showing you a film clip of a courtroom scene that involves the application of those two rules.

IMPORTANT NOTE ABOUT THE FEDERAL RULES OF EVIDENCE: In December 2011, a newly "restyled" version of the Federal Rules of Evidence went into effect, and that is the version of the Rules which we'll be learning. Be careful not to use older versions of the Rules, since the language and paragraphing are substantially changed.

Focusing now on your Mueller & Kirkpatrick book, we'll spend our first two class sessions covering pages 4 to 42. When reading those pages, please skip the unduly complex coverage of the "scope-of-direct rule" (pages 22-26) and Problem 1-A (page 26).

The Syllabus for this class, plus a Course Outline that I'm writing for you, will be posted by August 24 among the "On-Line Course Materials" on the Law School's web site. As soon as they're ready for viewing, I will send you the password for gaining access to my Evidence web page.

I look forward to seeing you on August 25.