There are two required books for this course:

Mueller & Kirkpatrick, EVIDENCE UNDER THE RULES (8th ed. 2014) (Wolters Kluwer) (ISBN 9781454849520); and

Goode & Wellborn, COURTROOM EVIDENCE HANDBOOK: 2017-2018 STUDENT EDITION (West) (ISBN 9781683287636), which I'll refer to as your "Rules Handbook."

Helpful, but not necessary to purchase, is: Arthur Best, EVIDENCE: EXAMPLES & EXPLANATIONS (9th ed. 2015) (Wolters Kluwer) (ISBN 9781454850045).

The Syllabus for this class, plus a Course Outline that I have written for you, will be ready for downloading on or before Wednesday, August 9. You'll find them on my Evidence course page, which will appear on the Law School's website among the "Online Course Materials." Once they're ready, I will email you the password for gaining access to my course page.

For our first class session (on Tuesday morning, August 22, commencing at 9:00 in Room 201), please open your Rules Handbook and read Rules 611 and 612 of the Federal Rules of Evidence. Then please turn to my Course Outline (pages 12-15) and read my coverage of Rules 611 and 612. At the very start of our first class session, I will show you a film clip of a courtroom scene featuring the application of those two rules. To understand what's happening in that film clip, you will need to rely on my Course Outline's coverage of Rules 611 and 612.

Focusing now on your Mueller & Kirkpatrick book, we'll spend our first two class sessions covering pages 4 to 42 (on What Happens at Trial and How Evidence is Admitted and Excluded). 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).

I look forward to seeing you on August 22.