There are two required books for this course:

MUELLER, KIRKPATRICK & RICHTER, EVIDENCE UNDER THE RULES (9th ed. 2019) (Wolters Kluwer) (ISBN 9781454899686); and

GOODE & WELLBORN, COURTROOM EVIDENCE HANDBOOK—2021-2022 STUDENT EDITION (West) (ISBN 9781647088897).

The Syllabus for this class is attached to this posting. I am also writing a Course Outline for you that I hope to complete by our first day of class.

For our first class session—on Tuesday afternoon, January 11, commencing at 1:00 in Room 201—please open GOODE & WELLBORN (which I'll refer to as 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 will show you a film clip of a courtroom scene featuring the application of those two rules. To help you understand what's happening in that film clip, I have attached a second document to this posting that provides a short explication of Rules 611 and 612.

Focusing now on your MUELLER & KIRKPATRICK book, we'll spend our first two class sessions covering pages 4 to 41 (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 22-25) and Problem 1-A (pages 25-26).

My course web page is now up and running. It is NOT on Blackboard. Instead, you'll find it among the "Online Course Materials" on the Cleveland-Marshall website. Here is the password for gaining access to it: 661oneill22.

I look forward to seeing you on January 11.