Evidence

William Mitchell College of Law

Office Hours:

Available after class period and also available by appointment, and available by email.

Course Time:

See Class Schedule

Course Website:

http://evidencewmitchell.homestead.com

Course Grade:

Students will complete a final examination. Final grades may be increased or reduced 1 point based upon class attendance and participation.

Incomplete Grades:

If a student is unable to complete the course requirements, please make arrangements with the instructors prior to the final day of class. The “incomplete policy” of the William Mitchell College of Law will be followed.

Policy on Disabilities:

A student with a disability which affects his/her participation in the course may notify the instructors if he/she wishes to have special accommodations to the instructional format, examination format, etc. considered. The instructors may refer the student to the Dean of Student s for assistance with these accommodations.

Late Registrations:

If you are not on the class list, you must see the Registrar for admission to the class.

Attendance:

Attendance is required at every class. If a student misses a number of classes, I reserve the right to reduce the student’s grade. We will use a seating chart.

Textbooks:

Textbooks are available in the William Mitchell College of Law of Law Bookstore

            1.         Fisher, Evidence

            2.         Federal Rules of Evidence Statutory Supplement

For each assignment, you should read these pages, the relevant Rules of Evidence, the accompanying Notes and Reports, and any related materials in the supplement. Please read all of the problems in the assigned pages; we will discuss virtually all of the assigned problems in class. From time to time, I will also distribute additional problems and handouts; the syllabus lists most of the occasions we will be working on these additional materials.

The reading assignments are my best estimate of what materials will be covered when. The assignments are not promises we will discuss the pages listed on the dates noted. Some of the listed reading may be deleted; other reading may be added to the list.

Measured in terms of pages, there is a lot of reading in this class. As you move through the "casebook," however, you will discover there aren't very many cases in it. Evidence is a subject that has more to do with rules than with cases. The time you devote to the reading for this course will be better spent if you focus on the rules and the problems in the book, rather than parsing the cases.

If you are looking for additional reading on evidence, I recommend Best’s Evidence: Examples and Explanations, 5^th ed., a student-oriented handbook on the law of evidence. The bookstore should have many copies. Lilly's An Introduction to the Law of Evidence, 3^rd ed., a short one-volume treatise published by West, is also very good.

Much of the time in class will be devoted to discussion of the problems in the text and the supplementary problems. Many of the problems will be discussed by groups. Class will be divided into several small groups of three or four people. During class, you will have some time to discuss the problems assigned with the other members of your group before we discuss the problems as a class. You will not have enough time in class, however, to read the problems and prepare answers from scratch.

Cell Phones and Pagers:

Please put cell phones and pagers on vibration or silent mode. Please do not answer phones or pagers during class. If you need to make other arrangements, talk with the professors.