Book Description

This casebook provides a comprehensive, problem-based approach to the rules of evidence. Organized around the federal rules, this casebook provides coverage of every single rule; yet, through careful case choice and editing, Nicolas has produced a book that can easily be taught from cover-to-cover in as few as three semester hours. Key features of the casebook include 90 in-depth problems that are designed to teach all the nuances of the rules, an enriched section on scientific evidence, application of the rules to electronic evidence, and appellate review of evidentiary rulings. In addition, the casebook incorporates the Supreme Court's recent Confrontation Clause decision in Crawford v. Washington, as well as pending proposed changes to Rules 404, 408, 606, and 609. The textbook is regularly supplemented, with the 2008-09 Supplement including coverage of several key developments in evidence law, including the U.S. Supreme Court's decisions in Davis v. Washington and Giles v. California (addressing the Confrontation Clause) as well as its decision in Sprint/United Management Co. v. Mendelsohn (addressing Rules 401 and 403). It also includes important lower court decisions, including In re Grand Jury Subpoena, Judith Miller (applying Rule 501 to a claim evidence protected by a privilege for journalists), U.S. v. Curtin (applying Rules 403 and 404 to sexually explicit materials contained on a PDA device), U.S. v. Washington (addressing the applicability of the hearsay rule to computer-generated data), and People v. Rawlins (addressing the admissibility of laboratory reports when challenged on Confrontation Clause grounds). It also includes the text and legislative history of Proposed Federal Rule 502 (addressing waiver of the attorney-client privilege and the work-product doctrine). A separate statutory supplement includes the federal rules of evidence and selected legislative history. "It was with great trepidation that I decided to try a new Evidence casebook, which utilized a problem approach so my students could get some hands-on experience in using the rules in a real-life setting. I knew that the switch would require me to do a lot more work than simply staying with the tried-and-ok-but-not-so-great, and it has. I'm happy to report that I'm thrilled I decided to put in the effort. The book has a very good balance between cases, notes, and problems, and it's theoretical yet straightforward. The cases Nicolas uses are current and illustrate the principles memorably. I expect that my students will do much better both on the final exam and in real life, the true test, as a result." Prof. Cynthia Ford, University of Montana School of Law