NITA Publications

Evidence in Context

Evidence in Context is designed to create a fully contextual understanding of the law of evidence. It contains two relatively detailed case files, quite similar to the material a trial lawyer may have as he or she approaches trial. The first file is a murder case where the issue is the identity of the killer and the defendant is the estranged husband of the victim. The second file is a civil action for defamation brought by a former employee against her very wealthy employer. The cases raise realistic and challenging issues in the law of evidence and allow for a critical assessment of that law. They are followed by over three hundred problems for class analysis and discussion. These problems address the full range of evidentiary issues.

Law professors may request the teaching notes for this publication by emailing ReviewCopy@lexisnexis.com.

• >> TABLE OF CONTENTS
  CONTENTS
  
  SECTION I. CASES
  
  State v. Mitchell
  
  Introduction
  
  Grand Jury Indictment
  
  Testimony at First Trial
  
  Brooke Thompson
  Officer Pat Slyviak
  Exhibit 16--Testimony of Maria Pietro
  Exhibit 12--Wilson Studios Letter
  Exhibit 17--Anonymous Letter to Police Department
  Defendant Joe Mitchell
  
  Statements
  
  Joe Mitchell
  Quinn Washington
  Raleigh Porter
  Chris Ravenna
  
  Exhibits
  
  Street Diagram
  Diagram of Portion of Premises at 1751 Madison
  Section Map of Nita City, Nita
  Full-Body Photo of Leslie Mitchell
  Close-up Photo of Leslie Mitchell
  Photo of Front Door
  Photo of Front of House
  Joe's Handwritten Note to Leslie
  Police Custodian's Property Log
  Sgt. John Pierce Background Information
  Crime Lab Report
  Coroner's Report
  
  Jury Instructions
  
  Verdict Form
  
  
  MacIntyre v. Easterfield
  
  Introduction
  
  Complaint
  
  Answer
  
  Depositions
  
  Jesse MacIntyre
  Ross Easterfield
  Kerry Easterfield
  Reverend MacKenzie Taylor
  Kelly Emerson
  Reeve Winsor
  Lee Marlow
  
  Exhibits
  
  Floor Plan of the Easterfield Home
  Photos
  The Easterfield Home--Outside
  The Easterfield Home--Dining Room
  The Easterfield Home--Library
  Bus Schedule and Certification
  Church Certification and Mass Schedule
  Partial Transcript of MacIntyre's Guilty Plea
  Partial Transcript of Alice Adams Deposition
  Application for Personal Loan
  Nita Revised Statutes
  Statement of Jesse MacIntyre
  Letter to Reverend Taylor
  Letter from Reverend Taylor
  Statement of Mike Stiko
  Nita Prison Review Board Order and Certification
  Letter from Reverend Taylor to Nita Transit
  Nita Criminal Code
  Statement of Reeve Winsor
  Bank Statement of Ross Easterfield
  Deposition Transcript of Maria Zanoni
  Bill of Sale for Brooch
  Ross Easterfield's Desk Calendar
  Easterfield's Letter to Insurance Company
  Application to ABC Employment Agency
  Peter Steinfels's Opinion Letter and Resume
  Jesse MacIntyre's School Record
  Nita City Tribune Classified Ad
  Videotape Interview--Martha Van Kirk
  Letter from Lee Marlow to Nita City Athletic Club Board Members
  
  Memorandum Order
  
  Jury Instructions
  
  Verdict Forms
  
  Memorandum of Law
  
  
  Section II. Problems
  
  I. Relevance
  
  II. Impeachment and Rehabilitation
  
  III. Burden of Proof and Presumptions
  
  IV. Witness Examination and Rulings on Evidence
  
  V. Authentication and the Best Evidence Rule
  
  VI. Hearsay
  
  VII. Opinion Testimony (Lay and Expert)
  
  VIII. Privileges
  
  IX. Judicial Notice
  
  X. Concluding Questions

• >> AUTHORS
  
  
  • Robert P. Burns
    
    
    • Robert P. Burns is a professor of law at Northwestern Law and a litigation attorney in the Northwestern University Legal Clinic. He teaches courses in evidence, civil procedure, professional responsibility, health care law, and the philosophy of law. In 1996, and again in 1998, he was awarded the Robert Childress Memorial Award for Teaching Excellence and in 1997 was elected the outstanding Professor of a Small Class. The Class of 1997 elected him to give the "Last Lecture" on the day before graduation. He is program director for the Law School's Litigation and Dispute Resolution Concentration and has been both Perkins-Bauer Teaching Professor and Stanford Clinton Senior Research Professor. His current research interests focus on the theory of the trial and on professional responsibility. Professor Burns is a National Institute for Trial Advocacy (NITA) Distinguished Faculty Member, having taught for the preeminent continuing legal education organization since 1982. He is a principal architect of Northwestern's unique coordinated program in evidence, professional responsibility, and trial advocacy and is co-author of Problems and Materials in Evidence and Trial Advocacy, Vols. I and II, Exercises and Problems in Professional Responsibility, and many essays and articles on trial, evidence, professional responsibility, mediation, and legal philosophy.

  
  

  • Steven Lubet
    
    
    • Steven Lubet is the Edna B. and Ednyfed H. Williams Memorial Professor of Law at Northwestern University, where he directs the Bartlit Center on Trial Strategy. He teaches courses on legal ethics, trial advocacy, and narrative structures. A prolific author, Lubet has written more than fifteen books and over a hundred articles on legal issues such as legal and judicial ethics, litigation, legal history, international criminal law, dispute resolution and legal education. His textbook, Modern Trial Advocacy, is used by over ninety U.S. law schools and has been translated or adapted for use in six other countries. In addition to his scholarly and legal writing, Lubet's humor and opinion pieces have appeared on the op-ed pages of newspapers such as the Chicago Tribune, New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Baltimore Sun, Philadelphia Inquirer, Newsday, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, Dallas Morning News, Atlanta Journal Constitution, Detroit Free Press, and many others. He writes an award-winning column for the American Lawyer Magazine, and his satirical commentaries have been heard on National Public Radio's Morning Edition. Lubet received his B.A. in history from Northwestern University (Phi Beta Kappa) in 1970 and his J.D. from the University of California at Berkeley School of Law (Boalt Hall) in 1973. Prior to joining the faculty at Northwestern in 1975, Lubet was an instructor on legal research and writing at DePaul University School of Law and a staff attorney at the Legal Assistance Foundation of Chicago.

  
  

  • Richard E. Moberly
    
    
    • Richard E. Moberly is an associate professor of law at the University of Nebraska's College of Law, where he teaches employment law, evidence and in the Civil Clinical Law Program. A 2007 recipient of a College Distinguished Teaching Award and the Cline Williams Research Chair, Professor Moberly received his B.A. degree in history, summa cum laude, from Emory University and his J.D. from Harvard Law School, magna cum laude. In 2007, the U.S. House of Representatives' Subcommittee on Workforce Protections invited him to testify on his research on employee whistleblower protection, and on federal whistleblower protections in particular. He has recently been working on a number of new editions of his teaching materials for evidence and trial advocacy for the National Institute for Trial Advocacy (NITA). While at Harvard, Professor Moberly worked as an editor of the Harvard Law Review. Following graduation, he served as a law clerk for the Honorable N. Carlton Tilley, Jr., U.S. District Judge for the Middle District of North Carolina, before joining the law firm of McKenna Long and Aldridge LLP.