Fall 2024

5357 Evidence - BREM- 14467

Professor(s): Katherine Brem (CLINICAL FACULTY [405(b)])

Credits: 3

Course Areas: Procedure and Practice

Time: 10:30a-12:00p TTH Location: 210

Course Outline: Rules of Evidence govern the use of testimony, documents, and physical objects as proof in legal proceedings. These rules determine what can be introduced in court and the extent to which what is introduced can be used to prove a litigant’s case. At trial, your objective as the lawyer is to either get evidence in or keep it out. Understanding these rules and the policies that underlie them will enable you to do so.
This semester, expect to master the following:
• Competency
• Relevance
• Prejudice
• Impeachment
• The Use (and misuse) of Character Evidence
• Authentication and the Best Evidence Rule
• Opinion Testimony (from lay and expert witnesses)
• Hearsay (including exemptions and exceptions to the rule against hearsay)
• Complications related to the Confrontation Clause
• Privileges
Along the way, expect to gain a deeper understanding of the nexus between the rules of evidence, procedure, and ethics so that you can perform well on the bar exam and in practice.

Course Syllabus: Syllabus

Course Notes: (Face-to-Face) The UH registration system instruction mode for this course is listed in parenthesis. For this instruction mode, instructors and students are expected to normally be physically present in the classroom. If the course has a final examination, it will be in a classroom requiring your physical presence. Other assessment, such as a mid-term exam, may also be in a classroom. Whether this instructor will offer “remote presence” (starting a zoom meeting from the podium computer to enable student remote access on an occasional basis) for part or all of the semester is not known, but students should not rely on an expectation that remote presence will be available.

Quota=80

Prerequisites:

First Day Assignments:

Final Exam Schedule: 12/5/2024 9-12pm 210 211

This course will have:
Exam:
Paper:

Satisfies Senior Upper Level Writing Requirement: No

Experiential Course Type: No

Bar Course: Critical (MBE & MEE)

DistanceEd ABA: No

Pass-Fail Student Election: Available

Course Materials

Book(s) Required

Course Materials: Merritt & Simmons, Learning Evidence: From the Federal Rules to Court (5th ed. 2022) (ISBN 9781684675784).