Litigation

The Top Ten Federal Rules of Evidence, Part 2

By Evan Schaeffer

As promised in my last post, here's the rest of the Top-10 list of federal rules of evidence, according to lawyer Stephen Saltzburg--

• FRE 404, Character Evidence. The exceptions to this rule about character evidence should be committed to memory.
• FRE 607, Impeachment. According to the common law, you can't impeach your own witness. Rule 607 changes this.
• FRE 702, Expert Testimony. According to Rule 702, the trial judge plays an important role in deciding whether expert testimony is proper.
• FRE 801, Hearsay Definitions. Rule 801 contains a number of definitions that help to determine what is, and what isn't, hearsay.
• FRE 806 and 602, Tied. Rules 806 allows you to impeach a hearsay declarant, while Rule 602's requirement of personal knowledge can be used to challenge a hearsay declaration.

Source: Saltzburg, Stephen, "The Top Ten List: Rules Lawyers Must Know," Litigation, Fall 1995, 6-10.

Full post as published by The Illinois Trial Practice Blog on September 04, 2008 (boomark / email).