This course covers the basic topics in evidence law through analysis of the Federal Rules of Evidence. In class, we focus on “problems” as well as case law. Topics to be covered include relevance, the trial process, laying the foundation for real evidence, competency and examinations of witnesses, hearsay and other rules of exclusions, and lay and expert opinions. Discussion of allocating decision-making authority among judge, jury, and adversaries, and between trial and appellate courts, will occur throughout. Class participation is required.
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2 comments:
Possibly the best professor I have had at Boalt so far.
Despite the sometimes dry and technical nature of the Federal Rules of Evidence, Professor Swift is fantastic at breaking down the rules, posing hypotheticals, and challenging you to look past what the rules say and look at what policies they effectuate. Students are separated (alphabetically) into on-call panels. You are only on-call for one week in the semester.
Personally, I wish she would teach more classes, so I could take them all.
Not only is she a great professor, she is a great mentor and person. She told us all to be nice to our parents and to be "relevant" in our lives, to find something that we enjoy doing. She genuinely seems to care about her students.
Yes, yes, yes to everything that the above person said. Best professor I've had at Boalt Hall. Evidence is a very complex subject, and she wove it all together, injecting policy, and mini-reviewed us all the way through the class. You can't get away with skipping this class if you want to learn something - it all builds upon itself. Her on-call approach combined with doing problems every single class is a very effective teaching tool. Can't recommend Evidence with Swift enough.
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