The Family Law Trial Evidence Handbook Rules and Procedures for Effective Advocacy

At the core of being a trial lawyer is a working knowledge of the rules of evidence: how to get evidence admitted or kept out in a contested trial or hearing. Procedures to authenticate exhibits are the building blocks of any case, and objections and their responses are the mortar. The Family Law Trial Evidence Handbook is a common sense guide to these fundamentals.

Based upon the author's years of family law practice and from the lessons he teaches at the Family Law Trial Advocacy Institute, this handbook is organized in a practical format that can work for all family law trial lawyers, regardless of whether they practice in a state that uses a variation on the Federal Rules or a common law body of rules on evidence. It combines the substantive knowledge critical to assist family lawyers understand the concepts and theories of evidence with a supremely useful format that ensures that the necessary information can be located and absorbed quickly. 

Topics include:

• The fundamentals of evidence
• Relevance
• Evidence of character and habit
• Hearsay and hearsay exceptions
• Judicial notice and presumptions
• Authentication of writings and other tangible evidence
• Original writing rule and the rule of completeness
• Competency of witnesses
• Evidentiary privileges
• Expert witnesses
• Examination of witnesses
• Tendering exhibits, objections, and offers of proof
• Procedures for streamlining admission of evidence
• Requests to admit facts and genuineness of documents

Judges identify lawyers who can try cases well and appreciate their skill, and good settlements come from superior trial skills. It is axiomatic, but knowledge is power. The Family Law Trial Evidence Handbook is the starting point for lawyers pursuing excellence in divorce trial advocacy.