ProfessorTommy.Tips

If you’ve spent any time studying Evidence, you’ve probably internalized one core principle: Everything starts with relevance. Relevance under the Federal Rules of Evidence is intentionally broad: Rule 401: Evidence is relevant if it has any tendency to make a fact more or less probable and that fact is of consequence. Rule 402: Relevant evidence is admissible unless a rule excludes it. Irrelevant evidence is not admissible. Rule 403: Even relevant evidence can be excluded if

If you're taking Evidence or preparing for the bar exam, you've probably seen two different phrases that seem to describe the same concept: “admissions by a party-opponent” and “statements of an opposing party.” They refer to the same rule. The terminology changed in 2011 when the Federal Rules of Evidence were restyled, but the substance of Rule 801(d)(2) didn't change. Still, the new wording matters because it can help you think about the rule more accurately. Photo by Mar

Last week, journalists Don Lemon and Georgia Fort were arrested and charged in connection with coverage of a protest at a church in St. Paul, Minnesota, with the government pursuing the charges through a grand jury indictment. I’m not weighing in on whether these indictments are correct, justified, constitutional, politically motivated, or anything else. I’m using the headline as a clean bar-exam hook to answer a question you may see in some form: What does it take to return

On Wednesday, Taylor Swift revealed the track list for her upcoming album The Life of a Showgirl during her boyfriend Travis Kelce’s...

Today is National Camera Day , making it a perfect time to review how photographs are handled under the rules of evidence for bar exam...

In previous posts, I've covered the three core steps for analyzing hearsay on the bar exam: Does the statement meet the definition of...

By now, you should now that hearsay isn’t a single-step analysis. It’s a three-part process: 1️⃣ Does the statement meet the definition...

When you spot a potential hearsay issue on the MBE or in an essay, your analysis should follow a structured, three-step approach: 1️⃣...

Hearsay makes up roughly one-quarter of the 25 Evidence MBE questions—and it appears on nearly every Evidence essay. As you’re reviewing...

Some points on the bar exam are hard-earned. Others are just … forgotten. Left behind. Never even given a chance. And the worst part?...