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Trial Evidence Committee

 

Mission

The Trial Evidence Committee, which monitors developments in the law of evidence, is comprised of more than 1,300 individuals. The Committee produces a quarterly newsletter which typically includes articles on various evidence issues, surveys of national and regional developments in the law of evidence, and updates on significant state and federal evidence cases. Throughout the year, the Committee sponsors and/or co-sponsors programs at national and regional ABA meetings. Members review a wide variety of evidentiary issues and may work on various subcommittees and publications which deal with issues such as expert witnesses, highly technical evidence, electronic evidence, legislation, ethics, privileges, and other issues raised under the Federal Rules of Evidence and their state counterparts.

If you are a trial attorney, especially a new or young trial attorney, the Trial Evidence Committee of the ABA Section of Litigation can offer tremendous benefits to you. The Trial Evidence Committee addresses fundamental as well as cutting edge evidentiary issues that affect each of us in our practice, and it offers valuable tools for us as trial attorneys. Membership in the Trial Evidence Committee is free with your membership in the Section of Litigation.

Announcements

Committee Highlights for Upcoming Section Annual Conference

 

 The Section Annual Conference in Chicago, Illinois, is nearly here! We have a number of activities planned for the conference, which will take place April 24–26 at the JW Marriott Chicago. These include:

To sign up for the committee dinner, please contact Ian Fisher at Fisher@sw.com and let him know as soon as possible how many people will be in your party.  The estimated cost will be $65 per person. The Chicago Yacht Club’s Monroe Station is located at 400 E. Monroe Street, Chicago, Illinois, 60603.

We hope to see many of you in Chicago!

Hon. J. Michelle Childs 
Ian Fisher
Kent Lambert
Committee Cochairs

 

Seeking Contributors

The Trial Evidence Committee is looking for authors for articles about trial evidence and related matters. Contact an editor (below) for more information.

Message from the Chairs

ABA Annual Meeting at the Intercontinental Chicago, August 2–5, 2012
The committee will have a CLE program entitled “Cloudy with a Chance of a Perfect Storm: Discovery in the Cloud Computing Age,” moderated by Cochair J. Michelle Childs, on Thursday, August 2, from 3:45 to 5:15 p.m. Our guest speakers are Nicole Hunt Strange, senior counsel for Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company, Columbus, Ohio; Gilbert Keteltas, partner at Baker & Hostetler, Washington, D.C.; and Gabriel Fuentes, partner at Jenner & Block, Chicago, Illinois.

We will join the Business Torts Committee for a joint committee dinner at Bin 36 ($100 per person with tax and tip) on Thursday, August 2, immediately after the reception for the Section of Litigation, which ends at 8 p.m. If you want to attend, RSVP to Laura.McLaughlin@logan.edu.

Committee Annual Plan
Annual Plans for each committee are due to Section Leadership by September 16, 2012. Although all chairs, vice chairs, and subcommittee chairs are expected to participate in revising and updating the plans, the process is open to any committee member who wants to get involved. Please contact the chairs to get started.

Program Proposals
Proposals for programs for both the Section Annual Conference in April 2013 and the Annual Meeting in August 2013 are due on August 24, 2012. The key to getting programs accepted is to offer high-profile speakers and relevant topics. If you want to help or have ideas for speakers or format, please contact a committee cochair right away. We will also consider past proposals.

Website/Articles
We are always looking for volunteers to submit articles for the Trial Evidence Committee web page and newsletter. If interested, please contact Kent Lambert at klambert@bakerdonelson.com.

Social Media
Camalla Kimbrough helped to launch our LinkedIn page, and we are looking for individuals interested in contributing questions/topics, updates, links, and the like. Camalla can be reached at 504-566-5200 or ckimbrough@bakerdonelson.com.

Committee Conference Call
Join the cochairs as they host guest judges on such issues as “Evidentiary Errors Made within the Courtroom. . .” or other such topics. Please inform the cochairs of your interest in any topics.

Future Committee Calls
We will post via the website the call-in number prior to each call.

Highlights from the Section Annual Conference
The Trial Evidence Committee hosted two CLE programs—“Litigating in the Digital Age: Tech Tips to Propel Your Case to Success” and “Trial Tactics in a Diverse World”—that were a huge success. The Annual Committee Expo took place during the Section Annual Conference in Washington, D.C., on Thursday, April 19. The Trial Evidence Committee’s game-show booth was a great success. Thanks to all those who stopped by and tried their luck at winning a prize by recalling the rules of evidence.

We welcome your input and ideas.

Hon. J. Michelle Childs (michelle_childs@scd.uscourts.gov)
Kent A. Lambert (klambert@bakerdonelson.com)
David J. Wolfsohn (wolfsohn@woodcock.com)
Cochairs, Trial Evidence Committee, ABA Section of Litigation

Subcommittees

Find contact information for committee and subcommittee chairs: