Nov. 18, 2009 – The newly revised edition of The Wisconsin Rules of Evidence: A Courtroom Handbook – one of the State Bar’s best-selling CLE Books publications – is now available.
Organized around the Wisconsin Rules of Evidence, the Evidence Handbook covers every section of those rules, providing the full text of each, along with the complete corresponding Judicial Council Committee Notes. The book’s authors – the Honorable Thomas H. Barland (reserve judge) of Eau Claire and Attorney Michael J. Brose of New Richmond – have identified the most significant evidence-related cases and have written succinct annotations to accompany the evidence rules involved. Where appropriate, they have also written authors’ notes highlighting specific evidentiary issues and related statutes.
Designed for use at trial, the handbook provides an on-the-spot reference to the Wisconsin Rules of Evidence. The book’s topical guide, a unique feature placed in the center of the book, clearly identifies the chapters in which readers can locate specific rules. An index, a table of cases, and a set of top tabs with topical headings help attorneys quickly locate applicable evidentiary rules and cases.
Now in its seventh edition, the handbook:
includes citations and annotations for cases decided by the Wisconsin Supreme Court and Court of Appeals since the 2008 supplement to the Evidence Handbook – including opinions involving judicial notice, presumptions in criminal cases, relevance, privilege, communications during honesty-testing examinations, expert evidence, and hearsay;
discusses recent U.S. Supreme Court and Wisconsin appellate court cases that have applied and examined the Confrontation Clause analysis of the 2004 U.S. Supreme Court case of Crawford v. Washington to determine the admissibility of out-of-court statements, and places a list of the noted “Crawford decisions” in a table at the beginning of the book; and
updates rules of evidence affected by recent legislation, including (1) the legislature’s extension of the former “husband-wife privilege” to protect communications between individuals in formally registered same-sex domestic partnerships, and (2) the codification of a collateral-source rule that precludes using evidence of benefits from collateral sources to rebut the presumption that billing statements or invoices that are patient health-care records state the reasonable value of a patient’s health-care services.
The Evidence Handbook costs $155 for members and $195 for nonmembers, plus tax, shipping, and handling. Subscribers to the Bar’s automatic supplementation service automatically receive supplements at 10 percent off the regular price.
