2L-3L Upper Level Lesson Topics

This exercise is designed to introduce students to the broad range of exceptions available under the Federal Rules of Evidence. Using hypothetical fact situations, students are asked to assume the role of the judge and to rule on the applicability of Federal Rules of Evidence 803 and 804. The exercise requires students to know the proper application of each exception and to also understand the reason underlying each exception to the federal rules. Each section covers a separate sub-rule of either F.R.E. 803 or 804.

This lesson deals with the definition of hearsay under the Federal Rules of Evidence. It is a self-contained exercise that requires no prior knowledge or reference to outside material. It can be used as preparation before the topic of hearsay has been reached in the classroom, or as review after hearsay has been covered in class.

This exercise is based on a simulated trial in which the user is asked to rule on hearsay objections and to give reasons for the rulings.

This lesson provides a basic history of equitable remedies. The student need not have read any particular materials or taken any particular law school courses in order to complete the tutorial. It can be used to provide background in courses where equity is especially relevant or to review the history of equity for use in a remedies course. 

The lesson reviews the historical development of the federal laws governing wetlands, including regulatory laws and the laws that provide incentives for preservation of wetlands, and the federal agencies that are involved in administering those laws.

In this lesson, we examine the hybrid rulemaking process. In other words, we examine rules that are not created through the formal rulemaking process (as that process is defined in the federal Administrative Procedure Act (APA)), or by a strictly informal process (again, as defined by the APA), but by a process that is somewhere between formal and informal processes. The lesson is intended for students who have studied these issues in class, and who wish to further refine their knowledge.

This lesson examines identification procedures in criminal cases through a short exploration of problems that can arise in making an identification, a primer on basic constitutional rules and the problem of suggestiveness, and a simple criminal case in which you act as an investigator and see the legal consequences of choosing different identification procedures.

This exercise begins with a transcript of the direct examination of a government witness in a criminal action. The direct examination will be followed by a crossexamination, and the student is asked to rule on objections to impeachment questions by the crossexaminer. The lesson focuses on permissible and impermissible impeachment concepts under the Federal Rules of Evidence. The exercise was composed under a grant from the Federal Judicial Center as part of its training program for incoming federal judges.

This lesson is intended for students who have studied equity and, in particular, in personam remedies in class, and who wish to obtain a further and deeper understanding of the topic.

This lesson teaches about the concept of incontestability: what it is, and what benefits it confers on trademark owners. This lesson can be used either for teaching the subject or for review.