0209

The lawyer should say:

"I object to the evidence about what Adam said to his wife. This should be excluded under the marital privilege rule that makes private conversations between spouses inadmissible."

The objection you wrote down should have all three parts:

1) It should say that you are making an objection. The judge needs to know what is going on if an attorney jumps up and starts shouting in the courtroom.

2) You should describe exactly which item of evidence that you are objecting to (rule of specificity part 1).

3) You should name the rule of evidence that applies (rule of specificity part 2). Note in the sample objection above that it invokes

    a. The name of the rule (marital privilege)

    b. The critical text of the rule (private conversations inadmissible).

Make it easy on the judge to rule in your favor by reminding him or her what the gist of the rule is.

Any questions? E-mail me at tanford@indiana.edu and include the reference 0209.

Now that the objection is made, what happens next? Assume a courtroom where everyone is looking around waiting for someone to do something. Who is that person, and what should they do?

When you think you know the answer, click here .