1993 Federal Judicial Center gov.ntis.ava19481vnb2.1 1722-V/93 Federal Judicial Center - The program is a part of a video orientation series for district judges in the federal courts. Newly appointed district judges attend a week-long video orientation seminar at which they view programs on different aspects of their new duties, ranging from civil and criminal pretrial and trial procedures to the nuts and bolts of utilizing support staff. In this part of the series, Judge James H. Hancock of the Northern District of Alabama updates his classic 1982 program on the federal rules of evidence. He discusses everything from judicial notice to relevance, hearsay and authentication. The main point of his message; the rules of evidence are common sense rules embodying principles the judges already know or will easily understand once they review them. The update concentrates on rules 404b (other crimes - evidence), 609 (use of prior convictions on cross-examination), and 701-706 (use of expert witnesses).