Press Release  2022 Edition of the Massachusetts Guide to Evidence Now Available

BOSTON, MA — The Supreme Judicial Court and its Advisory Committee on Massachusetts Evidence Law today announced the release of the 2022 edition of the Massachusetts Guide to Evidence. The Justices of the Supreme Judicial Court recommend use of the Guide by the bench, bar, and public.

"I am grateful to the Advisory Committee members for their excellent work updating the Massachusetts Guide to Evidence to reflect new legal developments each year," Supreme Judicial Court Chief Justice Kimberly S. Budd said. "Attorneys, judges, and self-represented litigants seeking to understand and apply Massachusetts evidence law rely on the Guide on a regular basis. As always, the new version is in step with recent developments, as demonstrated by the revisions to Section 502 regarding the work-product doctrine and Section 702 regarding expert testimony."

The Massachusetts Guide to Evidence assembles existing Massachusetts evidence law in an easy-to-use document organized similarly to the Federal Rules of Evidence. The Guide includes extensive explanatory notes and citations to pertinent authorities.

The 2022 edition is the fourteenth annual edition of the Guide. An electronic version of the Guide is available without charge on the court's website, where it can be searched and downloaded. The Official Print Edition is published by the Flaschner Judicial Institute, which is again providing a complimentary copy to every sitting judge in the Commonwealth. The 2022 Guide will be available for purchase from the Flaschner Judicial Institute and Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly.

The 2022 edition of the Guide incorporates more than fifty opinions issued by the Supreme Judicial Court and the Appeals Court between January 1, 2021 and December 31, 2021, and updates several sections to reflect the current state of the Massachusetts evidence law.

In 2006, the Supreme Judicial Court established the Advisory Committee to prepare a Massachusetts Guide to Evidence at the request of the Massachusetts Bar Association, the Boston Bar Association, and the Massachusetts Academy of Trial Attorneys. Since 2008, the Supreme Judicial Court has appointed a standing Committee to monitor and incorporate new legal developments and produce annual new editions of the Guide.

Appeals Court Justice Gregory I. Massing chairs the Advisory Committee and serves as editor-in-chief of the Guide. The other members of the Advisory Committee are Hon. Mark S. Coven (editor), of the District Court; attorney Elizabeth N. Mulvey (editor); Hon. Michael D. Ricciuti of the Superior Court; Hon. Barbara M. Hyland of the Probate and Family Court; Hon. Gloria Y. Tan of the Juvenile Court; Hon. Sarah W. Ellis of the District Court; Hon. Sookyoung Shin of the Appeals Court, who was appointed in December 2021; Supreme Judicial Court deputy legal counsel Timothy E. Maguire; Appeals Court research attorney Sean C. Connolly; Boston College Law School Professor R. Michael Cassidy; attorney Edmund P. Daley III; New England Law | Boston Visiting Professor Benjamin K. Golden; Boston University School of Law Professor Jasmine Gonzales Rose; Appeals Court law clerks Victoria Arend Carbone and Tyler Creighton; Hon. R. Marc Kantrowitz and  Hon. Peter W. Agnes (editors-in-chief emeritus); Hon. Heidi Brieger, who was a regular member until her appointment as Chief Justice of the Superior Court in June 2021 and now serves as a consulting member; and Supreme Judicial Court Justice David A. Lowy, who has been a member of the Committee since its inception and now serves as a consulting member.

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