While preparing for trial you realize that you need to offer evidence of one crucial fact known only by a witness residing on the West Coast. The residence is in a city you have long wanted to visit. Now you can fly there at your client's expense, take a brief deposition and see the sights.

But wait. This client is struggling with the tough economy. How can you competently represent the client frugally? Consider Tennessee Rule of Civil Procedure 31, permitting depositions by written questions. Here's how it works.

Here is yet one more book about a famous chapter from the history of our American West. In the April 2009 issue of the Journal I declared James Donovan's A Terrible Glory (2008) to be "the last word." But you need to read this new volume.

Why was the Last Stand a disaster? Three reasons convince me that the Seventh Calvary had not a chance.

First, around 750 troopers faced over 2,000 warriors.

On the first Monday in December some important revisions will affect civil practice in federal courts.

Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 8. General Rules of Pleading

The list of affirmative defenses in Rule 8(c) will no longer contain discharge in bankruptcy. Why not? Because, as the Advisory Committee

Note explains, the discharge voids a judgment and enjoins collection. It is therefore "confusing to describe discharge as an affirmative defense."

Reputation is an important type of evidence. It is the usual proof of character, useful to demonstrate conforming conduct under Rule 404 and to impeach under Rule 608.

But is reputation evidence hearsay? I have pondered the question during almost 50 years of learning, practicing and teaching law. Perhaps it's time for an answer. Yet one can reasonably argue both positive and negative positions.

As Shakespeare eloquently reminds us, our deaths are inevitable. But negligently letting a lawsuit die from failure to timely serve a defendant is evitable.

Let us begin with Tennessee Rule of Civil Procedure 3, controlling in Circuit and Chancery Courts. You have 90 days from issuance of the summons to serve the defendant. By the way, do not intentionally cause delay of prompt service. If you do, filing of the complaint is ineffective and statutes of limitation and repose continue running. Read Rule 4.01(3).

During the night of Monday, Sept. 8, 1919, Maude Moore fatally shot Roy Harth near Bearden, west of Knoxville.

Who Was Maude Moore?

She was born Maudene L. Moore on July 6, 1893, at Emporia, Kansas, the daughter of Barnard Vandevort Moore and Nellie S. Moore. When Maude was a young girl the family moved to the new Oakwood development in North Knoxville. Her father worked at the nearby Southern Railway Coster Yards.

Maude was educated at Lincoln Park School, the county high school (now Central High), and Knoxville Business College. She worked as a stenographer.

The Tennessee Supreme Court added a chapter to our Confrontation Clause jurisprudence in State v. Franklin, 308 S.W.3d 799 (2010). Justice Clark and her colleagues held that statements exchanged between two private parties, with no law enforcement personnel involved, are nontestimonial. Consequently the accused's confrontation right doesn't arise.

The Lysol Hound Murder

Beer has long been my recreational beverage of choice. I never cared much for mixed drinks. Perhaps the most exotic concoction I ever came across is found in a court opinion, State v. Barnes, 703 S.W.2d 611 (Tenn. 1985). Mix a gallon of water with a container or two of liquid Lysol and add Kool-Aid for sweetener.

By Deborah Blum | Penguin Press | $25.95 | 379 pages | 2010

This is an instructive book. It is based on the work of two New York City scientists, medical examiner Charles Norris and his toxicologist Andrew Gettler. We learn about the fatal consequences of chloroform, cyanide, mercury and other substances. Alcohol can be a bad potion, especially the wood alcohol that was gulped during Prohibition.

In criminal trials Rule 29.1 governs the issue of waiving closing argument. Part (a) applies to the state's first argument. Only if both prosecutor and defense counsel jointly agree can that argument and all others be waived. Part (b) applies to the defense argument. It contains this sentence: "If the defendant waives this closing argument, the state is not permitted to make a final closing argument."

An example arose in Davidson County a decade before the Rules of Criminal Procedure were born in 1978.