The Branstetter Program brings together leading academics to address evidence, class actions, and other key litigation topics across different mediums and through frequent workshops and speakers.
A podcast and workshop organized by Professor Ed Cheng, with the help of Alex Nunn of the University of Arkansas, Julia Simon-Kerr of the University of Connecticut, and Maggie Wittlin of the University of Nebraska. The show features presentations on evidence of wrongful convictions, forensic weapon identification, character impeachment, brain-based memory detection, legal proof, burden of proof, corroboration, and other topics.
The Branstetter Evidence Roundtable brings together judges, scholars, and Vanderbilt faculty to discuss how evidence rules might be clarified, streamlined, or reimagined for modern litigation. The 2025 roundtable, titled “Simplified Evidence Rules,” focused on the role, scope, and practical effect of simplified evidence rules in courts and other adjudicative settings.
The roundtable format is designed to encourage open, substantive discussion among participants. Rather than formal presentations, participants may submit brief optional written materials in advance, and the sessions are structured around judicial impressions, discussion panels, and a concluding synthesis. The format allows judges, senior scholars, and junior scholars to exchange ideas directly and collaboratively, with the goal of developing clearer thinking about evidence doctrine, courtroom practice, and the future of evidentiary reform.
The Branstetter Judicial Speaker Series is part of an ongoing effort to introduce students to a broad range of perspectives from judges who represent different types of courts. Justices and judges typically spend a day in residence at the Law School, during which they serve as guest lecturers in classes, meet with student groups, and deliver a lecture that is open to the entire law community.