Offering Documentary, Physical and Demonstrative Evidence - Chapter 11 - Case Preparation and Presentation: A Guide for Arbitration Advocates and Arbitrators

Rocco M. Scanza and Jay E. Grenig both serve on the American Arbitration Association's labor panel.

Mr. Scanza is an Attorney, Arbitrator and Mediator of labor and employment disputes. He is also the Executive Director of Cornell University's Scheinman Institute on Conflict Resolution, where he teaches courses in workplace alternative dispute resolution. Mr. Scanza was formerly a national Vice President at the American Arbitration Association. He graduated from Queens College in New York City and Loyola Law School of Los Angeles. He lives and works in Ithaca, N.Y.

Mr. Grenig is a Professor of Law at Marquette University Law School. He has served as an arbitrator or mediator in over 2,000 labor and employment disputes. A member of the National Academy of Arbitrators, the American Law Institute, and the Order of the Coif, Mr. Grenig is also a fellow of the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers. He formerly chaired the Labor and Employment Law Section of the Association of American Law Schools and served as a consultant to the National Commission on Employment Policy. He has written or co-written numerous books and articles.

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Originally from Case Preparation and Presentation: A Guide for Arbitration Advocates and Arbitrators

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§ 11:01 GENERALLY

Documentary evidence consists of writings, such as letters, contracts, written grievances, written answers to grievances, reports, and medical records. Real or physical evidence is “the real thing”—the actual knife, the actual cocaine, the actual beer can. Demonstrative evidence is an exhibit, such as a photograph, a chart, or a scale model, depicting a thing in issue.

Documentary, physical, and demonstrative evidence can be very persuasive since it is often easier and clearer to show something to the arbitrator than to try and explain it orally. Some exhibits, such as photographs, can convey information that may be impossible to communicate orally

B. TECHNIQUES FOR INTRODUCING EXHIBITS IN EVIDENCE

§ 11:02 GENERALLY
A witness may be questioned on either direct or cross-examination about a document without showing the document to the witness. If a document is shown to a witness, no question should be asked the witness about the document until after the other party has been given an opportunity to examine the document.

Where the witness is questioned about the specific content of the document, the document itself is the best evidence of its content. The advocate questioning the witness must then produce the document.