B. Otis Felder (Partner-Seattle, WA) will present “The Introduction and Exclusion of Evidence: Rules and Practical Applications,” the lead agenda item of a comprehensive National Business Institute (NBI) webinar program on December 10, 2025, titled “The Alaska Evidence Playbook.” Designed for Alaska litigators and in-house counsel, the program synthesizes Alaska’s rules of evidence and procedure with practical, trial-focused applications and the latest developments in case law, including emerging artificial intelligence (AI) issues. Drawing on extensive trial and appellate experience, Otis, an adjunct professor at USC Gould School of Law, will cover the introduction and exclusion of evidence, the Alaska Rules of Evidence, key civil and criminal procedure intersections, judicial discretion, and appellate preservation.

The curriculum emphasizes real-world strategies for foundational showings, Federal Rule of Evidence 403 balancing, Rule 404(b) other acts evidence, impeachment, expert reliability under Rule 702, and authentication of digital and scientific evidence. The program also addresses Alaska-specific privacy protections that shape admissibility determinations and search-and-seizure outcomes. Recent Alaska decisions will feature prominently, including the Alaska Court of Appeals’ application of Rule 106’s completeness principle in Steven v. State and the Alaska Supreme Court’s privacy-centric warrant requirement for aerial zoom lens surveillance in State v. McKelvey.
 
Civil litigators will benefit from insights into business records foundations and disclosure sanctions, informed by the Supreme Court’s decision in Portfolio Recovery Associates, LLC v. Duvall. The session integrates practical guidance on motions in limine, limiting instructions, chain of custody issues, confrontation considerations for forensic reports and Sexual Assault Response Team (SART) records, and best practices for authenticating social media and body-worn camera evidence. An ethics segment will examine the Alaska Bar Association’s recent guidance on the competent and confidential use of AI tools by lawyers, including verification obligations and ethical billing practices.