This paper describes EVIDENT, an expert system developed with J. S. Zeide. The title is inappropriate since the system is not treated as a case study and the paper falls far short of serving as a satisfactory survey of expert systems in law. This is unfortunate because a good survey integrating the existing legal expert systems literature is badly needed.

EVIDENT is an expert system dealing with the admissibility of evidence under federal rules. The system models a broad subject area of law when many in this field continue to focus on narrow, specialized subject areas. The system is also noteworthy because it obtains significant results using an existing commercial expert shell.

While this paper promises more than it delivers, the expert system described should help to establish a wider user base for expert systems within the legal profession. (A more complete description of EVIDENT can be found in [1]).