Press Release: 4/17/2026
2026 Edition of the Massachusetts Guide to Evidence Now Available
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
4/16/2026
MEDIA CONTACT
Jennifer Donahue and Erika Gully-Santiago
Phone
Call Jennifer Donahue and Erika Gully-Santiago at (617) 557 - 1114
Online
Email Jennifer Donahue and Erika Gully-Santiago at PublicInfo@sjc.state.ma.us
BOSTON, MA — The Supreme Judicial Court and its Advisory Committee on Massachusetts Evidence Law today announced the release of the 2026 edition of the Massachusetts Guide to Evidence.
The Justices of the Supreme Judicial Court recommend use of the Guide by the bench, bar, and public.
“On behalf of the Justices, I want to thank the members of the Advisory Committee for the time and effort they dedicated over the past year to produce the 2026 edition of the Guide,” said Supreme Judicial Court Chief Justice Kimberly S. Budd. “This eighteenth edition includes a new Section 1121 on parol evidence, which was added to provide ready access to summaries of legal doctrines closely related to evidentiary issues. It also includes updated content concerning substitute expert testimony and proving the absence of official records, tracking recent decisions of the Supreme Judicial Court and the Appeals Court. As with previous editions, attorneys, judges, and self-represented litigants will find the new Guide to be an invaluable resource.”
The Massachusetts Guide to Evidence assembles existing Massachusetts evidence law in an easy-to-use document organized similarly to the Federal Rules of Evidence. The Guide includes extensive explanatory notes and citations to pertinent authorities.
An electronic version of the Guide is available without charge on the court's website, where it can be searched and downloaded. The Official Print Edition is published by the Flaschner Judicial Institute, which is again providing a complimentary copy to every sitting judge in the Commonwealth. The 2026 Guide will be available for purchase from the Flaschner Judicial Institute and Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly.
The 2026 edition of the Guide incorporates dozens of opinions issued by the Supreme Judicial Court and the Appeals Court between January 1, 2025, and December 31, 2025, and a number of additional appellate court decisions that did not appear in prior editions.
In 2006, the Supreme Judicial Court established the Advisory Committee to prepare a Massachusetts Guide to Evidence at the request of the Massachusetts Bar Association, the Boston Bar Association, and the Massachusetts Academy of Trial Attorneys. Since 2008, the Supreme Judicial Court has appointed a standing Committee to monitor and incorporate new legal developments and produce annual new editions of the Guide.
Appeals Court Justice Gregory Massing chairs the Advisory Committee and serves as editor-in-chief of the Guide. The other members of the Advisory Committee are Hon. Mark Coven (editor), of the District Court; attorney Elizabeth Mulvey (editor); Hon. David Lowy (ret.); Hon. Sarah Ellis and Hon. Hélène Kazanjian of the Superior Court; Hon. Jennifer Ulwick of the Probate and Family Court; Hon. Daniel Roache of the Juvenile Court; Hon. Lisa Ann Grant of the Boston Municipal Court; Hon. Marguerite Grant of the Appeals Court; Supreme Judicial Court Executive Director and General Counsel Timothy Maguire; Boston College Law School Professor Michael Cassidy; attorney Edmund Daley III; New England Law | Boston Professor Benjamin Golden; Boston University School of Law Professor Jasmine Gonzales Rose; Appeals Court law clerks Sara Levien and Laura Kern; and Hon. Marc Kantrowitz and Hon. Peter Agnes (editors-in-chief emeritus).
The Supreme Judicial Court also thanks the Hon. Barbara M. Hyland, who served on the Advisory Committee from 2013 through her retirement earlier this year, contributing her wisdom and unique perspective on the law of evidence as viewed from the bench of the Probate and Family Court.