Presenting and Objecting to Evidence in Legal Proceedings: Evidence Basics, Pre-Trial Motions, Expert Testimony, and Presentation (2026 Edition)

Paul Leopold | KoonsFuller, P.C

Paul Leopold is a Shareholder at KoonsFuller, P.C., where he practices at the intersection of family law and appellate advocacy. He is one of only ten active attorneys in Texas to hold dual board certifications in both Family Law and Civil Appellate Law from the Texas Board of Legal Specialization—a distinction that allows him to guide clients and co-counsel through complex, high-stakes matters from the earliest trial strategy through final appellate review. Clients and referring attorneys rely on Paul for his ability to see the full arc of a case: spotting critical issues early, building a clean record at trial, framing arguments that withstand appellate scrutiny, and, when necessary, correcting trial outcomes through appeal. His practice focuses on matters involving complex property division, parental rights, significant financial disputes, constitutional questions, jurisdictional issues, and international child abduction.

• Education & Credentials

Paul earned his Juris Doctor from Texas A&M University School of Law in 2014, following completion of his Bachelor of Science in Marriage, Family, and Human Development at Brigham Young University in 2010. He is Board Certified in Family Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization (2024) and Board Certified in Civil Appellate Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization (2022), a dual credential held by only a handful of attorneys in the state. He is licensed to practice in the State of Texas and is admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of the United States, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, and the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas.

• Recognition & Leadership

Paul’s work has earned consistent recognition from leading legal publications and peer-review organizations. He has been named to The Best Lawyers in America in the fields of Appellate Law, Family Law, and Collaborative Law: Family Law from 2024 to the present and has been recognized as a Texas Rising Star in Appellate practice by Thomson Reuters each year since 2020. 360 West Magazine has listed him among its Top Attorneys in Appellate Law from 2019 through 2023 and again in 2025, and Fort Worth Magazine named him a Top Attorney in Family Law in 2019, 2020, and 2023. In 2017, the Family Law Section of the State Bar of Texas honored him with the Joseph W. McKnight Best Family Law CLE Article Award. Paul has also taken on significant leadership responsibilities within the bar, serving as Chair of the Appellate Section of the Tarrant County Bar Association from 2024 to 2025, after previously serving as Vice Chair and Secretary. He is an alumnus of the prestigious National Family Law Trial Institute.

• Professional Involvement

Paul is deeply engaged in advancing the practice of family and appellate law across Texas. He has been a member of the State Bar of Texas Family Law and Appellate Sections since 2014 and currently serves on the Family Law Section’s Appellate Committee and Publications Committee. He is a longstanding member of the Texas Family Law Foundation, where he also serves on the Legislative Committee, and is affiliated with the Texas Academy of Family Law Specialists, the Texas Bar College, the Tarrant County Bar Association’s Appellate Section, and the Tarrant County Family Law Bar Association. He previously served as an Associate Member of the Eldon B. Mahon Inn of Court. A prolific author and frequent speaker, Paul is regularly invited to present at leading continuing legal education programs, including the State Bar of Texas Annual Advanced Family Law Course, the Marriage Dissolution Institute, New Frontiers in Marital Property Law, and programs of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers. He serves as a Contributing Editor of the Texas Family Law Foundation’s Predicates Manual and has contributed to Essentials of E-Discovery (Texas Bar Books) and the State Bar’s Fast Guide to Family Law, with additional scholarship appearing in the Journal of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers and the South Texas Law Review.

• Experience

Paul has handled appeals and original proceedings throughout Texas and in federal courts, including matters before the Supreme Court of Texas, the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the Fifth and Ninth Circuits, and the Supreme Court of the United States. His representative reported decisions include In re C.E., 687 S.W.3d 304 (Tex. 2024); Baker v. Bizzle, 687 S.W.3d 285 (Tex. 2024); In re Younger, 659 S.W.3d 453 (Tex. 2022); Smith v. Smith, 976 F.3d 558 (5th Cir. 2020); and Lundstrom v. Young, 857 Fed. App’x 952 (9th Cir. 2021), cert. denied, 142 S.Ct. 1363 (2022). His practice focuses on matters where the stakes are highest—complex property division, contested parental rights, substantial financial disputes, novel and difficult legal questions, and international child abduction under the Hague Convention. Trial lawyers across Texas regularly engage Paul as a strategic partner, relying on his ability to build a clean record, shape persuasive legal arguments, preserve error, and position a case for success on appeal. Whether serving as lead counsel, appellate co-counsel, or consulting strategist, Paul brings a rare combination of trial-level insight and appellate discipline to every engagement. Outside the practice of law, he enjoys spending time with his wife and children and being outdoors.

Heather King | KoonsFuller, P.C

Heather King is a Shareholder at KoonsFuller, P.C. and the manager of the firm’s Southlake office, widely regarded as a complete family lawyer with the rare ability to guide a case from its earliest stages through trial, settlement, and appeal. Board Certified in Family Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization, Heather is especially recognized for her appellate practice in divorce cases, and her published appellate decisions appear throughout the annotations to the Texas Family Code. With a career that bridges trial advocacy and appellate strategy in equal measure, she is known for bringing a meticulous eye for detail to every stage of representation—an approach she credits for her effectiveness in the courtroom, at the settlement table, and on appeal.

• Education & Credentials

Heather earned her Juris Doctor from Texas Tech University School of Law in 1995, following completion of her Bachelor of Arts at Texas Christian University in 1987, where she first began her association with the legal profession as a receptionist for a Fort Worth law firm. She is Board Certified in Family Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization, a distinction reserved for attorneys who have demonstrated substantial, relevant experience and a high level of expertise in the field.

• Recognition & Leadership

Heather’s accomplishments have earned her sustained recognition from the legal community’s most respected publications and peer-review organizations. She has been named to The Best Lawyers in America in Family Law from 2007 through 2026 and was honored as the publication’s “Lawyer of the Year” in Family Law for Dallas/Fort Worth in 2022. She has been selected as a Texas Super Lawyer by Thomson Reuters every year since 2003, including repeated listings among the Top 50 Women Lawyers in Texas, the Top 100 Lawyers in Texas, and the Top 100 Lawyers in Dallas/Fort Worth. She holds Martindale-Hubbell’s AV Preeminent rating and was named one of LawDragon’s 500 Leading Family Lawyers from 2024 through 2026. Additional honors include recognition as a 2019 Texas Trailblazer by Texas Lawyer, selection by D Magazine as one of the Best Women Lawyers in Dallas, repeated inclusion among Fort Worth Magazine’s, 360 West Magazine’s, and Southlake Style Magazine’s Top Attorneys, and designation as a Top 10 Family Law Attorney in Texas by the National Academy of Family Law Attorneys. She was also honored with the Sam Emison Award from the Texas Academy of Family Law Specialists in 2018 and the Dan Rugeley Price Award from the Texas Bar Foundation in 2017. In leadership, Heather has served as past President of the Texas Academy of Family Law Specialists, past President of the Tarrant County Bar Association, and past President of the Tarrant County Family Law Bar Association.

• Professional Involvement

Heather is deeply engaged in the leadership and advancement of the family law profession. She has served for more than a decade on the Family Law Council of the State Bar of Texas, holding roles as Council Member, Officer, and Chair, and currently sits on the Board of Directors of the Texas Family Law Foundation. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers and Senior Counsel of the American College of Barristers. A longstanding Lifetime Fellow of the Texas Bar Foundation and Fellow of the Tarrant County Bar Foundation, she also serves on the Tarrant County Bar Foundation’s Board of Directors. She is a member and Fellow of the College of the State Bar of Texas and is affiliated with the Collaborative Law Institute of Texas and the Family Law Section of the State Bar of Texas. Heather has maintained a long and distinguished involvement with the Eldon B. Mahon Inn of Court, progressing through its ranks as Member, Barrister, Master, and Emeritus, and serving as Executive, Counselor, and President from 2017 to 2020. She is also the author of “Emojis and Emoticons: How Courts and Litigators are Dealing with Interpretation of Digital Wordless Communications,” published by the American Bar Association in January 2022.

• Experience

Since joining KoonsFuller in 2007 as a Shareholder and manager of the firm’s Southlake office, Heather has built a practice that is evenly divided between trial and appellate work, handling matters throughout Texas. She is called upon to represent clients in high-stakes divorce and family law cases, including those involving significant or complex assets that require coordinated expertise across tax law, real estate, and business valuation. Heather views the breadth of the KoonsFuller platform as essential to serving clients in matters of any size or complexity, allowing her to assemble the resources required to achieve the best possible outcome. She has been featured in the media as a leading authority on the challenges of appealing divorce cases, and her body of published appellate decisions continues to influence the development of Texas family law. Whether representing a client at trial, negotiating a complex settlement, or arguing before an appellate court, Heather brings the discipline and strategic foresight that have defined her career.

SESSION 1 – Foundations of Evidence | 2:00pm – 3:00pm

Master the core Rules of Evidence governing admissibility in court. Learn to apply relevance, authentication, and hearsay principles across diverse evidence types—from letters to emojis to AI—and gain practical techniques to admit favorable evidence or exclude damaging material.

BREAK | 3:00pm – 3:10pm

SESSION 2 – Advanced Evidence: Application and Techniques | 3:10pm – 4:10pm

Navigate pretrial hearings and evidentiary burdens with confidence. Learn to qualify or exclude experts, challenge their reports and underlying materials, deploy demonstrative evidence effectively, and preserve a clear record so the appellate court sees exactly what the factfinder saw.