There’s an old saying that cross-examination is more often suicidal than homicidal. The saying refers to the fact that many lawyers do irreparable harm to their cases by conducting an inept cross-examination. Sometimes the witness will commit suicide by blurting out things far better left unblurted. When this happens, the cross-examiner should abandon the role [...]
Argument visuals are essential for a successful closing argument. For my Comprehensive Trial Advocacy class, the students are assigned the task of creating a visual for trial. Then, in their mock trial they utilize visuals to among other things bring their summations alive for the jury. For example, Grace Dyer, shown here, argued self defense [...]
Here is another student’s report containing courtroom observations. She watched trial work in an attempted murder case. Each semester in my Comprehensive Trial Advocacy course, the law students go to court, observe and write a report about what they saw and learned by watching a day in trial. Students select from federal, state or municipal [...]
Hours of video on cross-examination: What a perfect holiday gift for trial lawyers, and it’s free. YouTube has a seven-part video of the master of cross-examination and author of McCarthy on Cross-Examination, Terry McCarthy, chatting about cross-examination at Charles Rose’s Trial Advocacy program at Stetson Law School. McCarthy spent four decades as the federal public [...]
SHAKESPEARE’S INTERROGATORIES, OR WHY HE WANTED TO KILL ALL THE LAWYERS.BY MICHAEL PARDO AND MIKE WARNER- - - -RESTRAINT OF TRADEShylock v. AntonioPlaintiff’s First InterrogatoriesInterrogatory No. 4: If you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh? If you poison us, do we not die? And if you wrong us, shall we not revenge?Answer: [...]
Excellent advice on cross-examination bears repeating. Thus, this piece repeats Michael Tigar’s advice (Examining Witnesses) that he borrowed from Terry McCarthy. The subject is how to commence cross-examination in a strong fashion, which we recently discussed here. Tigar (pictured) states that:To begin (cross-examination) strong you must choose an area in which the witness will agree [...]
Lamb v. Samson, Unified Family CourtEach semester in my Comprehensive Pretrial Advocacy course, the law students go to court, observe and write a report about what they saw and learned. Students select from federal, state or municipal court, and they can choose either a civil or criminal cases. These reports are important for at least [...]
According to the state’s factual theory in the Lindbergh Kidnapping Case, the kidnapper used a homemade ladder to climb into the child’s second story window, and the ladder broke when he climbed back down the ladder with the added weight of the child. The child died from blunt trauma to the head, and it was [...]
Do’s and Don’ts for Organizing a Dynamic CrossAre the jurors following your cross-examination? Or, are they lost? Is your cross-examination easy to comprehend? Or, is it just a jumble? Is the structure of your cross achieving your purpose? Or, is it just rehashing the direct? While a great deal of attention in trial advocacy texts [...]
“Cross-examination will continue to fascinate us. There is something in us that loves a good fight. Yet it is direct examination that builds the structure of a case. And sometimes jurors like to come out of the shadows to believe in something – hopefully, our client, our case. Conceiving persuasive and compelling direct examinations is [...]
