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 [...]
Jeff Ashton’s book about the Casey Anthony case entitled Imperfect Justice: Prosecuting Casey Anthony, which is about the murder case that captured the public’s attention, was on my summer reading list. I was eager to read Jeff’s book not only out of curiosity (how in the world did the jury acquit her?) but also because [...]
Aspen has just published Cross-Examination Handbook: Persuasion, Strategies and Techniques (416 pages) by Ronald H. Clark, George (Bob) Dekle and William S. Bailey. The Cross-Examination Handbook shows how to take control and cross examination. All the essential skills and strategies you need are covered. And, the Handbook provides step-by-step instruction combined with outstanding examples from [...]
Juror Infuriated by Prolonged Cross-ExaminationWhat happened earlier this month in a Brooklyn courtroom is a reminder that trial lawyers must be ever mindful of the effects of what they do on their audience – the jury.The New York Times reported that a juror in a Brooklyn court could take it no longer after having sat [...]
A Concrete and Humorous Cross-Examination Example“More cross-examinations are suicidal than homicidal,” wrote Emory Buckner in Francis Wellman’s seminal work on cross, The Art of Cross-Examination.” And one way to cause a self-inflicted wound is to ask a “why” question. One illustration of this took place when a defense attorney was cross-examining a police officer during [...]
TRIAL ADVOCATE & AUTHOR OF RUMPOLE OF THE BAILEYAs it happens, I’m making my way again through The Second Rumpole Omnibus by John Mortimer when I read this morning of the author’s passing yesterday, Friday January 16, 2009. What a loss. Each evening lately I’ve settled in to read another installment in the life of [...]
