Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)The best thing about this book is its attempt to systematize the difficult and too-often mysticised craft of cross-examination. The worst thing about it is that the authors did not apply the level of thinking that they advocate for cross-examination to the design and content of the book, which is poorly organized, diffuse, and a general nuisance to deal with because of its pervasive shapelessness. It's well worth dealing with the demands of the book because it is the best thought-out discussion of cross-examination in print. ...if you can figure out what the authors are trying to say about how to organize a cross and get through their Rube Goldberg "system" of chapters and rules and topic cards and sequence-of-events charts and page preparations -- I eventually gave up on their explanations and started outlining the book in my own way, upon which the sloppy, ill-considered form stopped mattering and the book's powerful insights into the whole process became comprehensible. Ultimately, examining witnesses at trial is about understanding, eliciting, and explaining facts to people who have to decide where truth lies (so to speak). The authors here give more information about how to do this in more ways than anyone else. If you want to "get" what's in this book, you will have to work hard and deal with stupid obstacles to learning and recurrent barriers to clear communication. Get over it. That's a large part about what getting ready to deal with witnesses at trial is all about anyway. Might as well get the practice in a safe environment. The book seems to be written from the perspective of a primarily criminal-law oriented practice in a jurisidiction in which the lawyers have access to basically all the information that will be presented at trial. To me, a civil practice New York lawyer, that seems about as real as the Star Wars movies, but there's still a lot of value here. If you are new to this area of the law, this book is the best way to get a sense of what you can do with cross (at least until I write my book on the subject :-)) If you are experienced, it will give you ways to fine-tune your knowledge and skills. Either way, it will give you good training in patience and delayed gratification -- essential skills for a trial lawyer. If I got to break my rating down, I would give the book a (generous) two stars for accessibilty and a (conservative) five stars for concepts and information.
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The "art" of cross-examination usually eludes any attempts to define it. In this volume, the authors demystify the process and bring it into clinical perspective. They provide succinct examples to illustrate the words, phrases, question sentences, and tactics to use in your next trial. The price quoted includes a three-month update supplement.
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