MacCarthy on Cross-Examination

by Terence MacCarthy

Overview

Learn how to look good on cross, even when the witness is not cooperating. Learn how to manage and effectively minimize the witness's involvement, without appearing controlling, extracting, and insulting. Filled with illustrative cross examinations from actual cases, this book is your key to employing these proven techniques in your own practice. Using the three themes that run through out the book—looking good, telling a story, and using short statements—you can take control of your cross examinations and achieve the results you desire.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781590318867
Publisher:	American Bar Association
Publication date:	01/25/2008
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	218
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.07(h) x 0.49(d)

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments     xi
About the Author     xv
Introduction     1
The Purpose of This Book     7
The System     7
Change Your Thinking     8
What Will We Say, to Whom, and How?     11
What Are We Going to Say?     11
To Whom Are We Going to Tell Our Story?     11
How Are We Going to Say What We Have to Say?     13
A Brief Interlude     17
An Early Cross-Examination: Susanna and the Elders     23
The Bad, the Ugly, and the Good     25
The Bad News     25
The Witness     25
The Perry Mason Syndrome     26
Old School Cross-Examination     28
The Ugly News     31
The Good News     36
Three Miscellaneous Considerations     39
The Purposes of Cross-Examination: Looking Good     39
Three Housekeeping Rules     44
Primacy and Recency     47
The System, Part I: "Short"     65
Three Reasons to Be Short     66
How Short Can You Get Your Cross-Examination?     67
How to Make Your Cross-Examination Short     67
Transitions     68
Example of Cross-Examination Using the System     71
Looping     73
The System, Part II: Statements     77
The Three Ways You Can Do Cross-Examination     77
The Law     83
The System Has a Philosophy     87
Crafting Your Statements     91
Details     94
Terms     95
Organization-Source of Materials     101
Witness Statements     101
Verisimilitude     102
Plausibility     105
The System, Part III: Control     113
Pace     114
Listen     115
The Intractable Witness     120
Exceptions     127
Safe Havens-What to Do When You Get Hurt     131
Additional Considerations     135
Possible Exceptions to the System     135
Misdirection     137
Ethical Considerations     141
Why the System Works     143
Examples of Cross-Examination     146
Terence F. MacCarthy (Chicago, Illinois)-Cross-examination of a psychiatrist in a federal bank robbery     146
Michael A. Sherman (Santa Monica, California)-Cross-examination of a plaintiff's CEO in a civil trade secrets case      167
Alison Siegler (Chicago, Illinois)-Cross-examination of a prosecution witness in a federal narcotics case     170
Steven R. Shanin (Chicago, Illinois)-Cross-examination of a police detective in a federal narcotics case     176
James Mercante (New York, New York)-Cross-examination of a captain in an admiralty case     186
Heather E. Williams (Tucson, Arizona)-Cross-examination of a county sheriff officer in a federal murder case     195
John Buckley, Ungaretti & Harris, Chicago, Illinois-Cross-examination of a securities trading firm     215
Index     219