Which book is best to learn cross examination?
Querist :
Anonymous
(Querist) 10 November 2011
This query is : Resolved
Which book is best to learn Cross examination?
prabhakar singh
(Expert) 10 November 2011
The Art of Cross-Examination
by Francis L. Wellman
Relentless Criminal Cross-Examination
by Attorney Mahoney
Cross-Examination: Science and Techniques
by Pozner & Dodd
prabhakar singh
(Expert) 10 November 2011
A few tips from me:
1] Be prepared.
2]Do not ask a question to which you do not know the answer.
3]the lawyer who asks a question to which the lawyer doesn’t know the answer will get an answer that damages the examiner’s case.
To quote Wellman “David Graham, a prudent and successful cross-examiner, once said, perhaps more in jest than anything else, ‘A lawyer should never ask a witness on cross-examination a question unless in the first place he knew what the answer would be, or in the second place, he didn’t care.’ This is somewhat on the principle of the lawyer who claimed that the result of most trials depended upon which side perpetrated the greater blunders in cross-examination. Certainly no lawyer should ask a critical question unless he is reasonably sure of the answer.”
prabhakar singh
(Expert) 10 November 2011
But as exception when the question is on an inconsequential subject to which no harmful answer can be given, it is fine to ask the question.
A cross-examiner can ask critical questions even though the questioner does not know what the answer will be. Those critical questions that may be safely asked are ones to which both the cross-examiner and the jury know what the answers should be. If there is only one correct answer and that answer is obvious to the jury, what difference does it make what answer the witness gives? If the witness does not provide the expected answer, the witness loses credibility.
The core concept underpinning this approach is that the cross-examiner is testifying (not literally of course), making arguments along lines that the jury will agree to because they are part of common experience. The examiner uses the witness as a foil, who will give the desired answer or be discredited.
Rajeev Kumar
(Expert) 10 November 2011
Prabhakar sir has given enormous time and replied your query in detail.I do agree with him.
Shonee Kapoor
(Expert) 10 November 2011
:-), learnt few things from Ld. Mr. Prabhakar
Regards,
Shonee Kapoor
harassed.by.498a@gmail.com
Devajyoti Barman
(Expert) 12 November 2011
No book can help you much.
It is am art which you have to learn on your own.
Guest
(Expert) 12 November 2011
Your self experience with practical interaction with different types of witnesses in different types of cases only can prove to be the best book to learn the art of cross-examination.
YOU SHOULD NOT FORGET, CROSS-EXAMINATION SOLELY DEPENDS UPON THE NATURE OF THE OFFENCE/CASE, CIRCUMSTANCES, ENVIRONMENTS, SMARTNESS & BEHAVIOUR OF WITNESS, and finally, YOUR OWN PERCEPTION and KNOWLEDGE OF LAW, ETC.
