Take the Witness: The Experts Speak on Cross-Examination

Editors:
Lawrence W. Newman is Of Counsel in the Litigation Department of the New York office of Baker & McKenzie. Prior to joining Baker & McKenzie he was an Assistant United States Attorney in the Southern District of New York, where he specialized in the prosecution of securities fraud and stock market manipulation cases.

His practice focuses on international litigation and arbitration - disputes involving foreign transactions, foreign parties, foreign languages and, frequently, foreign law. He is perennially listed in directories such as Chambers as one of the leading practitioners in international arbitration.

Following the revolution in Iran in 1979, Mr. Newman and his colleagues represented claimants before the Iran-United States Claims Tribunal in The Hague, before which Mr. Newman and his colleagues represented clients with the largest number of such claims of any law firm in the world. Mr. Newman was for many years the Chairman of the United States Iranian Claimants Committee, a national group of law firms representing companies with claims against the government of Iran.

Rikki Klieman has been an Anchor at the Courtroom Television Network since 1994 covering hundreds of trials from around the country. She has also been a Legal Analyst for NBC's Today Show as well E! Network's coverage of the Michael Jackson Trial.

She was a federal law clerk, a prosecutor, a criminal defense attorney and civil litigator for some 30 years. In 1983, she was named one of the top five female trial lawyers in the country by Time magazine. She remains Of Counsel to the Boston law firm of Klieman, Lyons, Schindler and Gross.

Ms. Klieman has taught at most major trial advocacy institutes in America. She also became an Adjunct Professor at Boston University School of Law from 1986 to 1994 and at Columbia University Law School from 1996 to 2003.

She served on the Advisory Committee to the U.S. Supreme Court on the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, the Board of Directors of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, the Board of Visitors of Boston University School of Law and the American Bar Association’s National Conference of Lawyers and Representatives of the Media. She currently serves on the Council of 100 - a mentoring organization of outstanding alumnae for the benefit of collegiate women at Northwestern University.

Contributors:

Elkan Abramowitz, is a Principal of the firm of Morvillo, Abramowitz, Grand, Iason & Silberberg, P.C., a 40-lawyer firm which specializes in litigation. 
Michael F. Armstrong is a Partner at the New York City law firm, Kronish Lieb Weiner & Hellman LLP. 
F. Lee Bailey is known as a top defense lawyer, whose highly publicized cases included those of Dr. Samuel Sheppard, the Boston Strangler, and Patricia Hearst. 
Paul A. Batista is a civil and criminal litigator located in New York, New York.
Benjamin Brafman is the Principal of a five-lawyer firm Brafman & Associates, P.C. located in Manhattan. 
J. W. Carney, Jr. is a criminal defense Attorney with the Boston firm of Carney & Bassil. 
David M. Dorsen  is Of Counsel to the law firm of Wallace, King, Domike & Branson, PLLC, in Washington, DC.
James M. Doyle, a veteran litigator, has written extensively on the issues of eyewitness identification testimony in criminal cases. His current practice with the Boston law firm of Carney & Bassil (of counsel) focuses on trial and appellate advocacy in criminal and civil rights cases.
Sheldon Elsen, a Senior Partner of Orans, Elsen & Lupert LLP, has served as Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, a former Vice President of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, a member of the American Law Institute, and an Adjunct Professor of Law at Columbia Law School.
Peter Fleming is head of the Litigation Department. 
Gilbert Gray, QC is an eminent practitioner in London and the North East and abroad, Mr. Gray specializes in serious crime, commercial fraud, general advocacy, licensing, planning and tribunals. 
Eddie Hayes Shanty Irish to the core -- Trouble is my business.
Lawrence Hochheiser, born in 1941, is the Senior Partner of Hochheiser & Hochheiser, LLP, located in New York City’s midtown Manhattan. .
Albert J. Krieger (MDH) is a member Of Counsel at the Law Offices of Scott A. Srebnick where he specializes in Criminal Trial and Appellate Practice. 
Marc M. Levey, a Partner in the New York office of Baker & McKenzie, LLP, has over 25 years of experience in international taxation, particularly structuring and defending transfer pricing strategies administratively and in the federal courts. 
Gary P. Naftalis is a Co-chair of Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel LLP, where he heads the firm’s extensive litigation practice.
David Roger is the elected District Attorney in Las Vegas, Nevada. 
Paul K. Rooney is an experienced trial lawyer, a former Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Southern District of New York, and a long-time white-collar criminal defense attorney. He is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, and of the International Academy of Trial Lawyers.
Steve Sadow, Criminal Defense & Forfeiture Attorney educated in Marietta College (B.A., 1976); Emory University (J.D., 1979). 
Gerald L. Shargel is a Member of the New York Council of Criminal Defense Lawyers, the American Bar Association, the New York Criminal Bar Association, the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, the Federal Bar Council and the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.
Mickey Sherman, a former public defender and prosecutor, has represented clients in a very wide range of criminal cases. He is also employed by CBS News as their Legal Analyst, regularly appearing on the CBS Early Show and the Evening News.
Robert M. Simels, P.C.’s Litigation Boutique firm specializes in cases concerning Criminal Law, Administrative, Matrimonial, and Personal Injury matters. 
Joseph Tacopina, Esq., criminal defense lawyer, Principal, Law Offices of Joseph Tacopina, a Manhattan-based law firm, specializing in criminal, civil, and securities litigation with an international office in Milan, Italy; Former Assistant District Attorney, Kings County District Attorney’s Office, Homicide Bureau.
Hon. David T. Wall is a District Court Judge in Las Vegas, Nevada, presiding over civil and criminal trials. Prior to his election in 2002, he served as a Chief Deputy District Attorney on the Major Violators Unit and obtained convictions of Murder in the First Degree in every homicide case he tried. 
Gerald Walpin is Counsel to Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP, having been a senior partner of the predecessor firm of Rosenman & Colin for more than thirty years, and Chairman of the Firm’s Litigation Department for fifteen years.
John "Rusty" Wing, a Partner in the firm of Lankler, Siffert & Wohl LLP, is a nationally recognized criminal trial lawyer who has been actively involved in trial and appellate work for more than 25 years. 
James D. Zirin is a member of Sidley Austin Brown & Wood LLP where he is a partner in the litigation department. 

"Real trial lawyers know that there is no single path to the most effective cross-examination. This educational and entertaining work proves the point by not offering a set formula... Lawyers will learn much from this book and non-lawyers who are curious about the trial process will return to it again and again."
- Barry Scheck, Past President of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL), DNA Expert, Law Professor and Co-Founder of The Innocence Project.

"Over a century ago, Professor John H. Wigmore wrote that cross-examination "is beyond any doubt the greatest legal engine ever invented for the discovery of truth." The outcome of trials routinely turns upon the effectiveness of cross... Take the Witness is a gem - full of tactical pointers on the art of cross-examination and, at the same time, a highly entertaining read for the lawyer and non-lawyer alike."
- John M. Walker, Jr., Chief Judge of the Second Circuit Court of Appeals.

"This is a book for lawyers, true. But all of us are acquainted with the drama of the courtroom, from theater, films and Court TV, and reading the words of the experts and the stories of their triumphs (and sometimes disappointments) makes for entertaining and stimulating reading for laymen and lawyers alike."
- Geraldo Rivera, Lawyer and Journalist