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Cross Examination

 
Cross-Examination Skills
Cross-Examination: Fundamentals
Controlling the Witness on Cross
Resources

Irving Younger’s Ten Commandments

1. Be brief.

2. Short questions, plain words.

3. Always ask leading questions.

4. Don't ask a question, the answer to which you do not know in advance.

5. Listen to the witness' answers.

6. Don't quarrel with the witness.

7. Don't allow the witness to repeat his direct testimony.

8. Don't permit the witness to explain his answers.

9. Don't ask the "one question too many."

10.Save the ultimate point of your cross for summation.

Irving Younger said that the real number one rule of Cross-Examination is: “Don’t.”

You are not obliged to cross-examine every witness. Only the novice cross-examines every time. How do you know when to cross-examine and when not to? And when you must cross-examine, how do you prepare for it? For answers to these and other of your deepest questions, read
Cross-Examination Skills,
Cross-Examination Fundamentals, Controlling the Witness on Cross, and Resources