Cross Examination Transcripts
Collected and Annotated by Patrick Malone
Here are transcripts of actual cross-examinations which I have gathered from some excellent attorneys. You will see commentary by me at key points in the transcripts in red brackets. Many of these are featured in my book, The Fearless Cross-Examiner: Win the Witness, Win the Case (Trial Guides 2016).
In the book, I had to prune them down for space considerations, and I also broke some of them into separate bits to illustrate different topics. Here, most of the transcripts are presented whole and uncut. (The Oscar Pistorius cross lasted five days so I could only excerpt part of one day.) Readers will see how good lawyers piece together their cross-examinations into a single unit, and also how even the best cross-examinations sometimes wander into unhelpful dead ends. Always, though, you will see how excellent cross-examiners recover from blows inflicted by the witness or opposing counsel (or judge sometimes) and go on to win the confrontation.
