The Truth Engine: Cross-Examination Outside the Box

by Francis P. Karam, Margaret Copeley (Editor), Jessica Hagy (Illustrator)

TRUTH is the ultimate goal of our legal system. Jurist John Henry Wigmore pointed out more than 100 years ago that cross-examination is "the greatest legal engine ever invented for the discovery of truth." Cross-examination requires a high level of performance in a stressful, fast-paced environment where lawyers are under constant scrutiny by judge and jury. Drawing from more than 30 years of experience, Francis Karam offers an unconventional view of cross-examination as a fundamental form of human thinking related to perception, performance, story telling, and strategy. Trials cannot be framed only in legal terms or resolved only with technical legal skill. Karam shows how concepts from other fields---philosophy, the arts, psychology, warfare, chess, sports, and martial arts---can be applied to cross-examination in order to understand human behavior and master the art of cross-examination through a pursuit of truth.

255 pages, Paperback

Published June 15, 2018

About the author

Francis P. Karam has practiced law in Manhattan for more than 30 years. From the start of his career he has been fascinated by the underlying thinking process of cross-examination. He began his career as a civil defense lawyer in admiralty law. As an assistant district attorney in the Bronx homicide bureau, he learned that legal cases are not mostly about the law, but about facts and human nature, a realization that deeply changed his view of his profession. In the next phase of his career he practiced criminal defense, a job that is not mainly about defense, but attacking the prosecution s case using cross-examination.

In 2000, he became a securities-fraud class-action plaintiff's lawyer, another job that involves building a case through the questioning of hostile and evasive witnesses. He has successfully litigated complex securities-fraud cases against corporations such as Xerox, Cigna, Fannie Mae, Pfizer, Enron, BellSouth, and large energy companies.

He was named Who's Who for Securities Lawyers in 2015 by Corporate Governance Magazine. Throughout his career as a cross-examiner, Francis Karam learned that if you take the obvious path, you won t be able to compete with big corporations, the government, and other powerful, smart adversaries. Seeking alternative strategies and ideas for trials and cross-examination, he came to draw on the history of ancient battles and dramas and the thinking of scientists, financiers, psychologists, and military strategists.

Reviews

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love how easy it is to read this book. Even though this is a difficult topic to boil down, the thought process is clear and concise. It goes way beyond the law. You can apply this kind of critical thinking to almost any situation or industry. The book is more about how to think effectively and investigate than it is about being a lawyer.