SOME FAMOUS CROSS-EXAMINERS AND THEIR METHODS
One of the best ways to acquire the art of cross-examination is to study the methods of the great cross-examiners who serve as models for the legal profession.
Indeed, nearly every great cross-examiner attributes his success to the fact of having had the opportunity to study the art of some great advocate in actual practice.
In view of the fact also that a keen interest is always taken in the personality and life sketches of great cross-examiners, it has seemed fitting to introduce some brief sketches of great cross-examiners, and to give some illustrations of their methods.
Sir Charles Russell, Lord Russell of Killowen, who died in February, 1901, while he was Lord Chief Justice of England, was altogether the most successful cross-examiner of modern times. Lord Coleridge said of him while he was still practising at the bar, and on one side or the other in nearly every important case tried, "Russell is the biggest advocate of the century."
It has been said that his success in cross-examination, like his success in everything, was due to his force of character. It was his striking personality, added to his skill and adroitness, which seemed to give him his overwhelming influence over the witnesses whom he cross-examined. Russell is said to have had a wonderful faculty for using the brain and knowledge of other men. Others might possess a knowledge of the subject far in excess of Russell, but he had the reputation of being able to make that knowledge valuable and use it in his examination of a witness in a way altogether unexpected and unique.
Unlike Rufus Choate, "The Ruler of the Twelve," and by far the greatest advocate of the century on this side of the water, Russell read but little. He belonged to the category of famous men who "neither found nor pretended to find any real solace in books." With Choate, his library of some eight thousand volumes was his home, and "his authors were the loves of his life." Choate used to read at his meals and while walking in the streets, for books were his only pastime. Neither was Russell a great orator, while Choate was ranked as "the first orator of his time in any quarter of the globe where the English language was spoken, or who was ever seen standing before a jury panel."
Both Russell and Choate were consummate actors; they were both men of genius in their advocacy. Each knew the precise points upon which to seize; each watched every turn of the jury, knew at a glance what was telling with them, knew how to use to the best advantage every accident that might arise in the progress of the case.
"One day a junior was taking a note in the orthodox fashion. Russell was taking no note, but he was thoroughly on the alert, glancing about the court, sometimes at the judge, sometimes at the jury, sometimes at the witness or the counsel on the other side. Suddenly he turned to the junior and said, 'What are you doing?' 'Taking a note,' was the answer. 'What the devil do you mean by saying you are taking a note? Why don't you watch the case?' he burst out. He had been 'watching' the case. Something had happened to make a change of front necessary, and he wheeled his colleagues around almost before they had time to grasp the new situation."[16]
Russell's maxim for cross-examination was, "Go straight at the witness and at the point; throw your cards on the table, mere finesse English juries do not appreciate."