We recommend that all young trial lawyers watch the movie “My Cousin Vinny.” In fact, seasoned trial lawyers can learn much from watching this film. The better the trial lawyer, the better the appreciation for the skill and effectiveness of Vinny Gambino’s (Joe Pesci) direct and cross-examinations of various witnesses, including his spunky fiancée, the so-called expert on auto mechanics, Mona Lisa Vito (Marisa Tomei), who gets “voir dired” by the prosecutor with a trick question.
The 1992 movie was ahead of its time. There is presently a movement afoot in trial law to move away from Irving Younger’s 10 Principles of Cross-Examination that mandates asking only short leading questions and never asking a question to which one does not know the answer. This new method of cross-examination was detailed in a brilliant, recently published book called “The Fearless Cross-Examiner” by Patrick Malone. Malone argues that there are times when it is more persuasive (and less annoying) to use non-leading questions when conducting a cross-examination. He also recommends sometimes asking questions to which one does not know the answer. When speaking across the country about this new method, Malone uses one of Vinny’s cross-examinations to demonstrate the effective use of this method.
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