What is Cross Examination?

Cross examination is when an attorney questions an opposing side’s witness.

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Unlike direct examination where a witness tells their story, cross examination is about poking holes in the opposing side’s argument or the witness's testimony. Your goal is to guide the witness into giving answers that support your case and story, while also attacking their own testimony and therefore the opposing team's case.

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A strong cross examination can:

• Attack the credibility of a witness

• Damage opposing counsels case

• Build our sides case exponentially and lay foundation for another witnesses questioning 

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What is the Goal of Cross?

The biggest goal of cross examination is to get information you want from the witness in order to support a case theme, it’s the time to be aggressive and argue.

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You want:

• Short, specific answers

• To mix up or confuse the witness

• Lead the judge to understand your version of events

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How To Ask Good Cross Questions

Cross examination questions should be leading questions, where the answer you want is already implied or directly in the question.

Examples:

• “You were at practice that night, correct?”

• “It was already dark outside, right?”

• “You didn’t actually see who drove the car away, isn’t that right?”

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Each of these questions work to build your own case and makes it difficult for the witness to reply in a way that avoids your question or causes them to narrate. If a witness is testifying too much, an attorney can cut them off and ask “is that a yes?” or “is that a no”, then strike any unnecessary testimony.

 

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What a Good Cross Looks Like

A strong cross examination is:

• Organized

• Controlled

• Intentional

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​During a cross examination, try to split it up into a few sections. For example, the first section could be about addressing the direct examination, then it could move to credibility, or your first theme, there are plenty of other topics to focus on during cross, but those are witness-specific. A good goal is to always end with a strong theme and a question you can get a “yes” to.

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Example Cross

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Here’s two examples of a cross examination, the first is with a passive witness, and the second is with a more argumentative and active witness.

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Attorney: “You were friends with the victim, right”

Witness: “Yes, I was”

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Attorney: “But, you still had some rough patches together, correct?”

Witness: “From time to time, I’d say so”

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Attorney: “And, approximately two hours before her body was found, you had a screaming match during a party?”

Witness: “We did”

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Attorney: “And then, you took a walk behind the venue with the victim”

Witness: “Yes”

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Attorney: “And, shortly after, you returned to the venue, but this time, alone, isn’t that right”

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Witness: “It is”

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Now during a trial, a witness will likely argue more than the above one did, but it gives you a general idea of how to use a story structure to construct a deeper theme and get your point across

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A cross should always

• Have short questions

• Aim for yes/no answers

• Build toward a point

• Be more aggressive than a direct examination

 

Common Mistakes

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• Asking open-ended questions (Why, How, What do you think…)

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During both direct and cross, the attorney focuses on the who, what, when, where, and why. However, during cross the attorney tells the witness these facts, while on direct the attorney asks for them. For example:

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Direct: “Who did you see outside of the car”

Cross: “You saw Renne outside of your car, right”

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• Letting the witness explain too much

• Asking questions you don’t know the answer to

• Losing control, the attorney should be the one leading the examination, not the witness!

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​How To Stay In Control

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Staying in control, as mentioned above, is essential during a cross examination​

• Stay calm

• Make sure to get the answer you want, if the witness is resisting, push back or shift directions

• Work thematically, go from point to point, follow less of a story-structure than a direct.

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If a witness starts to go off track, ask a safe question where you know what the answer will be, then move on to another point.

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Practice

 

• Listen to a cross online so you can see how attorneys ask questions, this can be from a mock trial or a real case, though, those are much longer!

• Work backwards when writing questions, think of the story you want and the answers you need to get to it, then create the question

• Look at an example cross on our website, or try to write your own