Irving Younger (born Irving Yoskowitz; November 30, 1932 – March 13, 1988) was an American lawyer, law professor, judge, and writer. He is well known among lawyers and law students for his energetic talks on effective trial advocacy and legal history.

Biography

Younger was born in

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and attended high school at the

Bronx High School of Science The Bronx High School of Science, commonly called Bronx Science, is a public specialized high school in The Bronx in New York City. It is operated by the New York City Department of Education. Admission to Bronx Science involves passing the Sp ...

, followed by undergraduate studies at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

, from which he graduated in 1953. After serving for two years in the

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, Younger obtained his Juris Doctor degree from

New York University Law School New York University School of Law (NYU Law) is the law school of New York University, a private research university in New York City. Established in 1835, it is the oldest law school in New York City and the oldest surviving law school in New ...

in 1958. He was married to Judith T. Younger (née Weintraub), who is also a lawyer and law professor. After graduating from law school, Younger worked briefly as a litigation associate at the New York law firm of

Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP (known as Paul, Weiss) is an American multinational law firm headquartered on Sixth Avenue in New York City. By profits per equity partner, it is the fifth most profitable law firm in the world. ...

, before becoming an Assistant

United States Attorney United States attorneys are officials of the U.S. Department of Justice who serve as the chief federal law enforcement officers in each of the 94 U.S. federal judicial districts. Each U.S. attorney serves as the United States' chief federal ...

in the

Southern District of New York The United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (in case citations, S.D.N.Y.) is a federal trial court whose geographic jurisdiction encompasses eight counties of New York State. Two of these are in New York City: New ...

. As an Assistant U.S. Attorney, Younger handled criminal trials and appeals. Younger's most famous case as a prosecutor was the trial of singer

Pete Seeger Peter Seeger (May 3, 1919 – January 27, 2014) was an American folk singer and social activist. A fixture on nationwide radio in the 1940s, Seeger also had a string of hit records during the early 1950s as a member of the Weavers, notably ...

for contempt of Congress after Seeger refused to answer questions about alleged

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membership and activities. Seeger was convicted and sentenced to prison, but the

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reversed the conviction on a technicality; Younger reports in his autobiography, ''Some of My Life'', that he was not upset when that occurred. After several years in the U.S. Attorney's office, Younger opened a practice as a private defense lawyer, partnering with his wife and handling a wide variety of cases. In 1968, Younger was unexpectedly elected as a judge of the

New York City Civil Court The Civil Court of the City of New York is a civil court of the New York State Unified Court System in New York City that decides lawsuits involving claims for damages up to $25,000 and includes a small claims part (small claims court) for cases i ...

, a lower-level trial court, from a district in Manhattan, running on the Democratic,

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, and

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party lines. As a judge, Younger presided over both civil and criminal cases and authored more than a dozen published opinions. In 1974, Younger resigned from his judgeship to move upstate, accepting a professorship (the Samuel S. Leibowitz Professor of Trial Techniques) at Cornell Law School. From 1981 to 1984, Younger was a member of the

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

law firm of Williams & Connolly, and during the same period also taught as an adjunct professor at

Georgetown University Law Center The Georgetown University Law Center (Georgetown Law) is the law school of Georgetown University, a private research university in Washington, D.C. It was established in 1870 and is the largest law school in the United States by enrollment and ...

. From 1984 until his death in 1988, he was a professor at the

University of Minnesota Law School The University of Minnesota Law School is the law school of the University of Minnesota, located in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The school confers four law degrees: a Juris Doctor (J.D.), a Master of Laws (LL.M.), a Master of Science in Patent L ...

. Younger specialized in the fields of evidence law and trial advocacy, and authored casebooks and training materials for lawyers in these subjects. His legal textbook ''Principles of Evidence'', originally co-authored with Michael Goldsmith and more recently also with David Sonenshein, is currently in its 5th edition. He was a well-known lecturer to audiences of lawyers and law students, and more than thirty years after his death, tapes of his continuing legal education talks remain in frequent use, prized for their wit and theatrics as well as their substance and insight. For several years, Younger authored a column on improving legal writing. He also wrote and lectured widely about famous cases in legal history. A selection of his writings, including his article, "The Trial of Alger Hiss", originally published in ''

Commentary Commentary or commentaries may refer to: Publications * ''Commentary'' (magazine), a U.S. public affairs journal, founded in 1945 and formerly published by the American Jewish Committee * Caesar's Commentaries (disambiguation), a number of works ...

'' (August 1975); the story behind the case of '' Erie Railroad v. Tompkins''; and the obscenity prosecution of

James Joyce James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish novelist, poet, and literary critic. He contributed to the modernist avant-garde movement and is regarded as one of the most influential and important writers of ...

's book '' Ulysses'' were collected in an anthology: ''The Irving Younger Collection: Wisdom & Wit from the Master of Trial Advocacy'', published by the American Bar Association in 2011. Younger died of pancreatic cancer in 1988, at the age of 55. His wife remained on the faculty at Minnesota and still teaches there.

Work experience

*Private law firm in New York (1958-1960) *Assistant US Attorney (1960-1962) *Opened his own law firm with his wife *Civil court judge in New York City (1969-1974) *Concurrently taught law at NYU *Cornell Law faculty (1974-1981) *Private Law firm in Washington, DC (Williams and Connolly) (1981-1984) *Concurrently taught at Georgetown University Law Center *Law professor at University of Minnesota (1984-1988) *Faculty at The Professional Education Group http://proedgroup.com/professor/irving-younger/

The 10 Commandments of Cross Examination

# Be brief. # Short questions, plain words. # Always ask leading questions. # Don't ask a question to which you do not know the answer. # Listen to the witness's answers. # Don't quarrel with the witness. # Don't allow the witness to repeat his direct testimony. # Don't permit the witness to explain his answers. # Don't ask the "one question too many." #Save the ultimate point of your cross for summation.

References

Sources

''The New York Times''

External links

Biography of Irving Younger45 minute video of his lecture going through all 10-commandments
Legal Lecture was recorded at UC Hastings College Of The Law in San Francisco CA in the late 1970s.
Irving Younger's 10 Commandments of Cross Examination (.pdf)The Irving Younger CLE Series
broken link)
Revisiting Younger's 10 Commandments
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broken link) {{DEFAULTSORT:Younger, Irving 1932 births Harvard University alumni New York University School of Law alumni Cornell University faculty University of Minnesota Law School faculty 1988 deaths 20th-century American lawyers Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison people Deaths from pancreatic cancer