Robert Musante is the nation's foremost teacher of deposition cross-examination. (Check the evals!) He has taught the logic essential to taking great adverse depositions – of fact witnesses and experts – to more than 40,000 litigators in 42 states. He has made in-house presentations to the attorneys-general of 11 states and to the partners and associates of 80+ litigation law firms.
List of law firms & organizations taught
Teaching Experience:
- Author and presenter of CLE seminars: Combating Obstructionism at Deposition and The Anatomy of a "Superstar" Deposition: David Boies v. Bill Gates in U.S. v. Microsoft (since 2009)
- Author and presenter of CLE seminar: Attacking the "I don't know," "I don't remember," & "I do remember" (since 2007)
- Author and presenter of CLE seminar: The Stupid Orthodoxy, R.I.P. (since 2000)
- Author and presenter of CLE seminar: Preparing For – And Defending Against – The KILLER! Adverse Deposition (since 2000)
- Author and presenter of CLE seminars: Attacking the Expert's Opinion and Attacking the Expert's Pedestal (since 1999)
- 13 minutes of fame (2 still left): Trial commentator re State of California vs. Simpson on national television (if CNBC was rightly considered national at the time) and on radio (KCBS-FM, San Francisco)
- Author and presenter of CLE seminars: Great! Adverse Depositions: Principles and Principal Techniques and Mastering the Toughest-to-Craft Credibility Arguments (since 1993)
- Lecturer re civil trial advocacy, University of California at Berkeley, Boalt Hall Law School, 1984 - 1999
- Continuing Education of the Bar (C.E.B.) panel member for Direct and Cross-Examinations (multiple occasions)
- Continuing Education of the Bar (C.E.B.) panel member for Preparing For, Defending & Taking Depositions (multiple occasions)
- Teacher and featured speaker re advocacy skills at the Hastings College of Trial Advocacy, San Francisco (multiple occasions)
- Teacher and featured speaker re advocacy skills at National Institute of Trial Advocacy, San Francisco (multiple occasions)
- Author of Musante's Maxims: The Discipline of Deposition Cross-Examination ... to be published one of these days.
Education and Legal Experience
1983 - 2001
- Law Office of Robert Musante, Walnut Creek, CA. Civil trial practice with emphasis on personal injury and employment litigation (plaintiff and defense, mostly plaintiff ... still more jury trials).
- Last jury trial: 1996 (won!).
- Last adverse deposition: December 2001 ("won!").
- Settled last case in 2001; closed "small-potatoes" sole practice. (Said goodbye to interrogatories, requests for documents, motions to compel, less-than-honest experts and the rest.)
1981 - 1982
Maloney, Chase, Fisher & Hurst, San Francisco, insurance defense re construction and products liability cases
1980 - 1981
Deputy District Attorney, Alameda County, CA (Lots of jury trials)
1979 - 1980
Deputy District Attorney, Sacramento County, CA (Lots of jury trials)
1978
Juris Doctor, University of California at Berkeley, Boalt Hall Law School
1977 - 1978
Investigator, San Francisco District Attorney's Office, Special Prosecutions Unit, official corruption investigations
1974
Appeared in Francis Ford Coppola's "The Conversation" ... was nominated for the Academy Award ... the movie, that is, for Best Picture
1972 - 1976
Police Officer, San Francisco Police Department, patrol car and undercover narcotics investigations
1972
Bachelor of Arts, English Literature, University of California at Davis
1967 - 1971
United States Air Force Security Service, Mandarin linguist
1962 - 1967
The Jesuits: Bellarmine College Preparatory, San Jose, CA and the University of San Francisco
1962
"Most Reverent Altar Boy" (really), Our Lady of Mt. Carmel grammar school, Redwood City, CA