About The Author

• Author: Stewart I. Edelstein
• Profession: Commercial trial lawyer
• Pages: 425-427

425

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Here’s a synopsis of my life in the law, and beyond. After graduating

from Oberlin College in 1970, I attended Cornell Law School, where I

was on the moot court team. Upon graduat ion from Cornell in 1973, I

began my forty-year career as a commercial trial lawyer at Cohen and

Wolf, P.C., in Connecticut. I k new this was the firm for me when, at my

interview, the senior part ner, Herb Cohen, expressed a more keen inter-

est in my experience as a French horn player than anything else. (I had

graduated from the East man School of Music Preparatory Department,

and continued my horn studies at Oberlin.) I later learned that, w ithout

fail, Herb and his cronies played string quartet s each week—Herb on

his Stradivarius.

That interview was eye- opening, mak ing me aware that to be a suc-

cessful t rial lawyer required cultivati ng interests beyond t he law. Under

Herb’s tutelage, and that of other trial lawyers at the f irm, I developed

my professional skills, a nd learned essent ial fundamentals such as these:

You get what you give. Opposing counsel is not your enemy but your

adversary, each doing your best to represent clients zealously and et hi-

cally. I also learned from successe s and failures, including my disastrous

first court appearance.

I supplemented my law school education by completing the

Advanced Course in Trial Advocac y at Stanford Law School, and the

Teacher Training Progra m at Harvard Law School, both under the aus-

pices of the National Institute for Trial Advocacy (NI TA).

As I gained experience negotiating, mediating, arbitrating, and liti-

gating commercial cases in state and federal trial and appellate courts,

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