About The Author

AuthorStewart I. Edelstein
ProfessionCommercial trial lawyer
Pages425-427
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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