Elaine Lewis is the CEO and witness trainer at Courtroom Communications. For the past 20 years she has specialized in helping lawyers prepare witnesses for trials and depositions in all types of cases, including commercial, patent, product liability, contract, family law, entertainment, etc. She also consults on the framing and organizing of trial issues and developing case themes. She has worked for leading law firms and attorneys throughout the United States. Cases have ranged from those with high visibility and much press coverage to those known only to the participants. (View List of Past Clients)
Ms. Lewis has written many articles on the subject of witness preparation. (View List of Articles) She also lectures throughout the United States. For lawyers her subjects include more effective methods of witness preparation, preparing more persuasive openings and summations, and other topics involving oral and written communication. For groups of expert witnesses she lectures on the techniques that will help experts be more effective at trial. (View List of Lectures)
She has made many TV appearances to comment on witness behavior and attorney performance at trial, including on Court TV, CNN, and the program In Session. She has been quoted in the press, her published articles have been referenced in many publications written by others, and her work as a witness consultant has been mentioned in several books.
Ms. Lewis brings to her specialty a rich background of both personal experience and academic training. She has a BS in Communications from the State University of New York, an MA in Theater from New York University, and another four years of math and physics from the City College of New York, where she majored in Meteorology.
Prior to specializing in the legal field she spent many years teaching people to communicate more effectively. Clients have included General Motors executives whom she coached for major speeches across the United States and Canada, and upper level managers working for the City of New York for whom she conducted oral presentation skills workshops.
In addition to teaching oral communication skills, Ms. Lewis has acted in over 100 television commercials, worked as a spokeswoman for major corporations, appeared on daytime TV soap operas, and spent a number of years working in TV news and weather reporting, including at WCBS-TV in New York City.
With her strong background in oral communication and presentation, she formed a division of Courtroom Communications called Speech Impact, where she offers public speaking coaching through the use of Skype. (View Speech Impact)
Ms. Lewis is a member of the American Society of Trial Consultants, Screen Actors Guild—American Federation of TV and Radio Artists, and Actors Equity Association. She was married for 35 years to the late Norman Sheresky, a prominent trial attorney who both practiced and taught litigation techniques in New York City. She first prepared witnesses for her husband. The rest is history.