Cover of "Ten Great American Trials" by Glenn Altschuler and Faust Rossi, which will be published in August by the American Bar Association.

Faust Rossi, the Samuel S. Leibowitz Professor of Trial Techniques emeritus, and Glenn Altschuler, the Thomas and Dorothy Litwin Professor of American Studies, are returning to co-teach their popular summer course, Ten Great American Trials, for a final time July 24-30.

Rossi and Altschuler have presented the course seven times previously for Cornell’s Adult University, each time presenting  significant American trials or court cases from the 20th century.

This summer’s course is something of a “best of” presentation, looking at the 10 most compelling and significant trials and cases they have covered in previous years – from O.J. Simpson and Sacco and Vanzetti to Alger Hiss, Claus von Bülow and the Scottsboro Boys. These cases also are the subject of their forthcoming book, “Ten Great American Trials,” which will be published in August by the American Bar Association.

The original inspiration for the course, which has been very popular each summer that it was offered, came from Altschuler, Rossi said, explaining that Altschuler originally approached him with the concept for the course and the co-teaching model. Two cases are presented each morning of the weeklong program with Altschuler and Rossi each giving a presentation, and discussions and a guest lecture take up the afternoons.

The two longtime popular teachers complement each other well, Rossi said, even though their styles differ. Rossi said he gives more of a formal legal presentation while Altschuler’s presentations are “every bit as informative but more extemporaneous and humorous,” setting the historical and cultural context for the cases.

The approximately 50 people taking the class each summer have been “well attuned to debating issues,” Rossi said. “So it made the discussion periods very good.”

The class has included many Cornell alumni, “a wide range of people – lawyers, psychologists and even a university president,” Rossi noted. “They were not at all afraid to disagree with our opinions on many matters.”

Rossi said because of all the additional research he and Altschuler did for the book, he’s returning to the trials to be covered this summer with new insights and context. The seminar will dissect the use of evidence by prosecution and defense attorneys, the conflicting narratives they crafted, and the influence of politics, publicity and race on the content and context of the trials.

A few spots remain in this final offering of the Ten Great American Trials class; see https://www.sce.cornell.edu/cau/on_campus/courses.php?v=19190 for registration information.

Rossi, a national authority on evidence and trial advocacy, graduated from Cornell Law School in 1960 and began his legal career as a trial attorney in the U.S. Department of Justice Honors Program. He joined the faculty of the Cornell Law School in 1966, where he taught for 47 years before his retirement in 2013. He lives in Bethesda, Maryland.

Altschuler, Ph.D. ’76, is dean of the School of Continuing Education and Summer Sessions and has been an administrator and teacher at Cornell since 1981. He is the author or coauthor of 10 books, including “Cornell: A History, 1940–2015,” with Isaac Kramnick, the Richard J. Schwartz Professor of Government Emeritus.

Cornell’s Adult University sponsors four weeks of summer programming on the Cornell campus as well as education vacations around the world all year long.