Sonya Pfeiffer is a civil rights and criminal defense attorney at Pfeiffer Rudolf in Charlotte, NC, where she represents individuals in the United States and internationally. Pfeiffer began her legal career as a public defender, then transitioned to a corporate law firm where she handled white-collar criminal matters, civil litigation, and pro bono death penalty work. She focuses the majority of her present work on wrongful conviction and police misconduct matters. Pfeiffer also regularly advises attorneys and law firms on media strategy and working with the press. She is a licensed barrister in Ontario, Canada, where she consults on complex and high-conflict cases and trains younger lawyers at Toronto-based Brauti Thorning, LLP. She serves on the McMillan Committee of Charlotte’s Mecklenburg County Bar Association and the Communications Committee of the North Carolina State Bar Association. She is an executive committee member of the Civil Rights Section of the North Carolina Advocates for Justice, the state trial lawyers’ organization. In 2025, she co-founded North Carolina Lawyers for the Rule of Law, a non-partisan 501(c)(4) united in defense of the foundational principles of due process, equal protection, an independent judiciary, and zealous advocacy. She co-chairs NACDL’s Women in Criminal Defense Committee, has served two terms on the NACDL Board of Directors, and has served as a trustee of the NACDL Foundation for Criminal Justice.
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The AI Playbook for Defenders: Practical Prompts for Trials
This book is a practical AI prompt system for serious criminal defense lawyers who want to use artificial intelligence without surrendering strategy, judgment, or control. It is not a collection of generic prompts. It is a structured defense workflow that helps lawyers organize discovery, test theories, identify proof failures, prepare witnesses, challenge forensic evidence, draft motions, build cross-examinations, prepare trial strategy, and protect clients from collateral consequences.
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Pozner on Cross: The Chapter Method (7-Hours)
Pozner on Cross: The Chapter Method, is a 7-hour masterclass that teaches a structured approach that organizes cross examination into short, fact-based, story-driven chapters. The method enables lawyers to maintain control of the witness, secure key admissions, and present facts with clarity and precision. Designed for use under the stresses of trial, the course provides practical tools for writing and delivering effective cross examinations with confidence. The techniques of Chapter Method cross-examination work regardless of the field of practice, or the level of a lawyer’s experience.
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Criminal Evidence Disclosure & Admissibility Handbook
This handbook covers a wide range of crucial topics, including defending against the admission of 404(b) evidence, challenging bad character evidence, and litigating the admissibility of expert testimony. It offers a deep dive into the requirements of Brady and Giglio and uncovering discovery violations and exculpatory evidence before trial. With dedicated sections on digital evidence, forensic analysis, informant disclosures, and suppression hearings, this guide arms defense attorneys with the tools necessary to combat unreliable or improperly admitted evidence.
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Cross-Examination: Science & Techniques - 4th Edition
Considered the go-to authority for more than 30 years, Pozner and Dodd’s Cross-Examination: Science and Techniques has trained generations of trial attorneys to turn cross-examination into their most powerful courtroom weapon. Its Fourth Edition is now available. This first new edition in seven years adds important material on how to use opening statements to pre-sell your cross-examinations, change the focus of the case, and make your best chapters dominate deliberations—plus a full chapter on cross-examining the crying witness. This is the book that changed how cases are tried.
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Defending Sexual Assault Cases: A Comprehensive Trial Manual
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Pozner's Red Book on Cross: Lessons in Advanced Cross-Examination
This compact handbook brings together over 20 of Larry Pozner’s most powerful cross-examination articles, covering core principles and advanced strategies for witness control, impeachment, chaptering, and framing reasonable doubt. Packed with scripting examples, real-world scenarios, and tactical insight, it shows how to press or pivot with purpose, drop weak points, and keep cross disciplined. Whether dismantling an officer’s account, challenging an eyewitness, or exposing investigative gaps, Pozner’s field manual delivers courtroom-ready tools to win.