Sonya Pfeiffer is a partner with Rudolf Widenhouse in Charlotte, North Carolina, where she represents clients in white collar federal criminal cases, wrongful conviction and civil rights cases, and serious state-court criminal cases. Pfeiffer joined the firm after working in the business litigation division of Womble, Carlyle, Sandridge and Rice, where she was involved with both civil and criminal cases in the firm’s Charlotte office. In particular, Pfeiffer focused her legal work on medical malpractice and campaign-finance related criminal litigation. She began her legal career in the Mecklenburg County Public Defender’s Office, where she served in both the Misdemeanor and Felony Drug Unit.
In addition to her legal experience, Pfeiffer is an award-winning journalist and documentary filmmaker. She spent more than a decade as a television news reporter in Raleigh, Boston, Omaha and New York. She also covered major international stories while based in Paris, France, including the Yitzhak Rabin assassination in Tel Aviv and the signing of the Dayton Peace Accords in Paris.
Pfeiffer holds leadership positions in the North Carolina Advocates for Justice, the North Carolina State Bar Association and the Mecklenburg County Bar Association. She is also a member of the Bar in Washington, D.C. and Massachusetts, and is licensed to practice in all federal districts in North Carolina and before the Supreme Court of the United States.
Featured Products
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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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It's Not Just Voir Dire: How to Communicate & Convince Juries
This program helps defense counsel to uncover juror beliefs, challenge biased jurors for cause, preserve credibility with judges, and build persuasive narratives for trial. You'll also explore cutting-edge research and emerging technology—from social science insights about race and bias in juries to new tools for focus groups and mock trials. Master your techniques in authenticity, storytelling, and emotional intelligence in the courtroom, while reinforcing foundational principles like the presumption of innocence and reasonable doubt throughout jury selection and trial.
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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
Defending Sexual Assault Cases: A Comprehensive Trial Manual is not another sex crimes book—it is a strategic operations plan for dismantling narrative-driven prosecutions, built around how jurors actually decide sex crime cases rather than procedural checklists. It explains the moral risk calculus jurors face, the emotional architecture behind verdicts, and how prosecutors win through narrative stacking rather than proof. Most importantly, it shows you how to give jurors a morally defensible path to acquittal.
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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.


