Jennifer Romig
Some resources for law students preparing their first oral argument
Many thanks to the Emory Law Moot Court Society for contributing to this list.
Image: Flickr/Jeffrey Beall/CC by-SA 2.0
This an excellent, comprehensive, practical law-review article about moot court.
This is a longer law-review article. It is very interesting and is worth the time for those particularly focused on how the speaker's forensic performance contributes to or detracts from persuasion.
This is very practical, and the checklist is very good.
Oral argument is one of the most exciting parts of litigation, and only a few lawyers are really good at it. But even if you aren't a naturally-talented presenter, you can still improve. The important thing is to get away from your outline and use a more "modular" approach to oral argument.
With the start of yet another law school comes not only the craziness of slipping back into routine for 2Ls and 3Ls, but also balancing classes, homework, internships and part-time clerking gigs. Throw in law review, moot court, law societies and any other extracurriculars and life, once again, becomes chaos.
Last week, the first post in this series covered seven preparation steps for moot court tryouts. This week, we're tackling the main elements of successful oral arguments. Start Strong At the beginning of the argument, introduce: Yourself Who you are representing In what capacity For example: "May it please the Court, counsel, my name is _________, and I represent the appellant ______."
In my last post I covered four of the nine elements for successful oral arguments. Today we will examine the final five. Move Right into the First Issue Once you've introduced yourself, any relevant facts, legal issues, why you should win and what you want the court to do, then be prepared to jump right into your first point.
Preparing for your argument? Here are some tips from faculty members and members of the Moot Court Board: GENERAL TIPS What is the best thing an oral advocate can do? "Be confident. Even great advocates aren't perfect, and not every case is a winner, but presenting your arguments with assurance and speaking in a clear, forthright tone makes all the difference."
