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Introduction

Document Cited authorities 1 Cited in Related
AuthorPeter Lyons
Pages1-3
Introduction

Acutely conscious of Gilbert Gray QC’s observation that ‘most books on advocacy are unreadable’,1I hope this book is easy to absorb. It does not purport to be an intellectual tome nor an academic text book. It is designed for those who wish to learn advocacy skills from scratch or those seeking to brush up on what they already know.

I don’t want to pontificate or say that my way is the only way. Advocates, like students, are people from all walks of life and with different levels of knowledge and skill. Some will take to the skills easily; some will find them harder to master.

I have heard many a barrister or trial attorney tell me over the years that you cannot teach advocacy. They say, ‘Advocates are born, not made.’

These people have usually reached some degree of eminence in their profession. They would have you believe that the great advocates arrived in court on their first day as the finished article.

It is true that some people, like Mozart, are geniuses from a very young age. But the majority of books I have read about advocates or by advocates have disclosed years of enormously hard work and the polishing of persuasion skills in real time on their feet.

No one learns much without making mistakes. The classroom is the best place for making errors, because people can be corrected, and no one suffers. In the courtroom, mistakes are not tolerated; or at least, they are discouraged.

That is why, in my experience, some senior barristers and judges are not effective teachers...

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