Have you ever considered why we need trial lawyers in the first place? Why not have a judge or clerk–or the manager of the court’s cafeteria–simply read the facts of a case to a jury? Cases could be presented in days, a week at the most. Another day or two of jury deliberation and that would be it. Think of the money attorneys would save on bottled water and mints alone!
Well, although ancient Athens would identify with trials being held that way, our court system depends upon a quite different concept: advocacy. We depend upon professionals who marry a lawsuit’s complexity with recognized skills in presentation. Our system of justice depends upon legal theater. And in this world, just as on Broadway, performance matters.
Political consultant Roger Ailes understood the meeting of self and message when he titled his 1988 book You Are the Message. As an advocate, you must create a persuasive persona that unites your professional acumen with skill in courtroom performance.
Challenging? You bet. So take it from a former professional actor: Here are three areas of focus you should work within to achieve the dynamism and persuasiveness that you owe your client–not to mention your own satisfaction and personal success:
Competence
Advertise your competence in everything you say and do in the courtroom. This does not mean strutting and sounding boastful. It means exhibiting a quiet confidence that equals an unforced display of authority. Trust yourself and your abilities while you show that you enjoy what you’re doing. Look prepared, calm, and eager to advocate on behalf of your client. Avoid the appearance of being rushed and harassed (by time constraints, rulings that don’t go your way, or by the judge himself or herself.) And don’t make a frown your facial signature.
Remember that your presentation begins the moment the jury sees you, and continues at all times, not only when you are speaking. Get on a wavelength when you’re within the jury’s sight of energy, confidence, and professionalism. Make your eye contact solid and lasting. Move crisply. Instead of shuffling papers noisily at your counsel table, treat them with respect (I’m not kidding!). The manner in which you hold yourself and move–commanding the space around you instead of wandering, lonely as Wordsworth’s clouds–makes a tremendous difference in how you are perceived. Let jurors know by everything you show them that you are a person of authority and humility (yes, combined), and so your client deserves a high level of respect. And by all means, understanding the difference between authority and arrogance, and know how to exhibit one and not the other.
Rapport
Don’t just identify with the jurors – love them, and let it show. Voir dire should have helped you empanel a group of people who could identify with your client and understand the client’s actions. When you relate to jurors from now on in any way, do it within a world of common ground you share. Whoever we are as human beings, our experiences, motivations, and feelings unite all of us far more than they divide us. Look for ways to remind jurors of this in terms of the evidence, courtroom procedures, the burdens being placed on these people in slow-moving trials, and your own client if he or she testifies. Speak to and treat people with empathy and respect. If you don’t know what that sounds like in spoken communication, get a colleague to help.
Be genuine and believable. And remember to be interesting! Flush your brain of legalese, and speak in words that are concrete, compact, and vivid. Read Churchill’s speeches if you don’t understand what I mean by this. Think at all times in terms of story, and you’ll have the captive and sympathetic audience you’re looking for. And never forget: your yellow legal pad is your enemy. If you look at your notes when talking to the jury or witnesses instead of the human beings involved, you deserve to lose.
Delivery
Believe. Like Peter and Wendy in Peter Pan — believe. A famous acting textbook is called Acting Is Believing, and every lawyer and advocate of any kind should remember that title in terms of their own work. Actors know that to convince others, they must be convinced themselves. So, beyond your law school degree, the prestige of your profession, your firm’s reputation, and your renown as a trial lawyer, believe with all your professional being in the truth of your advocacy.
If you fiercely embody your argument, you will succeed in getting your listeners to think and feel what you want them to. And that means doing what you want them to in the jury room.
Make your vocal delivery honest as well. Eloquence rarely moves people; honesty always does. The art of connecting your emotions to your voice–a bedrock skill of successful advocates–means speaking simply about the human feelings that underlie your messages. All the important things in life are spoken simply from the heart, using small words. The late mystery novelist Ed McBain had one of his characters say: “The truth had a ring like an ax hitting an oak.” You’d better believe it–and if you do, your listeners will believe it too.