The Ancient Art of Advocacy

The Ancient Art of Advocacy is an information resource on advocacy, aimed at anyone who is interested in the subject! The old way of studying advocacy was a "stand on the shoulders of giants" approach; advocates learnt advocacy by studying and analysing the speeches of some of the great historical legal advocates and learning about rhetoric, which is the art of persuasion. That approach is replicated here, and you can find lots of examples of great speeches on the website. 

The website is divided into 3 key sections, which include:

1) An introductory course on rhetoric by Professor Drout

2) Hints and tips from the Ancient rhetoricians and great legal orators on what you are looking to acheive in an opening statement, statement of facts, and legal argument, and the principles you should bear in mind when writing your own. The website also includes hints and tips from some of the greatest advocates in history on how to develop your technique in examination in chief, cross examination and re-examination, with lots of examples from famous cases that you can refer to and learn from. There is also a section on the different rhetorical techniques, with suggestions on the different techniques that you can use in each stage of a legal argument. How to memorise a speech and how to deliver a speech is also covered.

3) The website also includes a section on Advocacy training resources, which includes examples of great speeches by Erskine and Curran in particular. 

The Ancient Art of Advocacy aims to have something for everyone. If you are a pupil or transferring lawyer there are plenty of resources here to help you get to grips with advocacy. If you are a more experienced junior you may find it interesting studying classical legal rhetoric. And finally, if you have an interest in legal history there is plenty to be found here, so hopefully there should be something here for everyone!