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GAZETTE
NOVEMBER 1991
Solicitors Learn on Their Feet
A s t u d e nt b e i ng v i d e o ed o n t h e A d v o c a cy Training Co u r se
Its 12.30p.m. on an early Autumn
afternoon and
Suzanne Hill
is
before Judge
Dona! Kearney
in the
District Court and about to
commence her examination-in-
chief. The cameras roll.
A few minutes later she sits down,
the camera stops and a voice calls
out "Well, how do you think you
did?" " I don't know, I think I was
a bit halting" she proffers.
"No, That's not a problem. You re-
covered yourself and went on to ask
some good questions" says the
voice. "The important thing when
that happens is not to panic. Just
take a moment to collect your
thoughts."
The "voice" is not that of a film
director but belongs to
Bill James
one of the tutors on the advo-
cacy module of the Advanced
Course in the Society's Law School.
Every student attending the Law
Society's Advanced Course now
gets three days' practical training
on advocacy in the District Court.
The emphasis is on learning by
doing. The students are divided up
into teams, plaintiff and defendant
or prosecution and defence. After
a day of making bail applications
and pleas in mitigation the students
conduct a series of cases, criminal
and civil before a judge and their
performance is videoed. Each
student has a minimun of two
sessions before the camera,
conducting an examination in chief,
cross-examination or re-exami-
nation. After each session they
receive a short, constructive
commentary (the critique) on their
performance - an exercise from
which the whole group benefits -
before leaving the "courtroom" to
watch their performance being
played back. The playback gives
the oppo r t un i ty for a more
extensive critique by a course tutor.
While
Suzanne
is on her feet,
students
Joseph O'Sullivan
and
Michael O'Connor
are in the play-
back room watching their perfor-
mances with tutor
Jim Dennison.
Jim
hits the pause button every now
and then to make a point about their
presentation or demeanour.
"The great advantage is that the
students are learning by doing"
says
Jim Dennison.
"Video is also
an advantage for the tutors. So
much is going on when the tutor is
watching the live performance, that
it can be impossible to jot down all
the points you want to pick up on."
Jim Dennison
says the improve-
ment in the students' performance
over the t wo days is very
noticeable.
What do the students think?
Suzanne Hill
says: " I t 's very bene-
ficial because it helps you to see
your mistakes. It's nerve wracking
being in front of the cameras, but
I think it will definitely stand to me
to have been in this situation".
Joseph O'Sullivan
feels it is the
most practical aspect of the ad-
vanced course: "Put it this way, no
one is going to give you these tips
when you are out there practising
and doing it for real".
After the students have had their
turn they are treated to a live role
play from the tutors who act out
the same case, and students get an
opportunity to turn the tables by
critically evaluating their mentors'
performance!
Practical advocacy training started
in the Spring of 1981 and was an
early feature of the Advanced
Course. It is administered by Pro-
fessor
Laurence Sweeney,
Director
of Training. The approach, he says,
is influenced by the NITA (National
Institute/Training
Advocacy)
system. " I t 's a building block
approach. The emphasis is on
preparing, doing, critiquing and
repeating the process".
The course consultants receive
comprehensive guidelines based on
the NITA system. They are asked to
emphasise what the students have
done well, as well as picking out one
- or at most two - points about
what was wrong with the student's
performance explaining why and
demonstrating - very briefly - how
to do it better. The demonstration is
the key element of the critique and
the feature from which the students
perhaps learn most.
Formal lecturing is kept to a
minimum. The focus throughout is
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