HOME TRUTHS FOR NEW WIGS IV

A good advocate must be well spoken. And it is not just a matter of compliance with rules of syntax and grammar of the English language. In fact that is a basic, that should be taken for granted.
Suppose you come into a court-room and should look round the bar, how would tell the new wig from the veterian?
Is it by their wigs and gowns?
Certainly not, for not all old wigs don old, case-worn wears to court.
Is it by their faces?
This cannot be another good yard-stick, for there are Methuselahs just called to the bar while there are many young bucks and does for that matter who have seen years in the bar!
I can tell you a seasoned advocate by the twirl of his tongue - that is how he chooses his words and how he delivers them.
For starters, the good advocate never ever bellows or shouts. It is only yokels who mistake clarity for high decibel.
When they say your words should come out loud and clear in the court room, it is not an invitation to re-enact the environment of the Towers of Babel.
Even the need for emphasis does not compel raising up a din. The presiding judge or judges and the witness are not Helen Keller clones. In fact they hear you only too well.
The other thing you will easily notice in the language style of seasoned advocates is that it is invariably polite and polished.
The good advocate’s speech oozes with courtesies and even where colourful, does not do away with tact and is always calculated to win not only the head of the judex, but also his heart.
Only a few new wigs can put up a creditably high performance in court. The words are basic, stark, bereft of the arresting grace, tending to sting the ears of the judge with its ordinariness, even coarseness.
Where the seasoned advocate would to an enquiry from the court yield “yes milord” or “yes sir,” the new wig may not deem it any better to answer “yes” and in some cases, present the Yankee variant of “Yeah” or even worse “Yep!”
Of course you’ll never, under any circumstances find the seasoned counsel saying to the honorable judge: “you said this, or “I did not hear you...”
The way of the seasoned counsel is to intone mellifluously- “your lordship did say"…… "and I respectfully beg the pardon of the honourable court..."
And so easily do new wigs lose their cool and balance often in reaction to provocative antics and assays of apposing counsel or the bothersome thrusts of quirky judges or magistrates.
But not so quickly the veterans. These know that the colour of grace is best revealed under fire and so like legal ducks bob coolly on even as insults, tirades and such hostile liquids slush all over them.
The veteran’s contant purpose is never to lose the judge, for that worthy and nobody else is the instrument than can procure for his client, justice and its attendant benefits and redemption.
As they well know, indulging or giving in to anger or its not too distant a kinsman in court is one sure way of kicking off the much needed instrument. So when next you see a counsel remaining as cool as a dog’s nose inspite of all tribulations from the bench, do not judge him as a weakling who is allowing his back unnecessary whacks and wallops.
Just do like-wise. And it helps to remember that what is called and known as a court of law is not a jungle, a market place or a motor-park.
A court-room is a temple. A temple of justice. And in temples, the best of behaviour is expected, particularly of the ministers.
Never forget this.