The defense of defense lawyers in court is different from the general debate. First of all, it is of great significance. Whether the defender's defense opinions are adopted is related to whether the defendant in criminal cases will be investigated by law or whether he will be given a lighter punishment according to law. Secondly, it covers a wide range, involving various factors of conviction and sentencing, such as crime and non-crime, this crime and that crime, the validity and invalidity of evidence and so on. It also includes disputes over the application of laws, substantive laws and procedures ... As the saying goes, "Facts speak louder than words", but facts benefit from eloquence. An excellent defense lawyer can make the defendant fully defended. If the defense lawyer is not serious and responsible or lacks defense skills, it will not only make the criminal defendant unable to fully defend, but also make the criminal defense lawyer lose the trust of his client and bring his career to an end.
Criminal defense lawyers should love their profession. Every trial is like a war without smoke. In court, the prosecution and the defense are either tit-for-tat, or evasive, or unexpected, or caught off guard, or outflanked, in order to retreat. Even in the defense of the same criminal case, in order to safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of the client, there are conflicts of interest among defenders. When you win a case, you will have a sense of success. If defense lawyers don't pay attention to "tactics" and don't know how to argue, it will be difficult for them to calmly express their arguments based on facts and laws, let alone skillfully deal with the new situation in the debate, so as to realize the requirements of strategic planning. In fact, although there is a good debate plan, there are many examples of failure in the debate because we can't grasp the opportunity and don't take corresponding countermeasures.
It can be seen that the oral expression ability of defense lawyers plays a very important role in lawyers' business activities. It is not only the concentrated expression of lawyers' professional ability and wisdom, but also the standard measure to evaluate lawyers' handling quality and ability. Therefore, it is necessary to study and discuss the skills of lawyers in court debate, so as to give full play to the important role of defense lawyers in criminal cases.
So, what good oral skills do defense lawyers have? First of all, if you want to "dare to speak", you must be able to speak and dare to speak. Lawyers should dare to express their thoughts and opinions to the public. No matter how important and complicated the case is, no matter how many people are present, they should fully express their defense opinions. They should not dare to say what they should say or exercise their due duties for any reason, especially because they are timid.
Second, we must be able to "make it clear". The premise of being able to explain clearly is to fully and seriously grasp the case materials and relevant laws and regulations, and have an accurate, clear and comprehensive understanding of the whole case. On this basis, clear defense ideas are sorted out, written defense materials are made, and on this basis, the defense opinions are expressed in accurate and concise language (preferably French that ordinary people can understand). Let the audience know that your defense basis is really sufficient and your defense conclusion is solid and reliable.
Third, we must "have a wonderful debate." Court debate is an art. A good defense lawyer is an artist. He can express boring legal knowledge in easy-to-understand language and summarize complex cases in a few words. His speech was eloquent, admirable, convincing and impressive. His defense can even make the prosecution's defense look pale and weak. In order to "argue brilliantly", defense lawyers must work hard and sweat. It is a concentrated expression of the comprehensive quality of a defense lawyer in all aspects.
Fourth, we should pursue the realm of "silence is better than sound". The highest realm of defense lawyers is not endless, but concise, throwing questions and letting the audience draw the conclusions that defense lawyers want to draw. Defense lawyers should be good at grasping the scale and discretion of defense, so that people can accept their views unconsciously. In this state, the oral expression of defense lawyers is not only a kind of ability, but also a court defense artist. This kind of "silent complaints are more than vocal complaints" embodies the highest wisdom of lawyers to "understand the world and be considerate of others".
So, how can we improve the oral expression ability of defense lawyers? The author wants to talk about some superficial understanding from three aspects: usual accumulation, preparation before court and exertion in court.
As the saying goes, sharpening a knife does not miss the woodcutter. A qualified defense lawyer will not cram for the last minute, but will pay attention to his usual accumulation. To sum up, to effectively improve the oral expression ability of defense lawyers, we should pay attention to the following aspects:
First, we should pay attention to the accumulation of all kinds of knowledge in peacetime.
It is not enough for a qualified defense lawyer to master only criminal law and criminal procedure law. He must master as much knowledge as possible. For example, defense lawyers undertake cases of contract fraud, so defense lawyers should be familiar with contract law and civil law, depending on whether the defendant's behavior is a contract dispute or contract fraud. For another example, if a defense lawyer undertakes a case of a major accident, the defense lawyer should understand the relevant administrative regulations and see if your client has fulfilled his legal obligations and should bear the responsibility for the major accident. Therefore, defense lawyers should become legal generalists as much as possible. Is it enough to be a legal generalist? Still not enough! Defense lawyers should not only know the law, but also know the economy, management, medicine, history, politics, various policies, and all subjects that are interested in or think are related to handling cases. For example, to be a defender of the defendant in a personal injury case, we must know whether there is a causal relationship between the defendant's behavior and the victim's injury result. It is not enough to look at the appraisal report alone. So we should know some medical knowledge, especially surgical knowledge. Also, is the physical evidence extracted at the scene necessarily evidence against the defendant? Therefore, we should know about criminal investigation. Many people still remember that Simpson was found wearing bloody gloves during the trial, which shows that defense lawyers know criminal investigation and are good at finding doubts in criminal material evidence. For example, as an agent of the defendant in an economic crime case, he should have a lot of knowledge about finance, securities, state foreign exchange management, financial accounting, foreign trade procedures, foreign trade procedures, customs declaration and import procedures, etc. Kan Kan said that only by fully mastering this knowledge before the trial can we be comfortable in court. In addition to this knowledge, there must be rich knowledge of history and literature. For example, if there are several witness testimonies against the defendant, the defender can not only analyze the doubtful points in the testimony, but also cite examples of three people becoming tigers or fifteen sentences in the opera to prove the unreliability of the confession and witness testimony, thus requesting the people's court to convict and sentence the defendant carefully. In a sense, defense lawyers in criminal cases are public figures. The more knowledge they have, the more free their defense opinions will be, so that their defense opinions will win the support of the public and be adopted by the court.
Second, we should strengthen the training of our logical thinking.
It is often seen that such defense lawyers express their defense opinions endlessly. But after listening carefully, they are confused in logic and have no cause and effect. As the saying goes, they are just talking back and forth. The existence of this situation shows that some defense lawyers lack logical thinking training. Careful logical thinking is a basic quality of defense lawyers and the premise and foundation of good oral expression ability. Defense lawyers must do a lot of logical thinking training in order to express themselves fully and freely in court.
Third, we should consciously exercise our ability to speak in public and pay attention to the accumulation of language expression training.
Some defense lawyers have performed well in court, with clear thinking and accurate arguments. However, as soon as I went to court, I began to be nervous and could not give full play to my pre-trial preparation. The main reason for this situation is the lack of training in public speaking. Many defense lawyers are fresh graduates. Before they got the qualification, they studied hard, seldom communicated with others, and had no chance to speak in public. Let's call these lawyers stupid lawyers. Defense lawyers should not be dumb lawyers, but should train their ability to speak in public. In this regard, lawyers should seize every opportunity to exercise themselves, for example, they should take the initiative to speak when discussing cases in the office, and they should be brave enough to argue with barristers and famous lawyers and explain their views. For example, you can often go to the court to attend the trial of cases and learn the strengths of other lawyers on the spot. In addition, law firms should also bear great responsibility for this. Law firms are obliged to train lawyers in various professional skills, especially in oral expression. For example, lawyers in the institute can be organized to hold speech contests regularly or irregularly, and mock trials can be organized for the cases they undertake. Where there is a will, there is a way. Lawyers who are interested in criminal defense, as long as they are diligent in training, will soon lose their hats as dumb lawyers and talk to Kan Kan in court.
Fourth, we should pay attention to the cultivation of good speaking quality.
Defense lawyers express their opinions in public, so it is very important for defense lawyers to have good conversation quality. A lawyer with good conversation quality must be confident when expressing his defense opinions. In China's criminal proceedings, defense lawyers can't walk around the court, so the quality of lawyers' speeches is particularly important. We can often see some defense lawyers express their opinions with many meaningless oral words, such as "ah", "right" and "then". These meaningless oral words not only take up a lot of time, but also make the original smooth defense opinions appear fragmented, which will seriously arouse the disgust of the court. Therefore, defense lawyers must improve their speaking quality, abandon meaningless oral language and make oral expression smoother.
Fifth, cultivate elegant and decent behavior and good and stable psychological quality.
As we all know, many successful defense lawyers have performed well in court and are personable. However, some defense lawyers behave in a wretched way in court, which makes people lose confidence in them at first sight. A defense lawyer should be personable, brave, and neither humble nor supercilious in court debate. When the debate is in full swing, don't get carried away and despise each other; When you lose, don't panic, don't worry. To do this, we also need usual accumulation and training. In addition to the mock trial mentioned above, lawyers can also practice in front of the mirror at home.
Defense lawyers should also have good and stable psychological quality. Be good at controlling your emotions. As the old saying goes, "A soldier has no constant potential, but water is impermanent." This often happens in court debates. Defense lawyers may encounter unexpected or expected abnormal obstacles, interference, difficulties, etc. In the trial. This requires lawyers to control their emotions, show no emotion, take effective measures quickly, eliminate accidents, and be flexible in winning in stability.
The key to cultivate good manners is usual observation and knowledge accumulation. Etiquette is the external expression of people's inner quality, and it is impossible to have good etiquette without certain knowledge accumulation and artistic accomplishment. Of course, it is also meaningful to observe the behavior of others, especially public figures, and then consciously imitate them.
The cultivation and training of good and stable psychological quality is a complicated process. Conditional law firms can not only participate in cases as much as possible and learn from practice, but also organize lawyers to participate in some outward bound training to cultivate good and stable psychological quality of defense lawyers.
Sixth, cultivate the ability to adapt to the environment.
During the trial, there will be many unexpected problems at any time. If you lack the ability to improvise, once unexpected problems appear, you will often panic and affect your oral expression ability. Therefore, it is very important for defense lawyers to pay attention to cultivating their ability to improvise.
Seven, strengthen the training and learning of Putonghua.
China is a vast country with many dialects and dialects. The language of defense lawyers is deeply influenced by the region. However, Putonghua must be used in defense, which is undoubtedly very important for court trials. Especially when defense lawyers appear in court in other dialect areas, mastering Putonghua is the only pass. A qualified defense lawyer must be proficient in using Putonghua to defend. Therefore, defense lawyers must strengthen the study and training of Putonghua in peacetime.
What I have said above is the training and accumulation that defense lawyers should strengthen in order to improve their oral expression ability. Now, let's talk about what preparations we should make before the trial in order to improve our oral expression ability in court.
First, the preparation of case materials should be detailed and sufficient.
Court defense is to be said, but what to say mainly depends on the preparation before the trial. Preparation before trial is very important for expressing defense opinions. In order to have a wonderful performance in court, it is very important to have a thorough understanding of the case and master the law, which is the basis for the wonderful expression of defense lawyers. Defense lawyers should develop a good habit of handling cases, and must be fully prepared before the trial, rather than competing for preparation. Only when we have a clear understanding of the case can we argue in court.
The defense lawyer should thoroughly understand the case before the trial. First of all, they should design an outline for questioning the defendant and witnesses in advance, and try to say the questions as much as possible so that they can communicate with each other better when asking questions. Secondly, we should have a complete and mature defense idea and consider all possible situations in court as comprehensively as possible. We can often see defense lawyers writing defense statements in court, which we think is not desirable. Writing a defense in court will make defense lawyers ignore the trial process and miss valuable evidence and clues, which is also irresponsible to the parties. We advocate that there must be mature and complete written defense opinions before the trial, and they should be revised at any time in court according to the specific circumstances. The defense opinion should be based on this written defense opinion, but it should be expressed in spoken language instead of scripted.
It is an effective method to prepare well before court, especially for those lawyers who have just engaged in criminal defense. Pre-trial simulation exercise is a common practice of criminal defense lawyers abroad, especially in common law countries. Because the cross-examination of witnesses needs to be fully rehearsed before the trial, so that the defense witnesses can keep a clear head under the tricky questions of the prosecution, and the jury can finally accept the testimony of the defense witnesses and make a strong ruling on the defendant. In China's current criminal system, because most witnesses, especially prosecution witnesses, do not testify in court, it is impossible to cross-examine witnesses. Therefore, defense lawyers often focus on the court debate stage. However, there are still many uncertainties in the court investigation stage. At present, the public prosecution handed over the list of evidence and main evidence to the court before the trial, and the information held by the defense lawyer before the trial is not equal to the information held by the public prosecutor. A lot of evidence presented by the public prosecution in court was not presented to the defense lawyer before the trial. Especially the defendant's confession, the public prosecution often takes one or two incriminating confessions before the court, and other defendants who do not plead guilty often do not take them. In addition, the defendant will also retract his confession in court. In these cases, if the defense lawyers don't rehearse repeatedly before the court, their defense opinions prepared before the court will often be different from the court investigation, and the defense opinions prepared temporarily can't be organized effectively because of insufficient preparation. The outstanding reflection is that defense lawyers can't express themselves effectively orally. Therefore, before the trial, the law firm should organize pre-trial simulation drills to simulate various situations that may occur in the trial and conduct repeated drills. After such a drill, lawyers who appear in court will confidently go to court and express their wonderful defense opinions.
Second, we should design the language style of defense and hone our language expression ability.
In the pre-trial preparation, the defense lawyer should design the language style of expressing opinions in court according to the specific circumstances of the case-whether it is intense or peaceful, or both. But no matter how to design, we should pay attention to one basic point: the language style should serve the language content. For example, before the trial, the defender should consider which issues will hit the nail on the head. How to push the meeting to the key point? Which language expression will be the most powerful for the defendant? Is it emotional or logical? Don't go to two extremes: one is screaming and the other is boring. The ideal language style should be relaxed, seize the attention of the whole court, convey the defender's feelings about the case, infect the court and listen to the masses, and express the defender's confidence in the case. In short, the changing language style should closely serve the defense content and add luster to the defense content.
Finally, what issues should be paid attention to by defense lawyers during the trial to improve their oral expression ability.
First of all, pay attention to pronunciation skills. Some defense lawyers have tight throats due to psychological pressure, resulting in sharp or hoarse voices. So they should try to relax, pronounce as far back as possible and relax as much as possible.
Secondly, we should pay attention to the aesthetic feeling of language. Although defense lawyers cannot express their opinions like poets, they should be concise and vivid, and pursue the harmony and unity of content and language beauty. Clear, vivid, accurate and vivid language can enhance the power of argument and achieve good results.
Third, pay attention to the speed of speech. Defense lawyers can't speak too fast or too slowly. Too fast will make people listen to the point, not impressed, but also give people a feeling of unconfidence. Too slow will distract the judge's attention, make the defense cumbersome and reduce the due effect of the defense. We should speak at an appropriate speed and order. According to the content and tone of the defense, we should slow down and ease the tone in the argument, and accelerate and emphasize the tone in the fierce words. In this way, the defense can fully convince people with reason and emotion.
Fourth, pay attention to language expression ability. Expressing defense opinions is not an ordinary spoken language, let alone copying written judicial language, but an easy-to-understand spoken judicial language. Defense lawyers should be popular, vivid, accurate and rigorous when expressing their defense opinions. We should grasp vivid images without losing lightness, accuracy and rigor without losing rigidity. Only in this way can we achieve the purpose of defending with infectious and influential language.
Fifth, the speech must be measured, and you can't rashly say anything that is unprepared and unqualified. Defense lawyers sometimes suddenly find a new idea or spark in court. At this time, many people will be eager to express this new idea. However, this new idea is often immature or even wrong. We must weigh carefully, clear our thinking and be practical before we can publish it as a reply. If time is tight, I really can't think clearly. I'd rather give up and submit a written defense opinion to the court after the court.
Sixth, we should pay attention to the audience's reaction and master the temperature of the speech. In criminal defense, we should emphasize that we should give priority to ourselves and not be interfered by various factors, and fully express our defense opinions. But sometimes, especially when giving full play to a problem, it is necessary to observe whether the audience, especially the court, has fully understood your point of view. The defense lawyer should not only speak in court, but also accept it. In short, you should focus on your point of view to explain the problem, and you can't ignore the significance of court defense for your own pleasure. The defense lawyer's speech in court should not only "win the population", but also "win the hearts of the people".
Seventh, we should make full use of strategies in defense. In the process of trial, if defense lawyers want to fully express their views, they must seize the commanding heights psychologically, make full use of various skills and strategies in court debate, restrain the other side, win the sympathy of the court, and fully express their views. The problem of defense strategy is beyond the scope of this article and will be discussed in another article in the future.
In a word, it is a prominent problem to improve the oral presentation ability of defense lawyers, especially the oral expression ability of defense lawyers in court. To solve this problem, in addition to the efforts of lawyers who are interested in criminal defense, the whole legal profession should also pay enough attention to this problem. It should be noted that criminal defense lawyers play an irreplaceable role in the process of democracy and legal system in a country. The improvement of the level of criminal defense lawyers is helpful to improve the level of criminal justice, and then promote the progress of human rights protection and many other aspects.