You have to be eloquent to be a lawyer, okay?
Whether a lawyer must be eloquent is not the case, at least in China. Good eloquence is only a sufficient condition for a good lawyer, but it is not a necessary condition. I have met many introverted lawyers and listened to their speeches, but I feel that their eloquence is not as good as the clients themselves. However, in the debate on legal issues, their thoughts and ideas have always been clear and in place, and the feeling of anticlimactic is impressive.
I once asked a familiar judge about this phenomenon. He said that the performance in the lawyer's court is not determined by your endless speech, but by whether you can grasp the focus of the case and debate it. Therefore, the judges of their collegiate bench often like lawyers who don't talk nonsense and only pay attention to lawyers, instead of giving theoretical lessons to judges in court. Later, my teacher and I carefully observed this phenomenon in the court, whether it is the grass-roots court, the intermediate court or the high court, almost all judges are like this. If the lawyer keeps repeating the facts, he will tell a story every time he quotes a law, so as not to be misunderstood. Many judges will interrupt the lawyer's big talk and let him directly answer the controversial questions summarized by the judge. At this time, it is not your eloquence that dominates, but your understanding of the case itself and your proficiency in the legal level. Of course, it is not useless for lawyers to show their eloquence in court. Many lawyers will use this as a court defense skill. The direct purpose is to disturb the thinking and thinking of the other party and the judge. To put it bluntly? Fool? Simplify one's own complex problems, complicate the other's simple problems, make the facts ambiguous, interpret the law into n meanings, and try to be far-fetched in one's own conclusions and opinions. You can't fool experienced judges at all, and even some clerks are too lazy to record repeated topics.
At the beginning of my work, I participated in the trial of a contract dispute case with a bid of more than 6 million yuan. On the one hand, two lawyers are at the level of two doctors of law, and on the other hand, one lawyer is a great person who changed jobs from the army to the public security examination lawyer. The legal level of doctors really has nothing to say. Many concepts of legal relationship were analyzed in the trial, and I was able to keep up with them at first. Later, I became more and more confused and completely fooled. The opposing lawyer has been in no hurry and directly seized the cause of action to argue. You have created multiple legal relationships that have nothing to do with the cause of this case. No matter how you ask for advice, it will be solved by this lawyer with a military background. Just like Tai Chi, two doctors and lawyers seem to be imposing, but they can always see through your purpose. Both sides are at the top. Later, when I looked back on the trial, I really gained a lot. The presiding judge was also quite good and the control of the trial was in place. Therefore, I think it is not only important to be with a good lawyer, but also very beneficial to meet a good judge.
Therefore, I think that people who enter the legal profession, especially those who have just entered the profession, should pay more attention to court trials, and don't think of China's court trials as western ones. There is much talk in Hong Kong films and much romance in Korean dramas. All this is an illusion in China, at least for now. What we mainly do is to strengthen the proficiency of basic legal knowledge and knowledge application. We can accurately grasp the controversial focus of each case sponsored and co-sponsored, and then clear our thinking, clear the evidence, and find the upper, middle and lower countermeasures. Every little makes a mickle, step by step, and persevere. One day, you will become a famous lawyer and you are introverted.
Ten Skills for Lawyers to Improve Their Eloquence
1. The first skill of eloquence is not listening.
Whether you can listen or not is also very particular. I once met a lawyer. When he receives customers, he doesn't look them in the eye. The client is talking. He looked out of the window, which made the client have a lot of complaints. So when you listen, look at each other and let them think that you attach great importance to this matter. Learn to listen before you speak. Listen, concentrate, immerse yourself in love and drama.
2. The second skill of eloquence is to ask.
Everyone is chatting, for example, lawyers communicate with lawyers, parties and suspects of the case-handling unit. The way to interact is to ask, and there is no way to communicate without asking. I made three points about this problem. The first one is not ashamed to ask questions. Generally speaking, we mean a clear conscience. Then why do we say that we should not be ashamed to ask questions? This is what we young people need to consider. You should ask someone older than you, and don't feel ashamed. You should actively ask questions and think, so that the teacher has a sense of accomplishment. In fact, many teachers are eager for students to ask themselves.
Once I took an assistant to court. I was on the road for more than an hour, waiting for him to ask me questions. As a result, he didn't ask a question for over an hour! I belonged to him for more than an hour and didn't even ask a question! When I arrived at my destination, I stopped the car and asked him this question seriously. He said, director, you work so hard, will it bother you if I ask you questions? I said, no, I like people asking me questions best. When we are young, we will feel the same way. The teacher is very busy at ordinary times, so it's not good to disturb him by asking him questions. In fact, we experienced lawyers and teachers really want others to ask questions. Ask, indicating that you are thinking; Ask, you can make friends; Ask and you will make progress. Second, ask questions at will. I mean, everyone is about the same level, so you can ask questions at will and exchange ideas. The last, gentle question, is that school teachers and management should always ask their subordinates questions, which is their concern and cannot be ignored.
As a criminal defense lawyer, questioning in court is a special professional skill. When a lawyer asks a question, he will first ask it on purpose. Who should the lawyer ask? Ask the judge. A client was standing in court, and the lawyer wanted to ask, for example, where were you at the time of the crime? Say, I'm abroad. Does this mean that you were not at the scene when the crime was committed? Say, yes. If he is an accessory, let's say, who cares about this matter, Zhang San. Who has all the money been distributed to? Zhang San. We should take all this information out and give it to the judge. Secondly, ask ambiguity. For the prosecution witness, we should get to the bottom of the matter, discard the false and retain the true, until the ambiguity is asked.
3. The third skill of eloquence is speaking.
That is to say, one's own views and opinions. Say, first of all, there must be levels. Use first, second and third gears. Articles 1, 2 and 3, in particular, should be used to express opinions in court, because judges in court don't know how long lawyers will speak, and judges without hierarchy often interrupt lawyers, which is easy to cause conflicts between defense and trial. If you can tell me how long you need to speak, it would be better to make it clear in advance. For example, the judge, I have three points, which will take about five minutes. Second, be interesting. You can say this and that, but make everyone feel interesting, and use some idioms and cases to make everyone feel interested. Third, be fresh. The angle should be different from others, others say yes, you say no, and the fourth is interaction. The purpose of speaking is to let the other person listen, and always pay attention to the feelings of the listener. If it is just for self-venting, it is called false eloquence.
The fourth skill of eloquence is chatting.
Chatting is chatting, chatting. Chatting can enhance and promote understanding and get twice the result with half the effort. Many problems are often solved by chatting with each other. Chatting should have topics, material and time and space. Generally speaking, when chatting, it is best to bring some information, send a book and ask for corrections, which will give you material and topics. There is also time and space for chatting. If a person is busy, please leave your phone number and say we'll talk next time. If everyone around you is busy and can't talk, find another opportunity next time to show respect for others.
The fifth skill of eloquence is speaking.
We're talking about plans. The most attractive thing for our lawyers is the legal service plan, and what lawyers need to study most is how to do a good job in the legal service plan. I think, to form a habit, don't simply complain, for example, what you do is wrong, why are you so stupid? These are all negative energy, and these are meaningless. But to cultivate and directly put forward the best solution that is conducive to the operability of solving problems. In the process of negotiation, come up with the best plan, and you are the best.
6. The sixth skill of eloquence is evaluation.
Comments are comments. All kinds of competitions and activities, such as debates, must be audited by someone. Why do we legal people do this? Because when we speak in court, we have to express our opinions on the performance of all parties in court, and we legal persons often comment on various phenomena and events. Evaluation requires concentration first. What is concentration? You should concentrate on listening to the audience, and find out minor faults or imperceptible advantages when commenting, so that others will think that you are serious, rather than talking in general terms. Second, be professional. For example, if you comment on a debate, comment on his questions, main points and time allocation, this shows your specialty, which will be applauded by laymen and experts. Third, be wonderful and use some idioms, proverbs, stories, analogies and cases. Review, to review well, requires deep skill.
7. The seventh skill of eloquence is reading.
Reading is divided into reading aloud and reading aloud. Reading aloud is a good eloquence training method. I was born in Fujian, and my Mandarin is not standard. As a public prosecutor, poor Mandarin is a very serious problem. So I used some methods to practice. First of all, I lip-synched and read along with the news broadcast. Second, I bought books with pinyin for primary school students and read them by the lake every morning, just like Stephen Chow movies. Reading "Historical Records" aloud is very useful for practicing the cadence of speaking. I persisted in this way for several years and my expression was much better. The second is reading. Eloquence doesn't necessarily mean leaving the manuscript. When quoting evidence, legal provisions, policy provisions and famous aphorisms, it will be more solemn and effective if they are read in writing.
8. The eighth skill of eloquence is acting.
Performance is to organically combine gestures, expressions, postures, eyes, tone and intonation with the content of the speech to enhance the expression effect. Gestures are generally not too many; Expressions represent emotions, which are sad, happy, solemn and relaxed, and should conform to the content of the speech; Regarding the eyes, I want to emphasize that some people do not pay attention to their eyes and are murderous, which gives people a sense of tension and is not conducive to communication. I suggest you travel, whether you know me or not, and smile and nod at others first. What if he knows me? We should be kind to others and have a gentle heart.
9. The ninth skill of eloquence is theory.
On means to use a long space to demonstrate a problem. In practice, it is mainly reflected in the first round of court debate, in which the public prosecutor expressed his opinions on public prosecution and the lawyer expressed his opinions on defense. Now, we need to have a sense of hierarchy, existence and justice. Hierarchical sense means clear hierarchy and accurate logic; The sense of existence means that my audience has a sense of existence and substitution in combination with the situation on the spot; A sense of justice means that the cited evidence, law, jurisprudence and truth are common and universally recognized.
10, the tenth skill of eloquence is debate.
Distinguish right from wrong, true and false, right and wrong. Arguing means sayingno. As a defender, the job of a lawyer is to say no, and the law is unclear and unreasonable. Arguing is the ability that we legal persons should have. Our second round of defense in the trial is a typical defense link. Debate should strive for opposition, quote classics, be concise and summarize.
The above ten skills and training methods of eloquence I talked about today are for your reference when improving your eloquence. Eloquence training, seemingly skill training, is actually thinking training and tempering a person's comprehensive quality. I hope that students will improve their eloquence through unremitting efforts, so as to achieve the goal of comprehensively improving their comprehensive ability.
1. Should all lawyers be eloquent?
2. Lawyers must be eloquent, OK?
3. How do lawyers practice eloquence?
4. What are the development directions and puzzles of lawyers?
5. Training and improvement of lawyers' eloquence