‘Appearing as an advocate in court is the most challenging thing a lawyer can do: it is the sharp end of lawyering and it calls not only for courage but a great deal of skill as well.’ (Evans, 1995:vii)

‘the feeling is [among practitioners] that the skills for the job of advocacy bear little or no relation to that knowledge most cherished by the law schools or by the Law Society's examining boards.’ (Mungham and Thomas, 1979:174)

‘Writing in a magazine in January 1889 Oscar Wilde … complained that, with the possible exception of the speeches of barristers, lying as an art had decayed.’ (Barnes, 1994:1)

‘When a court hears two competing accounts about what happened it must choose between them. One account will be more persuasive than the other. But what makes it more persuasive? The facts are very important, though they need to be told in an interesting way, and the witness as storyteller needs to be believable.’ (Selby, 2000:55)

Introduction

Law is a difficult course to get into at most universities. Being a practising lawyer confers social status in many countries and there is a strong tendency internationally to include judges on committees that are entrusted with important tasks in society. Such status seems to be synonymous with being a distinguished trial lawyer, a senior barrister in Great Britain and in the Commonwealth and, especially, becoming one of that elite group of Queen's Counsels who can command impressive fees.