Civil and Commercial Advocacy Training

The Trust offers advocacy training to the Commercial and Civil Bars, alongside its criminal advocacy training course.  The courses are bespoke, and offered to small groups of trainees.  The training is aimed at those from BPTC up to those one or two years into tenancy.  If you or your chambers is interested in a tailored course, please contact us (see details below).

Training Programme

The course combines our experience in training with our strong network of trainers drawn from the criminal, commercial & civil, and performance worlds. It gives our trainees the opportunity to explore their advocacy skills in front of experienced practitioners and judges, and is held in sets of Chambers as well as in courtrooms – giving trainees an experience which is as close to the real thing as we can manage.

Our training brings together detailed advocacy skills with the development of presence: how to manage physical confidence, as well as one’s voice. These elements of successful advocacy, which are applied in court, in chambers, and in conference, are not explored in any other training course.

We train in small cohorts of up to ten trainees, giving each cohort around 25 hours of intensive tuition over six weeks. It is aimed at young tenants of up to four years’ experience.

For any further information please contact Dr Camilla Darling, Vice-Chair of the Trust, on [email protected].

Our Advocacy Training

The Trust has run advocacy training for those at the criminal Bar since 2013, and has trained more than 100 emerging barristers.  Our approach is:

• Intensive in terms of student : trainer ratio but spread across several weeks, so avoids training fatigue
• The only training which combines commercial / civil and criminal expertise, with attention to physical presence
• Addresses fledgling barristers who are second-six pupils or in their first year to two years of tenancy

We focus on those from BPTC up to one or two years into tenancy, working in small groups of up to ten trainees, with a trainer : trainee ratio of 1 : 5 or less.  We have an extensive network of practitioners from theatre, opera, the Bar and the Bench who encompass all the major practice areas within the commercial and civil, as well as criminal and family Bars.

We offer a tailored, intensive course which combines a traditional approach to key elements of in-court advocacy with a focus on presence: how the successful advocate uses voice and physical presence in conjunction with intellectual argument.  We know that an advocate’s influence is about more than their mastery of very complex facts and arguments, often over weeks and months; it is also found in their connection with colleagues and clients, in and out of court; and their courtroom presence.  We weave training on presence into work on content, exploring how to master nerves and project confidence and serenity through the way we hold ourselves and the way we speak. This unique approach to advocacy taps into the heart of great advocacy, where argument and presentation combine into a balanced whole.

The intangible appeal of courtroom presence is broken down into teachable elements in our training courses, enabling emerging barristers to stretch themselves by exploring their intellectual and physical potential. We have a deep network of criminal, civil & commercial trainers drawn from the Bar and Bench; we combine development of advocacy technique with courtroom and conference presence; and we do so in a courtroom setting.

Where & When

Training takes place both at the host chambers and in courtrooms – the latter ensuring that the trainees are placed in contexts as close to their professional reality as possible.

A typical course offers around 25 hours of intensive training, in cohorts of around ten trainees.  Training includes dedicated sessions on physical presence; voice control; understanding others’ values and motivation; and key in-court challenges from cross-examination (of witnesses and expert witnesses) and submissions to a judge.  We spend as much time as we can in court rooms when working on scenarios encountered by young tenants.

The length and frequency of the training sessions can be adapted to suit; as a rule of thumb we recommend 4 to 6 evening sessions, of 2 or 3 hours each; and one longer session of up to 4 hours, which is often held on a Saturday morning.  Weekly sessions are the recommended starting point; again, this is entirely flexible.  We have found that a consistent drip-feed of sessions works best with our trainees’ existing professional commitments, and allows them to absorb the training, integrating it into their daily conduct, without being distracted with an intensive and exhausting one-off block of training.

Our training fees are competitive, and reflect the intensive tuition on offer.

If you would like to discuss fees please contact Camilla Darling, one of the Vice-Chairs of the Trust, on [email protected].

Testimonials

‘It really has changed the way I think about advocacy and my own skills’

 ‘I found getting feedback on what I personally was doing well and what I need to focus on to be immensely powerful…the presence of senior judges giving feedback adds immense value to the workshops’

‘It has been the highlight of my BPTC year if I’m honest’