Canadian Criminal Trial Advocacy/Closing Arguments
The Closing Argument is portion of the trial where counsel can present and explain the reason why the trier-of-fact should decide in their favour.
Effective Argumentation
editJustice Antonin Scalia of the US Supreme Court lists 16 rules of argumentation before a judge in his book "Making your case: The art of persuading judges": [1]
- Be sure the court has jurisdiction
- know your audience
- Know your case
- Know your adversary's case
- Pay attentions to the standard of decision
- Never overstate your case. Be scrupulously accurate
- Occupy the most defensible terrain
- Yield indefensible terrain
- Take Pains to select the best arguments
- Communicate clearly and concisely
- Appeal not just to rules but also common sense
- When you must rely on fairness to modify the strict application of the law, identify some jurisprudential maxim that supports you
- Reason is paramount and that overt appeal to emotions is resented
- Assume a posture of respective intellectual equality with the bench
- Maintain your emotions and do not accuse
- Close in a powerful way and say explicitly what you want the court to do