Personal Reflection. Beside the Supreme Court bench: A law clerk's reflections on advocacy

• Author: David Sandomierski
• Pages: 241-243

241

R PERSONAL REFLECTION | SUMMER 2010

Besie he Sueme Cur benc:

A LAW CLERK’S REFLECTIONS ON ADVOCACY

DAVID SANDOMIERSKI

Before I started my clerkship at the Supreme Court of Canada,

I expected to discover a magic key to advocacy, a foolproof tech-

nique that would translate universally into eective persuasion.

Instead, I was disabused of the moot-court attitude that any one style

of argument is best. The st-slammer, the professorial lecturer, the line

reader, the slow talker, the fast talker, the outraged crusader, the orches-

tra conductor– all of these, at various moments, commanded the judges’

attention and consideration. When it came to style, I was reminded of

that hard-won law school lesson: be your own person. One must play to

one’s own strengths, respect one’s own particular way of thinking and

speaking and do so boldly.

The triumph over inhibition is only a starting point, but it draws atten-

tion to my key discovery about advocacy– the supercial is unimportant.

From the clerk’s perch, I learned time and again that it is the big picture

that matters. It is the familiar, but tough, demands of law that translate

into success in the courtroom.

These are some of the lessons I learned.

PREPARATION

I learned that there is no substitute for excellent preparation. This seems so

trite as to waste ink, but it deserves emphasis. The best-prepared ad vocates