On the 26th of August, 2021, the Firm was pleased to have had Ken St James speak at an internal Continuing Professional Development webinar for its lawyers.
Ken is an established litigator and a reputable advocacy trainer in Malaysia. The session was on the subject of written advocacy, which began with Ken recognising the importance of written submissions by observing that “You could win or lose your case just on the strength of your written work...Written submissions go in first, they are read first by the judge and before he even hears you orally”.
Ken spoke of the various techniques for drafting an effective written submission. The topics that were addressed included, amongst others, planning written arguments, the advisable structure of a written submission and the effective writing styles in an advocate’s written work. Ken in particular emphasized the importance of brevity in written arguments and remarked that an advocate should “try to achieve conveying the maximum amount of information in the fewest number of words...in practice, you try to turn a 30-page discourse into a 2 page summary”. The Firm is grateful to have had the opportunity to host Ken in the session, which was unquestionably valuable for its lawyers and pupils.
A link to a video recording of the session is accessible here: https://youtu.be/CxJyltKhVNk
