The goal is to win and the means of winning is by being persuasive.
Today, we expose yet another tool of the reverred profession on how to win a case. This episode does not promise to cover everything about winning a case but at the end, it will be as the mustard seed which is tiny but grows to be a mighty tree.
Winning a case is not a big thing if only most lawyers would abide by the rules governing same. It is instructive to note that winning simply means *to achieve victory, to conquer, to defeat and not be defeated*.
Stated below are some of the items an advocate must possess in his repertoire to achieve a win in his case:
--> *THOU SHALT NOT MISLEAD THE COURT*
Misleading the court is serious misconduct and will, and rightly so, not only lead to vituperation but will also in d long run make an advocate's honesty questionable. For the love of God, *do not tell lies* even if it's means you will win the case and you think no one will find out. Don't ever say something you know is not true. It might not be farfetched for witnesses to lie (even this is not accepted), but it would be the height of judicial impertinence for an officer of the court to approach the court in the garment of lies and cloak of distorted facts.
--> *THOU SHALT NOT RESORT TO SHARP PRACTICES*
An advocate has a duty to the client. But this duty should not be exercised in flagrant disregard and dishonor to the duty of an advocate to uphold the sanctity of the Bar. To this end, a lawyer should understand that he is merely in a representative capacity and not taking sides in the case. This explains the reason why lawyers, after hot arguments in court, still shake hands with one another at the end of the proceedings.
Without detracting from the above, an advocate should not be nasty, belligerent, vituperative, meal-mouthed, disingenuous and manipulative always. The bottomline being that an advocate must always *act with honour*.
--> *THOU SHALT ALWAYS TRY TO THINK LIKE *THE* *TRIBUNAL* *_NOT_* *LIKE* *THE* *CLIENT*
A corollary of the aforestated is that a lawyer should strike a balance between representing his clients and being emotionally tied to the case. Why? Because if he does this, he will become less partisan even in the eye of the court.
It is not unusual that a lawyer takes his clients case as his own, and in that regard exudes passion and vigour in confounding and perplexing the cause of the client. However, being perceived to be less partisan is really very important as the lawyer will become more reliable in the eyes of the judge or jury and his or her later arguments are more likely to succeed. There is a whole lot of difference between representing someone and taking sides. This should nonetheless not excuse then lawyer of being lax and less of energy to.his client's case. His job is to straddle the fine line between pleasing the client and the court.
Within those rules, it's the lawyer's job to win. He must keep the three beacons burning.
Taking a quick recapitulation, *DON'T MISLEAD, DON'T RESORT TO SHARP PRACTICES AND ALWAYS TRY TO THINK LIKE THE TRIBUNAL*. And within those rules, he must fight his case and really fight it. It's up to the lawyer the way he practises his art.
*WE MUST STRIVE AND SHOULD STRIVE TO WIN BUT ALWAYS WITHIN THE RULES*
THE LAWYERS COFFEE : *A spry polemic on how to be seriously good in court*
COMPILED BY
AGBOOLA MARIAM
LAW PART ONE
FACULTY OF LAW
OBAFEMI AWOLOWO UNIVERSITY
SEPTEMBER 28,2017
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