Trial Advocacy

Trial advocacy is the branch of knowledge concerned with making attorneys and other advocates more effective in trial proceedings. Trial advocacy is taught in primary, secondary, and undergraduate schools (usually associated with a mock trial elective). It is taught as an essential trade skill for litigators in law schools and in continuing legal education programs.

The skills of trial advocacy can be broken into two categories: skills that accomplish individual tasks such as selecting jurors, delivering opening statements and closing arguments, and examining witnesses, and those skills that integrate the individual actions to achieve greater effects and to drive unfolding events toward the advocate’s desired outcome strategy.

This guide is not comprehensive, but intended to point you in the direction of various resources to aid you in getting started in your research and practice. For more detailed assistance, please contact a research librarian.