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10 - Lawyers' stories

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 December 2009

William Twining
Affiliation:
University College London
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Summary

I understand that his strength as an advocate lay not in his powers of oratory, but in the reasoning and persuasiveness of the arguments by which he tried to bring the court round to his point of view. He continued to use his powers of persuasion when he was sitting as a Lord of Appeal and would come home and say that he thought that he had won his ‘brothers’ over to his side or ‘so-and-so is still not convinced but I think he may be tomorrow.’ He certainly persuaded his family that he was right. When he gave us the facts of a case and asked us what we thought about it, his way of presenting the problem was such that there was never any suggestion in our minds that the other side could have a leg to stand on.

E. Cockburn Millar on her father, Lord Atkin

Might it be suggested that the central act of the legal mind, of judge and lawyer alike, is the conversion of the raw material of life … into a story that will claim to tell the truth in legal terms?

James Boyd White

Introduction

Once upon a time, Rhetoric was central to the humanities and forensic oratory was central to Rhetoric. In the long and complex story of rhetorical studies, the forum ceased over time to be the main arena and persuasive oratory was displaced as the main object of study.

Type
Chapter
Information
Rethinking Evidence
Exploratory Essays
, pp. 286 - 331
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2006

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  • Lawyers' stories
  • William Twining, University College London
  • Book: Rethinking Evidence
  • Online publication: 15 December 2009
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511617249.011
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  • Lawyers' stories
  • William Twining, University College London
  • Book: Rethinking Evidence
  • Online publication: 15 December 2009
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511617249.011
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Lawyers' stories
  • William Twining, University College London
  • Book: Rethinking Evidence
  • Online publication: 15 December 2009
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511617249.011
Available formats
×