As part of my journey through qualification as a Solicitor,I recently had the opportunity to participate in a 3 day course around developing my Advocacy and Communication skills as part of my Professional Skills Course.

As the name suggests, the course was focused around having the opportunity to practice advocacy within a mock trial environment. Taking on the roles of either the prosecution or the defence over the course of the 3 days we examined various witness statements, evidence submissions and court documents in order to prepare our case to present to the presiding ‘judge’ atthe end of the course.

This course focused on skills often associated with the much more ‘contentious’ side of a lawyers arsenal, both in preparing arguments foryour case but also in confronting and questioning witnesses during cross examination scenarios. This was not something I had been exposed to previously during my time practising transactional commercial property with Feldon Dunsmore and was certainly an interesting experience! I had previously had a small insight into contentious law when I took on my first job in the legal sector as a Debt Recovery Paralegal, however it soon became clear to me that the confrontational nature of contentious litigation was not something that I was comfortable with, or well suited to. It was this exposure that pushed me towards Property law (where the idea is to work collaboratively with the other side to achieve a common goal as opposed to against them), a choice I have no regrets in taking.

On the first day I was therefore anxious about what the course would entail, and whether I would have the ability to perform to the required standard. I was immediately thrown off guard when one of the first tasks was to prepare a brief argument on a given argument and present this to the rest of the class. I’ve always been one to take a slower, more methodical approach to tasks and therefore being put in a position where I had to come up with something almost off the top of my head was right out of my comfort zone. Luckily, from the bewildered expressions of a few of my fellow course mates, I was not the only one taken by surprise and going through similar emotions! Despite the initial shock, I was able to pull through and put together acoherent argument that I was able to present to the class. What surprised upon completing the task was the huge boost in confidence and sense of accomplishment I felt having tackled something I was initially apprehensive about doing. I had previously decided this form of task was not in my skillset but had proven to myself that I could step up to the challenge even if I doubted myself at first.

This pattern continued throughout the course of the 3 days,I would continually be presented with contentious scenarios that I had previously decided were things I was uncomfortable doing but each time I was able to rise to the challenge.

What these 3 days taught me (aside from the intended advocacy and communication skills the course was designed to provide!) was that it is beneficial every once and a while to take that step outside your comfort zone and challenge yourself to do something either you believed was outside of your skillset or that you would usually avoid. Having done this myself and completed the course it has given me a great boost in confidence and belief that I am far more capable than I initially thought I was. I feel this is something that you can apply in every aspect either of your career or day to day life if you constantly live your life taking the easy road and avoiding those deeper waters you may never fully know what you’re capable of achieving.

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