Skill is the ability to execute an activity or admirably, especially if one has practiced it. It is the practical knowledge in combination with expertness. If a person possesses the right skill at the right time, it becomes less challenging for him to achieve success at early years.

School of law (hereinafter referred as SOL), The NorthCap University endeavors to impart the skills, to be more precise the advocacy skills, in its students to hone their courtroom skills by including Courtroom Exercise in the curricula. It is a mandatory component for each subject of law and has a weightage of 20% in the marking scheme. It provides our future lawyers with an opportunity to have a touch of reality by making them professionally ready to face the challenges of the actual Courtroom. Courtroom Exercise includes researching, mooting, legal drafting, debating, mock trial, client consultation, etc. It is basically putting the theoretical knowledge into actual practice. It is a mechanism by which student applies the bare language of law into words, gestures and interpretations. It is like putting a life into the textbook knowledge of law. For instance, a science student uses the laboratory to make experiments for getting the desired results, the same analogy can be drawn for the law student but instead of lab they need a space or an activity which makes them develop their advocacy skills which is the key component of the profession of law. Having a better advocacy skills will give them an extra edge in the future to come..

The NorthCap University

Courtroom exercise nurtures the overall personality of the student

This kind of exercise enables the students to not only develop their skills on individual basis but the faculty at SOL tries to team-up the students for this courtroom activities, so that they develop the skills required for team work such as co-ordination, co-operation, understanding the notions and ideas of respective co-partners. As law firms and/or corporate firms require lawyers to work in teams, therefore, the skills developed by the students during the courtroom exercise, would be helpful if they opts for corporate law or may be applying for legal firms. Hence, we at SOL do not only focus on the litigation part but also we prepare our students to be industrial ready, so that at the end of their law journey they may be able to choose wisely from wide variety of opportunities in the field of law.

Courtroom exercise nurtures the overall personality of the student as well. We at SOL during this exercise attempt to make the student presentable by teaching them the mannerism of the advocacy skill such as addressing the jury in the prescribed manner, making them aware about the courtroom rules or norms, teaching them the value of meticulous life. Apart from this the analytical skill is also enhanced by cross questioning the students in the form of viva-voce so that the student is ready for their upcoming hurdles. During the exercise a continuous effort is made to make the student ready for a courtroom trial by just not teaching them but also evaluating its progress. ‘Practice makes a man perfect’, is just not a proverb but it has in-depth meaning attached to it and if one practice anything for a continuous period it will automatically enhance its skills and same concept applies to this stimulating exercise.

Communication and Expression are the key elements of advocacy skills

‘Communication’ and ‘expression’ are the key elements of advocacy skills, if one could not communicate well then he could not express his thoughts properly and would not be able to justify his client’s case because it is the duty of a lawyer to represent his client’s case and express his desires to the court and for that, communication skill needs to be strong. We at SOL understand its importance and take this very seriously and hence we encourage and motivate students in these exercises and help them to cure their mistakes, so that they improvise with every passing year of law journey and when the times comes for graduation they can raise their head high for any challenges it may come in future.

 By Garima Lakhmani, Assistant Professor,
School of Law
The NorthCap University