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13.1 PURPOSE OF ORAL ARGUMENT

The purpose of the oral argument is not to give an impressive speech. Rather, your goal as an oral advocate is simply to highlight your best arguments and to answer any questions that the judges have about the case.

Judge Pierce has explained that oral arguments give judges “the opportunity to discuss... the issues they consider dispositive or particularly troublesome — issues that may not have been briefed or at least not briefed fully.”7Justice Ginsburg has observed that questions during oral argument “give counsel a chance to satisfy the court on matters the judges think significant, issues the judges might puzzle over in chambers, and resolve less satisfactorily without counsel’s aid.”8

Judges use oral argument to test their presumptions about the case and to probe the case’s limits, strengths, and weaknesses by asking counsel to clarify difficult issues or to speculate on the impact of a decision on future cases. Because of their intimate knowledge of the facts of the case and the relevant law, counsel for the parties are uniquely qualified to help the judges as they wrestle with the issues presented by the case.

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Source: Beazley Mary Beth. A Practical Guide to Appellate Advocacy. Fifth Edition. — Wolters Kluwer Law,2018. — 475 p.. 2018
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