Lend Me Your Ears: Shakespearean ‘Will-Power’ to Improve Oral Advocacy

I remember my first year of graduate school at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville. I was rehearsing Richard II’s famous speech “Of comfort no man speak.” I was passionate and tears were streaming down my face. I knew I nailed it. My professor asked me how I felt. I told him I felt great! In my head, I believed my performance rivaled that of Sir Ian McKellen or Dame Judi Dench. I walked him through the key beats of my performance. He looked around at my classmates and after a brief pause said, “Yeah, we didn’t get any of that.” And….back to earth. A devasting note but a profound lesson. Who cares how good I think my performance was if I didn’t move the audience? The same could be said for lawyers. Who cares how “good” we think our arguments are if we cannot persuade or capture a judge or jury’s attention?

Legal education lacks any practical training to help lawyers, especially litigators, learn the necessary skills to be an effective communicator and storyteller. Law school teaches us how to craft an argument but we don’t learn how to effectively deliver those arguments. Cicero, the legendary Roman lawyer and rhetorician, believed an argument was only so good as the delivery of an argument. Proper delivery can be taught and learned and should be included in law school curriculums and continuing legal education.

What is delivery? Delivery is the manner in which we communicate with our given audience, which includes the voice, body, gesture, articulation, emotion, and connection. Delivery is the heart of any Bachelor of Fine Arts or Masters of Fine Arts acting program. The art of delivery should not be left to the real of the actor. After more than decade as a professional actor and teacher, I believe Shakespeare is the best way to learn effective delivery. When most people think of Shakespeare, they instantly think of poetry. Shakespeare, however, was a master of rhetoric and storytelling through argument. Shakespeare demands the skilled use of the voice, body, and emotion to clearly communicate a character’s thoughts and connect with an audience.

If you are new to Shakespeare or perhaps hated or failed to understand it in high school, have no fear! I too loathed Shakespeare in high school. For starters, it’s not meant to read. It’s meant to be played. Go see a Shakespeare play. Due to COVID, there are also a variety of streaming platforms offering live productions of Shakespeare’s plays, such as the National Theatre and the Globe in London. You can also find DVDs of great performances from leading Shakespeareans such as Dame Judi Dench, Sir John Gielgud, and Sir Ian McKellan. Other great actors to watch for are Dame Harriet Walter, Roger Allam, Tom Hiddleston, David Tennant, Fiona Shaw, Simon Russell Beale, Adrian Lester, and even the incomparable Meryl Streep. Nonetheless, the real way to fall in love with Shakespeare and experience its true power is to play it. Lawyers and law students should seek out workshops and classes that teach the art of playing Shakespeare. Many theatre companies throughout the country offer workshops and classes. You can even find such classes in big cities or university towns, such as Chicago.

Attending a continuing legal education course regurgitating platitudes on delivery techniques is insufficient. These tips are only useful if they can be practiced. Any athlete will tell you that the time to practice technique is not during a tournament. I think the same principle applies to lawyers. The best time to practice delivery techniques is not on the eve of a closing argument. Proper delivery techniques need to be practiced outside the courtroom. Ideally, these techniques should be taught in law school and continue as requirements in legal continuing education courses. Shakespeare is the perfect vehicle for learning proper delivery. By studying Shakespeare, lawyers will gain greater awareness of their voices, bodies, gesture, and presence. Lawyers will learn how to connect with their audience and bring authentic emotion to their arguments. Lawyers will learn effective storytelling. Lawyers will walk away from any training in Shakespeare with greater confidence and stronger sense of self. “I only speak right on. I tell you that, which you yourselves do know.”

Ashleigh A. Stochel is a classically trained professional actor and teacher with an M.F.A. from the University of Tennessee-Knoxville. She is an attorney focusing on complex litigation and employment/labor law at L&G Law Group, LLP in Chicago.