Speak With Conviction

When you give evidence at court, what are you asking the judge to do?

Effectively you are asking the judge to listen to your evidence and value it more highly than anyone else's.

Having either sworn under oath or affirmed, you have stated that the evidence that you give will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

So, having said this there is no point, in presenting your evidence, as though you're not 100% certain that what you are saying is true and sound.

Presenting your evidence in a manner in any way less than with conviction, signals to the judge and those in court, that you're not really sure about what you're saying, and thus why should the judge value your information above any one else's.

Giving evidence with conviction, of course involves not just what you say, but most importantly the way you say it.

Remember that your body language has to be consistent with what you're saying.

So often a person's presentation is undermined or betrayed by their body language.

Just to be clear, stating your information with conviction means giving evidence in a way which provides the judge with every reason to believe that you know what you are talking about, and that what you are saying makes the most sense, given the circumstances of the case.

It is not wise however, to argue every single point as though 'you know it all,' when you don't.

There will be parts of the case that you know exceptionally well having taken the time to familiarise, inwardly digest and reflect upon, at your leisure. This evidence is the type of evidence that you should argue about with total confidence.

However, there may well be other parts of the case that you cannot know as well, and thus should not be tempted to talk about with the same level of certainty.

There are likely to be parts of the case that you do not know, or cannot have first hand information about, and thus you should relay this to the court.

There may also be information that you are very sure you know the answer to, but are not 100% certain about. Under such circumstances you should again explain this accordingly.

By displaying this level of circumspection, you demonstrate to the judge that your responses and statements are ones that can be relied upon.

Express what you know for certain with conviction. State what you are unsure about with caution and candour.