How to Prepare for Oral Argument

Have an appellate oral argument coming up? We discuss tips shared by top appellate attorneys how to prepare for and give oral arguments. Some tips include:

🗣️ Anticipate the panel’s questions when you can, but…

🗣️ …be prepared to respond when you don’t know the answer.

🗣️ Be prepared to answer: “What is your rule” for answering the key statutory or legal question.

🗣️ Give direct answers to the panel’s questions.

🗣️ Don’t read your argument. The judges have enough of what you’ve written. Now they want to hear what you say.

🗣️ Give a different spin—don’t just repeat what you said in briefing.

🗣️ Concede weak arguments.

🗣️ Just be a friend of the court: be polite, don’t interrupt, and try to help the court do its job solving the problems in your case.

Kyla Dayton’s biography and LinkedIn profile.

Appellate Specialist Jeff Lewis' biography, LinkedIn profile, and Twitter feed.

Appellate Specialist Tim Kowal's biography, LinkedIn profile, Twitter feed, and YouTube page.

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The California Appellate Law Podcast thanks Casetext for sponsoring the podcast. Listeners receive a discount on Casetext Basic Research at casetext.com/CALP. The co-hosts, Jeff and Tim, were also invited to try Casetext’s newest technology, CoCounsel, the world’s first AI legal assistant. You can discover CoCounsel for yourself with a demo and free trial at casetext.com/CoCounsel.

Other items discussed in the episode:

• Tim’s LinkedIn post “crowd-sourcing” oral argument tips.
• The disconnect between lawyers and judges: Advocates are looking for an outcome, but appellate judges are looking for an opinion, with MC Sungaila.
• Concede Weak Arguments, Gain Credibility, Says Justice Lambden
• Justice Thompson on Effective Oral Arguments: Give a “Different Spin”—And Answer Questions.
• Don’t read from your notes, via Adam Unikowsky relating a story when the Supreme Court stopped an advocate by asking, “Counsel, are you reading this?”
• Videos from this episode will be posted at Tim Kowal’s YouTube channel.