Trial advocacy from Harvard.

The White paper " Modernising Justice" and the Access to Justice Bill propose a future in which, subject to satisfying additional training requirements set by the Law Society and Bar Council, all solicitors and Barristers including Crown Prosecutors and other employed lawyers, will have rights of audience in court. Such a major change will greatly affect advocacy training , especially for solicitors whose rights of audience will resemble those of Barristers. A challenge lies ahead. In planning how to meet it, consideration of how advocacy is taught in other countries, particularly those with a common law tradition but with an undivided legal profession, may be of merit. With this in mind this article looks at instruction in trial advocacy at Harvard Law School and submits that aspects of it deserve further attention in this country.