Teaching Advocacy with History and in Context.

It has been said that students faced with greater expenses than before of attending university are choosing, with an eye to their future, to study law courses which have a vocational element. At universities there has been a growth of courses which introduce students to advocacy in simulated court cases, and in clinical legal education, often involving, representing real clients before various tribunals under supervision . Students are taught practical skills of advocacy. These courses are generally well received by students, often provide them with confidence and may well lead some to qualify as lawyers . It is submitted that students’ appreciation and knowledge of courtroom advocacy could be further enhanced by adding study about what has shaped it and what is doing so now: The writer, having comparatively recently completed a PhD on the subject , is convinced that the story of advocacy deserves being told wider. A proposal to include history and context in courses with much vocational content requires elabouration and to be justified - the purpose of this paper.