How Can Law Students Improve Their Debating Skills?

Every issue in the world, whether it’s merely conversational or political, can be resolved through constructive debate. The art of debate is a very useful skill to be adopted, especially among law students whose legal careers will involve a great number of disputes. Healthy debates, where participants refrain from using manipulation techniques or offensive speech, are the best way to approach disagreements, disputes, and differences in opinion. Read this article to find out how law students can improve their debating skills. 

Stay Calm and Collected 

Staying calm and collected is the key to conducting successful debates. It doesn’t matter where you are trying to deliver your point of view. Whether you’re arguing with friends over dinner or participating in a formal debate on a podium, the person with the opposing perspective is likely to offend you or intentionally frustrate you. No matter what they say, you have to maintain your cool and avoid changing the tone of your voice, shouting, or insulting them. Keep your body language and voice at an acceptable volume. This way,  your opponent will never know that they got to you. Maintaining a mysterious facade will make things all the more challenging for them. 

Confidence Is Key 

Confidence is one of the most important traits to have when engaging in debates. Not only will it help you enhance your debate skills, but it will also benefit you greatly in many aspects of your life. Even if you are not entirely confident, you should act and behave as if you are. Although it sounds so cliché, attempt to fake it till you make it. If you always practice appearing confident, you will eventually influence your subconscious mind to believe that you really are. Once the opponent believes you’re confident in your argument and your ability to deliver it, they will hesitate to question you. 

Use Appropriate Body Language

You need to focus on maintaining eye contact with all the people in the room. This doesn’t necessarily mean that you need to look each person in the eye. It just means that you shouldn’t fixate your gaze on just one section of the audience throughout the entire duration of the debate. To do this may give the impression that you’re directing your message toward a particular group of people and will make everyone else feel unimportant. Stand tall and avoid leaning on one side of your body or onto the podium, playing with your hair, or fidgeting with your hands. Use your hands to talk and communicate with your audience. If you can’t comfortably use hand gestures, you can just keep your hands in front of you. 

Become an Intern

There is no better way to improve your debating skills as a future lawyer than to learn from field experts. Stay posted for internship openings at law firms in North Carolina. Attorneys at Kreger Brodish explain that you can attain indispensable knowledge by shadowing lawyers while they tackle injury claims and consider legal strategies. Besides the skills that you’ll acquire during the time that you spend at the firm, an internship will look great on your resume. 

Familiarize Yourself With the Jargon

Needless to say, you must have extensive knowledge when it comes to certain terms if you’re partaking in a debate. It is especially crucial that you verse yourself in debate jargon. Knowing words like rebuttal, motion, and moot, as well as understanding when they’re used, will give the impression that you’re well-prepared. You don’t want to feel out of place during the debate. Besides, when you lack knowledge, you lose confidence. 

Make the Best Use of Your Emotions

One mistake that many debaters make is that they try to stay cold and refrain from being emotive. Our emotions are what make us human. So, you need to appeal to the humane side of your audience and deliver facts and anecdotes that will allow them to connect with you. You need to touch them on a personal level. If the motion is non-emotive, meaning that it doesn’t cover topics like feminism, euthanasia, or animal rights, but you believe that your opponent may be influenced by strong emotions, you can still make use of this strategy. 

Speak Clearly and Concisely

Make sure that you’re loud and clear to all your audience. Keep your tone at an audible level and communicate your points concisely. Don’t beat around the bush or use fillers. You don’t want to compromise your confidence or bore your audience.

It goes without saying that you need to conduct thorough research regarding the topic at hand. Apart from that, there are many things, such as your stance, confidence level, body language, and emotion that matter during the debate. Following these tips will help you improve your debating skills and thereby better prepare you to enter the legal profession.