Why Public Speaking Matters for Every Lawyer (Barrister or Solicitor)
Public speaking is often associated with the Bar. You may picture a barrister making submissions before a judge, questioning a witness or addressing a jury.
That picture is accurate, but incomplete.
Public speaking matters whether you become a barrister or a solicitor. The setting may change. The audience may change. The level of formality may change. But the underlying skills remain remarkably similar: confidence, clarity, structure and the ability to think on your feet.
You do not need to be the loudest person in the room. You do not need a booming voice or a naturally theatrical personality. You need to communicate your ideas clearly and help your audience understand why they matter.
That is a skill you can build.
Public speaking is not only a courtroom skill
If you are deciding between the solicitor vs barrister routes, you may think public speaking is more important for an aspiring barrister.
Barristers certainly need strong advocacy skills. However, solicitors also spend a significant part of their careers explaining, persuading, presenting and responding to questions.
The difference is not “speaking” versus “not speaking”.
It is more often one type of audience and purpose versus another.
A barrister may speak to persuade a judge to accept a legal submission. A solicitor may speak to help a client understand their options, persuade colleagues to support a recommendation or pitch for new work.
In both situations, the lawyer must make complicated information easier to follow.
The key takeaway: public speaking is a core legal skill, not a specialist extra reserved for advocates.
1. Barristers need public speaking to advocate effectively
For barristers, public speaking sits at the heart of daily practice.
Oral submissions
A barrister may need to make oral submissions on everything from an interim application to a final argument. That means presenting a clear position, supporting it with the relevant law and responding to questions from the court.
Knowing the law is essential. But knowing the law is not the same as explaining it persuasively.
A strong advocate helps the judge understand:
What the issue is.
Which legal principles apply.
How those principles apply to the facts.
What conclusion the court should reach.
That structure gives your audience a route through your argument. Without it, even a legally sound submission can become difficult to follow.
Cross-examination and witness handling
Public speaking also matters when you are asking questions.
Questioning witnesses is not simply a matter of reading prepared questions from a page. You need to listen carefully to the answer, identify what matters and decide where to go next.
The best advocates do not ask questions just to fill silence. They ask questions with a clear purpose.
That requires vocal control, careful pacing and the confidence to change direction when the evidence takes an unexpected turn.
Responding to judicial intervention
A judge may interrupt your submission with a question. They may challenge your interpretation of a case. They may ask you to address an apparently difficult fact.
This is where the ability to think on your feet becomes essential.
You do not need to have every answer memorised. You do need to pause, listen properly, organise your thoughts and respond directly.
That is not always easy. In fact, it can feel rather less like the polished advocacy you imagined and rather more like your brain briefly opening seventeen browser tabs at once.
Practice helps you stay composed when that happens.
2. Solicitors need public speaking too
The solicitor’s role can involve less formal advocacy in some areas of practice, but that does not mean public speaking becomes unimportant.
Solicitors regularly communicate with colleagues, clients, potential clients, managers, opposing parties and other professional stakeholders.
Presenting to colleagues
You may need to explain a legal development at a team meeting, present a matter to a partner or update colleagues on a client’s position.
Your audience may not need every detail. They need to understand the important points and what action is required.
That means you must be able to:
Identify the main message.
Explain the relevant background.
Separate essential information from useful detail.
Answer questions clearly.
Recommend a practical next step.
Depth beats breadth. A presentation that includes everything you know is not necessarily a good presentation. Often, the most effective speaker is the person who knows what to leave out.
Speaking with clients
Clients do not usually want a lecture on every possible legal issue. They want to understand what is happening, what their options are and what those options mean in practice.
This is particularly important when the subject is stressful, unfamiliar or commercially significant.
Clear public speaking can help you explain:
The risks and opportunities in a situation.
The likely consequences of different choices.
The practical steps that should happen next.
The parts of the advice that require urgent attention.
You may be speaking to a private individual, a board of directors or a client who has never worked with lawyers before. Your approach may need to change, but your responsibility remains the same: make the message understandable and useful.
Pitching for work
Solicitors may also speak during client pitches, tenders, networking events and business development meetings.
At that point, your audience is assessing more than your technical legal knowledge. They are also asking themselves:
Do you understand our problem?
Can you explain things simply?
Do you sound prepared and reliable?
Would we feel comfortable working with you?
Can you add value beyond quoting the law?
A confident presentation does not mean making exaggerated promises. It means showing that you understand the audience, have listened to its concerns and can offer a thoughtful solution.
3. The same four skills appear in both careers
Although the solicitor and barrister routes involve different work, public speaking relies on several shared abilities.
1. Clarity
Your audience should not have to work unnecessarily hard to understand you.
Use plain language where possible. Signpost your points. Explain legal terms when they are necessary. Do not confuse complexity with sophistication.
2. Structure
A clear structure gives your audience confidence that you know where you are going.
For a short presentation, you might use:
Introduction: explain the purpose and main message.
Development: set out two or three key points.
Conclusion: summarise the position and identify the next step.
This approach works in a client presentation, a team briefing and a piece of advocacy.
3. Confidence
Confidence is not about pretending to know everything. It is about communicating what you do know in a calm and controlled way.
That includes being able to say:
“I will come back to that point.”
“I need to check that detail.”
“There are two possible ways of approaching this.”
“The stronger argument is…”
Honesty and composure often build more trust than artificial certainty.
4. Thinking on your feet
Legal work rarely follows a perfect script.
A client may ask an unexpected question. A colleague may challenge your recommendation. A judge may take your argument in a different direction. A presentation may run short on time because the technology has decided to develop a personality.
You need to listen, process information and respond appropriately.
That ability improves when you practise speaking without relying entirely on a written script.
4. Public speaking compounds throughout your career
Public speaking is a transferable skill. The more you use it, the more useful it becomes.
Early in your career, it may help you contribute in seminars, perform better in interviews or feel more comfortable during work experience.
As you progress, it can help you present to supervisors, speak with clients and take part in negotiations.
Later, you may use it to deliver training, lead meetings, speak at conferences, build professional relationships or develop new business.
Each opportunity gives you another chance to improve. You learn how to structure your thoughts more quickly. You become more comfortable with pauses. You start to recognise when your audience is engaged or when you have accidentally explained a simple point as though you are delivering a judgment in twelve parts.
Small improvements accumulate.
That is why it is worth developing public speaking skills before you feel completely ready. Waiting until you feel confident can mean waiting a very long time. Practice is often what creates confidence in the first place.
5. How to build your public speaking skills
You can start developing public speaking for lawyers in simple, practical ways.
1. Speak out loud
Reading notes silently is not the same as delivering your argument or presentation.
Practise your points out loud. This helps you identify awkward wording, unnecessary detail and places where your structure needs work.
2. Record yourself
Use your phone or computer to record a short presentation.
Listen for:
Speaking too quickly.
Repeated filler words.
Long or confusing sentences.
A lack of variation in tone.
Whether your main point is easy to identify.
It may feel uncomfortable at first. Most of us do not enjoy discovering what we sound like when we say “essentially” every fourteen seconds. But the feedback is useful.
3. Practise with interruptions
Ask someone to challenge your argument or give you an unexpected question.
Then practise pausing before you answer. A short pause is not a failure. It shows that you are thinking.
4. Take low-pressure opportunities
You do not need to begin with a large conference or a high-stakes hearing.
Start with a short presentation, a discussion, a mooting exercise or a small-group activity. The aim is to build experience gradually and learn from feedback.
5. Focus on the audience
Before you speak, ask:
Who am I speaking to?
What do they already know?
What do they need from me?
What should they remember afterwards?
Public speaking is not performance for its own sake. It is communication with a purpose.
Practise public speaking at the Legal Skills Academy
If you want to build confidence in a supportive environment, the Legal Skills Academy offers a practical place to start.
There is an upcoming public speaking session on Tuesday 18th August 2026. It is designed as a low-pressure opportunity to practise speaking, develop your presentation technique and receive constructive feedback.
You do not need to arrive as a polished speaker. That is rather the point.
The Academy welcomes people at different stages and abilities, including those who feel nervous about advocacy or public speaking. You can practise in a friendly setting, learn from others and gradually become more comfortable speaking in front of an audience.
Whether you are working towards becoming a barrister, exploring the solicitor route or simply trying to become a more confident legal professional, this is a skill worth developing.
Final thoughts
Public speaking is advocacy in court. It is also explanation in a client meeting, persuasion in a pitch and clarity in a team discussion.
Barristers need to make oral submissions, cross-examine witnesses and respond to judges. Solicitors need to present advice, communicate with stakeholders, pitch for work and contribute confidently in meetings.
Different settings. Same foundation.
You do not need to become a different person to become a better speaker. You simply need regular opportunities to practise, reflect and try again.
Start small. Speak clearly. Listen carefully. Keep going.
Your voice is one of the most valuable tools you will develop as a lawyer.
Keep practising, and we hope to see you at the Legal Skills Academy soon.
