Course Description
601:613. PUBLIC SPEAKING FOR LAWYERS (3 ) S
J. Cohen
Limited enrollment = 10
At sometime in their career, all lawyers—even non litigators—must engage in some form of public speaking. This course is designed to develop public speaking skills that are universal in nature, with an emphasis on the specific types of public speaking engaged in by lawyers. Specifically, the course will develop the students’: (1) presence, (2) personal voice (the authentic and effective public persona); (3) rhetorical skills (the ability to analyze a problem and structure an effective presentation for a particular group); (4) performance skills (all of the physical aspects of speaking); and (5) critical approach to others’ public speaking presentations through active critiquing.
The class will consist of lectures relating to these specified goals, and weekly speech presentations. All speeches will relate to topical issues in the law, and may include a speech of self introduction, impromptu speech, informative speech, persuasive extemporaneous speech from a prepared file, and a speech of persuasion. The text will be an advanced public speaking text as well as materials compiled from legal oral advocacy texts.