By Chinua Asuzu
Commit yourself to your client and devote your time and thoughts to the client’s work.
“Advocates must try to be totally committed.” Iain Morley, The Devil’s Advocate, 3rd ed. (Sweet & Maxwell, 2015), 39.
Think of your client; pray for your client; share your client’s angst, pain, or predicament.
Moderate the outmoded idea that you shouldn’t be emotionally involved in a client’s case. Control, but don’t suppress, your emotions. Be professional, but not clinical—don’t be aloof or detached.
You’re a human being, not a machine.
Turn your client’s case into a cause. Litigate with missionary zeal.
“Enter action with boldness.” Robert Greene, The 48 Laws of Power (Penguin, 1998), 227.
Balance your devotion to your client with your service to the court and the legal system.
Chinua Asuzu, Brief-Writing Masterclass (Partridge, 2017), 324.
Advert to
“To advert to something is to refer to it, to bring it up in speech or writing, or to turn attention to it.” Garner’s Modern English Usage, 4th ed., 26.
Thus, you cannot “advert your mind” to anything.
Rather, you advert to it. For example, “During the lecture, Prof Ojukwu adverted to the distinction between an action for breach of trademark and a passing-off action.”
A fortiori (Latin; adverb)
Use this phrase only as an adverb, never as an adjective.
A fortiori is “most commonly used in logic or argumentation [and means], ‘by even greater force of logic; so much the more.’” Garner’s Modern English Usage, 4th ed., 29.
A fortiori further means “even more so it follows.” Black’s Law Dictionary, 11th ed.
Use this Latin phrase sparingly in advocacy, argument, logic, or rhetoric to point to stronger support for an argument, position, or proposition.
Since a fortiori means “for an even stronger reason,” don’t use it to introduce an equally sound reason or just a further reason. The proposition following a fortiori should be clearly stronger than the one preceding it.
