hey are not impressed, and you
have not helped your case; _and you are there to win your case_. As in
your argument, so in your examination of witnesses, _keep to the
point_.

In arguing a case, no matter what its nature, before a court or jury,
never rage or rave. Get to the point. Speak with great earnestness,
but not with violence or volume of sound. Remember that even the most
terrible emotions of the human heart in their most intense expression
are comparatively quiet. Be earnest. Be sincere. Be the master of your
case, and the result must be satisfactory.

It sometimes becomes necessary for an attorney to assert his rights
and privileges to the judge himself. Do not shrink from it. It is your
duty to your client, your profession, and the cause of justice. Never
cringe to a court. Never cringe to any one. He will despise you for
it, and properly so. Remember the dignity of your profession. Erskine,
in his first case, rebuked a prejudiced and perhaps an unjust judge
with such vigor that England rang with it.

Cultivate lucidity of style. You will do that at some risk at first.
When a young lawyer is extremely clear, he is apt to be regarded as
not deep. Abstruseness in expression is very frequently regarded as an
indication of profundity. Nevertheless, persist in a clear and simple
style. Make the statement of your case and the argument in support of
your propositions so lucid and plain that the judge or jury will say:
"Why, of course, that is so. What is the use of the young man stating
that?"

The study of Abraham Lincoln's speeches will be very helpful. Two or
three of Roscoe Conkling's arguments after he left the Senate are
models of perspicuity. Mr. Potter's argument in the legal tender cases
is a model--it is Euclid stated in terms of the law. Webster's
arguments you will study, of course. Blackstone is one of the clearest
writers who ever illustrated the great science to which you and I are
devoted. Perhaps as great a logician as ever lived was the Apostle
Paul; read him as a master of logical utterance.

Never be ponderous; never be florid. At the same time, never be dry.
Be clear; be pointed; be luminous. I remember having heard both sides
of a case argued before an eminent Federal Judge. One of the lawyers
made a long, turgid, "profound"--and musty--argument; proceeding like
a draft-horse from mile-post to mile-post, until the alert mind of the
judge was almost frantic with impatience.

The lawyer