What do you say if you finish your oral argument early? Forum

[NYC2014]

It's supposed to be a 12 minute argument. My material runs 6 minutes; if I don't get 6 minutes worth of questions I'll finish early. I'm thinking, "If there are no further questions, I've finished my argument."

[ben4847]

I would just wrap up, make a conclusion, and stop talking, smile and walk away.

[Always Credited]

--ImageRemoved--

[reformed calvinist]

Yeah don't just stop. At least give a brief summation and remind the court what you're asking for.

[rad lulz]

,

[LOLyer]

Drop the mic on the floor and walk out of the room.

dude you are so HILARIOUS!! LOL!!!

[Br3v]

Drop the mic on the floor and walk out of the room.

dude you are so HILARIOUS!! LOL!!!

Relevant name.

[traynorsbizarro]

they might respect y'all for keeping it humble...but why not make up 6 minutes more of arguments JIC? is that so hard?

[ToTransferOrNot]

There's an historical anecdote here. In the oral argument for the case that resulted in the "switch in time that saved 9", the government's attorney stood up, corrected a single typographical error in the brief, and said "unless the court has any questions, the government will rest on its briefs."

If you don't have anything to say, don't stand up there blabbering just to "use your time." The people on the other side of the bench reeaaaallly hate having their time wasted, and there's not much you can say (outside of the question-answer) that will have any impact on the outcome anyway.

Edit: Is this for a moot court competition?

[Flanker1067]

AC is AC.

[Renzo]

I just happened to have read it the other day:

“n one case petitioner’s lawyer took such a battering from the court that it was obvious to everyone the judgment below would be affirmed. Counsel for the respondent arose, bowed, and said, ‘If the Court please, I must apologize for an error in my brief. At page 32, second line from the bottom, the citation should be to 112 Federal Second and not to 112 Federal. . . . Unless there are any questions, I will submit the respondent’s case on the brief,’ and sat down. I have it on excellent authority that it was one of the most effective arguments ever heard by that court.” —Frederick Bernays Wiener

Garner, Bryan A.; Antonin Scalia, Scalia and Garner's Making Your Case: The Art of Persuading Judges



And for what it's worth, Scalia and Garner say if you have extra timeto end gracefully either with a 30-second summary, or a truly unanswerable point that is fatal to your opponent's case, then thank the court and then sit down.

[wiseowl]

[Morgan12Oak]

"I'm sorry, this normally doesn't happen to me. I don't know it's been a long time."

Judges reply: "it's okay, it happens to everyone"

[Cupidity]

If you are being graded on this as part of a 1L program, I would not stop that early. Your professor will likely take it as a sign of under-preparation.

If you only have a few salient points, I find an effective strategy to run the clock is to take one of the key cases that is on point and either distinguish or compare facts. "Your honor, in the landmark case of Katz v. United States, the Court recognized that privacy could exist in a public space, in that case, privacy existed in a phone booth on a crowded street, in the instant case, the petitioner did not have that same expectation of privacy because, a, b, & c."

These arguments are also some of the most persuasive, and you will get mad props.

[hdivschool]

If you are being graded on this as part of a 1L program, I would not stop that early. Your professor will likely take it as a sign of under-preparation.

If you only have a few salient points, I find an effective strategy to run the clock is to take one of the key cases that is on point and either distinguish or compare facts. "Your honor, in the landmark case of Katz v. United States, the Court recognized that privacy could exist in a public space, in that case, privacy existed in a phone booth on a crowded street, in the instant case, the petitioner did not have that same expectation of privacy because, a, b, & c."

These arguments are also some of the most persuasive, and you will get mad props.

I agree with this, assuming you're asking about oral arguments as part of a law school writing program. Ultimately, you should base your behavior on your instructor's expectations, but I would imagine that if your instructor gave you 12 minutes, they expect you to fill the time.

[leobowski]

Be excellent to each other, and party on dudes.

[NotMyRealName09]

O'Doyle Rules!

[ilovesf]

Make sure your grade isn't negatively impacted by finishing so early, ours definitely were.

[blong4133]

It probably depends on what type of argument you're doing. If it's for a 1L writing class, like others have said, I wouldn't end early. I wouldn't want to really end early for an Ap. Ad. class either.

I just got back from a Moot Court competition and I argued in one match-up (I was the brief writer, but they had me argue in one matchup), and I had an extremely cold bench. I touched on everything I planned on going over, then I realized I hadn't even gotten the 5 minute card. (15 minute argument). So I went ahead and compared a few cases that weren't binding, but relevant, then said my conclusion, said thank you, smiled and sat down with probably about 2 or 3 minutes left, and still got the highest score in that match.

I would say that from a practical standpoint, if you cover everything you wanted to cover, just say your conclusion and end it. The judges will likely be able to tell if you're trying to waste time by going through an argument/cases you hadn't really planned on discussing. And you run the risk of having a choppy argument at the end because you probably will start repeating things you've already said, and simply because you're not as prepared to make those particular arguments. I think most judges will appreciate the fact that you're not wasting their time with a bunch of nonsense that you've either already said, or just simply doesn't matter that much.

But again, it depends on the judge and the situation. Just my two cents.

[NeighborGuy]

Ask. Your. Professor.

Are professors at other schools such unapproachable trolls that people can't ask them relevant questions?

[bns_77]

If you only have 6 minutes of material, you're probably not making your case as well as you could.

[shock259]

My professor told us that he thinks ending early makes a great impression.

[bns_77]

My professor told us that he thinks ending early makes a great impression.

Safe money says that the 1L with the 6 minute argument isn't making great impressions