Guest post: John Bowers QC

What do you wish someone had told you when you were a beginner?

• Don’t feel you need to go on and on to keep your client happy; the shorter the better.
• Watch the judge’s pen and don’t race ahead.
• Be the honest guide of the tribunal.
• Don’t be too expressive; don’t slouch, don’t yawn.
• Be nice to opponents; nothing is to be gained by hostility inside or outside the tribunal.
• It’s often quicker to fight a case than settle it.

What do you think beginners do wrong most often?

They fail to structure the argument sufficiently well. Think carefully about structure of your arguments; the structure sometimes wins a case; it will certainly assist if you have a good logical order to your presentation and tell the tribunal at the outset what you are going to deal with.