Learning to Litigate

It is sometimes said that great advocates are born, not made. The central tenet of this book is that such assertions are dangerous nonsense.

Modern litigation is a sophisticated business, requiring a wide range of organisational, procedural, presentational and technical legal skills. Whether it be a plea of guilty before a magistrate or a multi-party commercial dispute involving billions of dollars and dozens of lawyers for each party, each stage in the preparation and presentation of a case requires skills that must be learned, then honed.

While there are specialist texts on some aspects of advocacy, few set out to provide a guide for a junior practitioner seeking to acquire the necessary skills for a successful practice in litigation, whether within a law firm or at the independent Bar. This book sets out to address that gap, and to provide advice on navigating the shoals of a career in litigation.

The book is the result of a collaboration between a relatively senior practitioner, Neil Williams SC, who has been at the independent Bar for more than 33 years, 21 of them as senior counsel, and a relatively junior barrister, Alison Hammond, who has been at the Sydney Bar for three years and before that worked in commercial litigation at King & Wood Mallesons in Sydney, and as Associate to Justice Virginia Bell at the High Court. This collaboration is designed to combine the lessons of recent experience in acquiring litigation technique with a longer view of advocacy training, one informed by the observation of many readers and other junior practitioners, and more extensive direct experience of litigation at all levels.

This book will be useful to solicitors working in litigation; to those considering or preparing to sit a Bar exam; to those in their reading year at the Bar; to litigators in their first 10 years in practice, and to those who mentor junior litigators.

As Chief Justice Kiefel writes in the Foreword, “The work is essential reading for young litigators and their mentors… I wish that I had been fortunate enough to have had access to a guide such as this when I commenced my career in litigation.”

About the Authors

Alison Hammond still considers herself a young lawyer, though she accepts she will have to resign the title eventually. She has practised as a barrister in Sydney for the past three years, and has enjoyed the highs and lows of establishing and growing a broad practice across public, commercial and tax matters at both first instance and on appeal.

Neil Williams has practised as a barrister for more than 33 years. While based in Sydney, he has practised in all Australian jurisdictions except Tasmania, and has conducted major litigation in Fiji, the Solomon Islands and Nauru. He has practised extensively in both trial and appellate courts, and has appeared in more than 35 High Court appeals.