By: Chezka Celis
Reasoning, writing, and public speaking are some of the skills that we need in the legal profession. As future lawyers, we are not just storages for legal knowledge; we also need to examine, challenge, communicate, and apply the things we learn. This is where debate comes in. Debate is an effective device to develop the necessary skills in lawyering.
- 1. Ability to think fast and think critically
In debate, there are usually two sides: the government or affirmative side and the opposition side. In Asian Parliamentary format, debaters only have thirty minutes to prepare and construct their seven-minute speeches. During the round, it is also necessary to engage the previous speaker and respond to what he or she said in his or her speech. They may raise points of information (POI) wherein the speaker has to answer on the spot.
This skill can be used during recitations as one has to think fast of what answer to give to the professor. Also, when we become lawyers, this is a good preparation for when we will conduct direct or cross examination in court. It is important to ask the right questions and strategize which objections and questions to raise. It will also help in thinking about what to do next when things turn out different from what you expected it to be.
- 2. Better retention of legal knowledge
They say that students tend to remember the topics asked of them during recitations, especially those they found challenging to answer. The same thing applies to debate. Since there are different topics or motions during training or competition, there are more chances of recall on the topics discussed. This is also a good exercise to apply what we learn in law school.
Examples of motions are: “This house would lift patent protections during pandemic” and “This house would pursue income tax deductions for employees under a work-from-home set-up in order to offset expenses related to such like electricity and internet”. When making speeches for these topics, different laws may be explored such as the Intellectual Property Code, Labor Code, Tax Code, and even the Constitution.
- Analysis and Organization of thought
The argument must have legal or rational basis, and there has to be proper transition of ideas to make the speech easy to understand. A one-line reasoning is not enough; there must be multiple substantiation of the argument in order to support it. One has to prove legitimacy on why the argument is valid, legal, or rational. This is called the principled analysis. Another thing to prove is the application of the argument such as the extent of harms and benefits, and the possible compromises to be made. The context as to the time and place may also be explored, and the analysis on interplay of the stakeholders. This is called the pragmatic analysis.
This kind of practice will help law students know how to answer exam questions because they will constantly be trained to answer clearly and concisely. In debate, you need to signpost or label your argument. In exam, you have to flag your answer. Both should also have legal basis, application, and conclusion. Having a structure of the argument will really be helpful.
Are you ready to try debating?
With debate, law students will be more confident in terms of answering both in recitations and exams as debating will help them improve their verbal and written communication skills.
Students who want to explore debating have the opportunity to train and join competitions. The annual Conflicts of Law Debate is in Asian Parliamentary format where there will be three elimination rounds. Those who will be part of the top eight teams will compete in the knock out rounds until two teams will face off during the grand finals and only one team will be hailed as the champion. Adjudication or judging the tournament is also a competition where the adjudicator or judge will deliver a speech after the debate round to justify his or her decision and then the debaters will grade him or her. Other debate competitions are ANC Square Off Debate and Philippine Law Debate Championship.
San Beda College Alabang – School of Law has been in the grand finals of Conflicts of Law twice (in 2019 and 2021) and bagged multiple Best Speaker and Best Adjudicator awards throughout the years. Some of these debaters were even recently awarded for their academic excellence by being part of the Annual Honor Roll and Dean’s list. More than the development of skills, debate is also a breather from the day-to-day academic load. During competitions, you may also meet law students in other universities who are also part of the debate community. You can make new friends and even find the love of your life. So, what are you waiting for? Try debating. ∎