“Words are a lawyer’s tools of trade”, observed one wise old owl. But we must be careful because many court cases, business presentations, sermons or lectures have been ruined by an excessive use of words. Wind bags in the court room, board rooms, pulpits, or class rooms are such a turn off.
Brevity is the soul of wit, our wise old owl tells us. It is the art of saying the right thing in the right way at the right time. Let’s have a look at one short speech that lasted a mere 45 seconds, and see how right our wise old owl is.
A story is told by Peter Seddon how a young man by the name of Peter Mulligan applied for a liquor licence in the city of Dublin in 1860, but the police objected, based on his age. He was twenty-five years old. The matter ended up in court and the judge appeared to be siding with the police’s view that Peter Mulligan was too young, when his lawyer sprang to his feet with a scintillating speech of 126 words in favour of his client.
“My Lord, Alexander the Great at 22 years of age had crushed the Illyrians and razed the city of Thebes to the ground, had crossed the Hellespont at the head of an army, had conquered Darius III with a force of one million at the Battle of Issus and brought the great Persian empire under his sway. At 23 Rene Descartes evolved a new system of philosophy. At 24, Pitt became Prime Minister of the British Empire, on which the sun never sets. At 24, Napoleon overthrew his enemies with a whiff of grapeshot in the streets of Paris. It is now to be judicially decided that Peter Mulligan, at the age of 25, is too young to manage a public house in Capel Street in Dublin.”
With little surprise, the case was won. In contrast, one eminent lawyer took 17 days to deliver his final speech in court (perhaps a record!) and the inevitable happened; he lost his case. Don’t forget Franklin D. Roosevelt’s old dictum, “Be sincere, Be brief, Be seated.”