You can't litigate if you don't advocate, and you can't advocate if you don't communicate.

You open the file. You review the matter. It looks like just another slip-and-fall. Dull. Or maybe it's an auto accident case. Pretty grisly-looking photos of the banged-up plaintiff. Perhaps it's a breach of contract case. Fifty-page long document, and the quibble is over whether the delivery of non-galvanized flashings is a breach. That's even duller than the slip-and-fall, and it’s full of technical stuff. It's all as pulse quickening as a pocketful of cold oatmeal. How in the name of all that's holy are you going to give life to this kind of stuff, anyway?

It's not an idle question. For a litigator to function effectively as an advocate, he or she has to get through to a group of people who were chosen specifically because of how little they know about the case. There is no way to do this apart from telling a good story and telling it well. What is needed is a firm grasp of the basics and finer points of courtroom performance.