By Tupou Vaipulu Jr

A three-day ‘Advocacy Skills’ workshop for Tongan lawyers was opened at the Attorney General’s Office in Nuku’alofa, this week, starting on 10 December 2024.

Tonga's former Lord Chief Justice, Whitten KC and three lawyers from the Victorian Bar in Australia, including Janine Gleeson, Sarah Thomas and Remy Van De Wiel are conducting the workshop for Tongan lawyers.

“The idea is to present both theoretical and practical instruction and guidance on advocacy for lawyers in Tonga,” Mr. Justice Whitten told Matangi Tonga.

He said that the workshop was designed for practicing lawyers and “not so much” for law students because contents of the workshop are for participants who have had varying experience of advocacy in court, ranging from the Magistrates’ Court to the Supreme Court.

Whitten said that advocacy is any acts that are made by a lawyer whether written or oral, intended to advance or explore a case in a trial, in a congested matter in any court.

“Ultimately it’s all about trying to persuade the decision maker that your client’s case should be preferred and it’s the correct one.”

President of the Tonga Law Society (TLS), Alyssa Taumalolo Kafoa told Matangi Tonga that the training provided through this workshop, will not only help the lawyers improve their performance in court bu also their services for their clients.

“This will improve [and] develop their advocacy skills, which will later help them improve their performance in court, as well as the services for their clients,” she said.

The workshop brought together over 30 newbies and senior lawyers from around the Kingdom, who are looking to upskill their advocacy skills in the courtrooms.

Training

The first training session was held at the Supreme Court on Tuesday afternoon, where lawyers participated in a ‘Magistrates Court application’ exercise, where they role-played a family protection case.

Today, they will role play a Supreme Court criminal trial where they will do cross examinations of witnesses and other aspects of that.

On the final day, they will be working on a Court of Appeal case, which will give the participants the opportunity to demonstrate their advocacy skills in an appeal. 

The workshop runs to12 December.