Written Advocacy Handbook - Understanding Your Audience

A good lawyer knows the law; a great lawyer knows the judge. - Unknown

It is a time-tested trope among authors, speakers, media, salespeople, and marketing experts that you have to "Know your audience". It is said that understanding one's audience helps in crafting content and messaging that is relevant and targeted to that audience. Tailoring one's message to suit the preferences, perspectives, and characteristics of the audience ensures engagement, effectiveness, and efficiency. As communications expert, Lilly Walters has explained: "The success of your presentation will be judged not by the knowledge you send but by what the listener receives."

As lawyers, we should take this truism to heart. And as advocates, the most important audience/listener/reader we need to understand is the judge(s) or adjudicator(s) who will be deciding our clients' cases. Accordingly, the effective written advocate will strive to understand their judicial audience by (1) seeking