Canadian Criminal Trial Advocacy/Closing Arguments

The Closing Argument is portion of the trial where counsel can present and explain the reason why the trier-of-fact should decide in their favour.

Effective Argumentation
Justice Antonin Scalia of the US Supreme Court lists 16 rules of argumentation before a judge in his book "Making your case: The art of persuading judges":
 * 1) Be sure the court has jurisdiction
 * 2) know your audience
 * 3) Know your case
 * 4) Know your adversary's case
 * 5) Pay attentions to the standard of decision
 * 6) Never overstate your case. Be scrupulously accurate
 * 7) Occupy the most defensible terrain
 * 8) Yield indefensible terrain
 * 9) Take Pains to select the best arguments
 * 10) Communicate clearly and concisely
 * 11) Appeal not just to rules but also common sense
 * 12) When you must rely on fairness to modify the strict application of the law, identify some jurisprudential maxim that supports you
 * 13) Reason is paramount and that overt appeal to emotions is resented
 * 14) Assume a posture of respective intellectual equality with the bench
 * 15) Maintain your emotions and do not accuse
 * 16) Close in a powerful way and say explicitly what you want the court to do