Bar Practice Course: Advocacy, Ethics and Courtroom Procedure
What the course assesses
The Bar Practice Course tests the transition from knowing rules to performing them: drafting, advice, evidence in practice, ethics and courtroom conduct. Questions are typically scenario-based. You are given a brief set of facts and asked what you should do next, what application to make, or what duty governs.
Concepts to master
Ethics and duties. Duties to the court, to the client and to the administration of justice; the cab-rank principle and its exceptions; conflicts of interest; confidentiality and privilege; handling client money and trust obligations; and the obligation of candour when authority is against you.
Advocacy and evidence. Examination-in-chief, cross-examination and re-examination; the rule in Browne v Dunn; objections and the Evidence Act 1977 (Qld); expert evidence and its limits; and the difference between leading and non-leading questions.
Written work. Pleadings, affidavits, submissions and letters of advice - precision, material facts only, no evidence in pleadings, and no argument in affidavits.
Traps
- Treating the duty to the client as paramount over the duty to the court.
- Failing to raise a known adverse authority.
- Drafting a pleading that pleads evidence rather than material facts.
- Cross-examining on a matter without putting the client's version, contrary to Browne v Dunn.
Rule of thumb
When ethics and tactics conflict, ethics wins and the answer usually involves disclosure to the court and, where appropriate, to the opponent. Worked example: your client tells you a document relied on is forged. The answer is not to run the case and stay silent; you must not mislead the court, must seek instructions, and may need to withdraw - identify the duty, then the step.