Concessions strengthen persuasiveness
15 December 2021
The title of this post seems counterintuitive. Maybe it shouldn’t be.
[F]ew things add strength to an argument as does a candid and full admission, whether as to facts or law, of the factors which are clearly against one. When this is made, judges know that the lawyer is worthy of full confidence, and every sentence he utters or writes carries force from the very fact that he makes it.
Wiley B. Rutledge, The Appellate Brief, in Classic Essays on Legal Advocacy 429, 438 (George Rossman ed. 1960), adapted from Vol. 8, American Bar Association Journal (1942).
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