From the waist up: developing psychomotor skills for the court room

A vital aspect of successful advocacy is effective engagement by the advocate with the Bench (and jury). However, rarely are these skills naturally occurring or at least the natural (untailored) psychomotor repertoire is not necessarily well adapted to advocacy. More often these skills are developed or refined to the specific requirements of advocacy by mooting practice. Assisting future advocates to develop effective psychomotor skills therefore is a core component of any mooting programme. This article explains the relevance of the psychomotor domain to advocacy and identifies the matters that must be addressed with mooters in order for them appropriately to develop these skills. In so doing, it positions the mooting psychomotor domain in context with the cognitive and affective domains.