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Advanced presentation skills for lawyers: developing an authoritative voice, confident delivery and persuasive engagement in person and online

Published by a LexisNexis Practice Management expert

Practice notes

This Practice Note explores techniques that will help you present with assurance and authority, build trust with your audience and convey a message that is remembered for all the right reasons. It applies to presenting both in person and online, and it complements the Practice Notes: Presenting with confidence—in person and Presenting with confidence—virtually.

Why presenting with confidence is important

A self-confident speaker earns the audience’s confidence, which then bounces back, further lifting the speaker’s own assurance. Stand-up comedians commonly open with a burst of rapid-fire gags the moment they step on stage, signalling ‘trust me, I know what I’m doing, and I can make you laugh’. The first few minutes truly shape the tone for the entire session, so be sure to project confidence immediately.

Adopting a clear, assured voice throughout will enable you to:

build confidence—a confident tone reassures your audience of your expertise
ensure clarity throughout
demonstrate professionalism—the words you choose, your vocal tone and demeanour must align to produce a confident delivery

Tips for developing a voice of authority

Not everyone finds an authoritative voice innate, but,

For many, sounding authoritative does not come naturally, but,

a truly authoritative voice is not innate for everyone, but,...

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Beth Pipe , FCIPD

OnLive Learning

Beth is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (FCIPD) and has spent over 25 years specialising in Learning and Development. During that time she has worked across a broad variety of different industries and has, for the past 15 years, worked closely with a number of well known law firms; this has involved putting in to place systems and structures to encourage, enable and track the effectiveness of learning activities. Adept at face to face course delivery, and always enjoying excellent feedback, Beth is also accomplished at online delivery and created OnLive Learning in response to the challenges presented by the 2020 Covid-19 restrictions.Beth has written extensively for LexisNexis on subjects such as Performance Management, Managing Change and Stress Management. Away from her training delivery she is a published author writing about local history, hiking, wildlife and the outdoors and is...

Web page updated on 21/05/2026

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