{"id":272997,"date":"2021-12-03T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-09-19T16:11:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.jusmundi.com\/?p=272997"},"modified":"2024-09-09T17:50:58","modified_gmt":"2024-09-09T15:50:58","slug":"the-clown-behind-the-gown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dailyjus.com\/index.php\/2021\/12\/03\/the-clown-behind-the-gown\/","title":{"rendered":"The Clown Behind the Gown"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Five lessons on advocacy that I learnt from Philippe Gaulier<\/h1>\n\n\n\n
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THE AUTHOR<\/strong>:
Laurence Doering<\/strong><\/a>, Arbitration Lawyer at Allen & Overy<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Simon stepped onto the \u201cstage\u201d, which was simply the part of the loft studio unoccupied by chairs.\u00a0 We watched as he tried to balance a long stick on his head.\u00a0 When he found an equilibrium, he took small steps towards the audience, keeping his upper body as still as possible.\u00a0 Then, he burst into song: \u201cI\u2019ve never seen you looking so lovely as you did tonight, I\u2019ve never seen you shine so bright\u2026\u201d.\u00a0 The room roared with laughter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Simon was a retired sheriff from Buffalo, New York.  Like me, he had enrolled in the two-week summer course on \u201cClown\u201d at the Ecole Philippe Gaulier, the theatre school of the eponymous, world-renowned director and clown artist.  The audience was made up of the other students, who were sitting in a semi-circle around Gaulier himself, unmistakable with his tousled grey hair and scarlet spectacles.  The aim of this exercise was to eliminate \u201cparasitic movement\u201d \u2013 involuntary gestures that detracted from the focal point of the performance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Generations of actors have passed through Gaulier\u2019s hands since he opened his school near Paris in 1980.  Sacha Baron Cohen, Emma Thompson and Helena Bonham Carter are among his alumni.  But, unlike other elite drama academies like London\u2019s RADA or New York\u2019s Actors Studio, Gaulier\u2019s school accepts anyone who wants to learn, including \u2013 in my case \u2013 arbitration lawyers without any prior training in acting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I wasn\u2019t looking for a career transition to the circus, or even the theatre.  Rather, I signed up because I thought the experience might teach me some valuable lessons about advocacy and public speaking that I could use in my casework.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was also intrigued by Gaulier\u2019s unconventional methods that have made him something of a cult figure.  Now in his 70s, he famously uses a hand drum to direct the class.  When he beats it, the performance stops \u2013 much like the bang of a gavel in a U.S. courtroom drama.  Frequently, the bang comes just seconds after a student appears on stage.  I never made it past a minute.  Gaulier then proceeds to verbalise whatever the audience might be feeling, which is usually damning.  He doesn\u2019t just make a dismissive comment: he annihilates the performer in a protracted, whimsical speech, often turning other members of the audience into accomplices by asking them if they agree with him (which they usually do). It\u2019s the nightmare negative of the Socratic Method.  Although everyone knows Gaulier is exaggerating, it is still a deeply unsettling experience.  I saw accomplished actors being reduced to tears in this way.  It took me a while to understand the pedagogical purpose of this seemingly sadistic exercise. I\u2019ve done my best to explain it in lesson number 4, below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The course at Ecole Philippe Gaulier was one of the most challenging things I have ever done, both mentally and physically, late-night filings and long hearing days included.  But it also provided fertile ground to think about the deeper parallels between the art of \u201cClown\u201d and the craft of oral advocacy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the end, I believe there are five important lessons advocates can learn from the circus:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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1. Create an authentic rapport with the audience (the judges or arbitrators) and your co-performers (witnesses and experts).<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

When the performer creates an authentic rapport with the audience and other performers, the show becomes engaging. This is what Gaulier calls \u201ccomplicit\u00e9<\/em>\u201d. \u00a0Complicit\u00e9<\/em> is what permits the performer to enter into the audience\u2019s imagination. \u201cWithout complicit\u00e9, there is just bla<\/em>,\u201d he told us.\u00a0 The essential first step to creating complicit\u00e9\u00a0<\/em>with the audience is to make eye contact.\u00a0 Gaulier told us to look at each person as if they were our favourite aunt or uncle who had come to see us in the school play.\u00a0 Advocates should give the same attention to judges and arbitrators. \u00a0Unfortunately, keeping eye contact is practically impossible in virtual hearings (which helps explain why many practitioners don\u2019t like them).\u00a0 When it comes to witnesses, cross-examinations that feel like an honest conversation between the lawyer and the witness achieve the kind of rapport characteristic of complicit\u00e9<\/em>.\u00a0 They are great to watch (and are also more likely to produce the concessions the advocate is seeking).\u00a0 Listening to a lawyer arguing with a witness, on the other hand, quickly becomes boring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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2. Create a sense of play.<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The surest way to achieve complicit\u00e9<\/em> is to create a sense of play. Playing games \u2013 and watching others playing them \u2013 made up most of the curriculum at clown school.\u00a0 I was amazed at how engaging it was to observe a round of Grandmother\u2019s Footsteps without even playing myself (as anyone who has watched \u201cSquid Game\u201d on Netflix will know).\u00a0 The enjoyment of play keeps everyone\u2019s attention in the moment.\u00a0 It also permits the imagination to travel. \u00a0A hearing is full of \u201cgames\u201d: the closed-question game of a cross-examination, the open-question game of a re-direct.\u00a0 There are countless ways in which an advocate can \u201cplay\u201d with these procedural features to keep the performance engaging.\u00a0 Just like actors, moreover, every advocate will play according to their unique \u201cstyle\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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3. If you\u2019re having fun, the audience has fun too. <\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Then the show is a success. It\u2019s that simple.\u00a0 The inverse is also true: if you\u2019re squirming inside, the audience will feel as uncomfortable as you. \u201cThe best actor is the one who has the most fun, even when playing a tragedy,\u201d Gaulier explained. \u00a0Likewise, the best advocates are those who love being in the thick of the action. \u00a0So, make sure you enjoy yourself during a hearing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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4. Have a positive attitude towards failure.<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The clown is a bad student who thinks they\u2019re a genius. Although they fail at the simplest tasks (like opening a foldable chair without getting their leg stuck), they never give up trying to convince the audience of their abilities. That\u2019s why we love them.  That was the purpose of the ritual humiliation we were put through by Gaulier: to become so comfortable with failure that we might stop identifying with it and instead become as unshakably hopeful as the clown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Similarly, every hearing has its low lights. \u00a0Some of your cross-examination will go nowhere; witnesses will be evasive, experts argumentative.\u00a0 But that doesn\u2019t mean the show is over. \u00a0On the contrary. \u201cWhen you flop, you allow your clown to come out,\u201d Gaulier said.\u00a0 One of the best performances I witnessed at the school was when a student expressed her embarrassment about Gaulier\u2019s tirade of criticism by edging closer and closer to the wall until she was literally clinging onto it for support.\u00a0 The audience was in stitches.\u00a0 By candidly expressing her feelings, she restored her bond with the audience and rescued the show.\u00a0 Likewise, a frank acknowledgement that a certain line of questioning isn\u2019t working may increase an advocate\u2019s goodwill with the court or tribunal.\u00a0 It may also break the tension with the witness, and allow a meaningful exchange to resume.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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5. Know when to move on.<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The clown must get the audience to laugh every few moments. If silence goes on for too long, the performer must quickly move on to something else, otherwise the show flops.  Advocacy, too, lives and dies by its timing.  In cross-examination, it is sometimes necessary to move on swiftly when the witness has given the desired concession; if the advocate labours the point, the witness may realise and try to back-pedal.  Just as important: if the judges or arbitrators appear bored or irritated, it\u2019s time to move on as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, there are obvious differences between a courtroom and a circus ring.\u00a0 Nonetheless, trial lawyers have a lot to learn from clowns.\u00a0 Fundamentally, the advocate\u2019s job is not just to persuade their audience, but also to engage it.\u00a0 If the judges or arbitrators aren\u2019t paying attention because your advocacy is too dull, you won\u2019t win any cases.\u00a0 There is no better reminder of this than the judgement most familiar to students of Philippe Gaulier: \u00a0Bang!\u00a0 Dismissed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Laurence Doering<\/strong><\/a> is an arbitration lawyer at Allen & Overy<\/strong>.\u00a0 He practices in Paris and London.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In a unique experience at Ecole Philippe Gaulier, renowned theatre school, valuable advocacy lessons were learned from unconventional clowning techniques, emphasizing the importance of authentic rapport, a sense of play, enjoyment, a positive attitude towards failure, and knowing when to move on in the context of oral advocacy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":279614,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"subtitle":"","format":"standard","video":"","gallery":"","source_name":"","source_url":"","via_name":"","via_url":"","override_template":"0","override":[{"template":"custom","single_blog_custom":"274736","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"author","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"hide","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_share_counter":"0","show_view_counter":"0","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"0","show_post_author_image":"0","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"0","show_post_reading_time":"0","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","show_zoom_button":"0","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"0","show_prev_next_post":"0","show_popup_post":"0","number_popup_post":"1","show_author_box":"0","show_post_related":"0","show_inline_post_related":"0"}],"override_image_size":"0","image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post":"0","trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post":"0","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","sponsored_post_name":"","sponsored_post_url":"","sponsored_post_logo_enable":"0","sponsored_post_logo":"","sponsored_post_desc":"","disable_ad":"0"},"jnews_primary_category":{"id":"189","hide":""},"jnews_social_meta":{"fb_title":"","fb_description":"In a unique experience at Ecole Philippe Gaulier, renowned theatre school, valuable advocacy lessons were learned from unconventional clowning techniques, emphasizing the importance of authentic rapport, a sense of play, enjoyment, a positive attitude towards failure, and knowing when to move on in the context of oral advocacy.","fb_image":"279614","twitter_title":"","twitter_description":"","twitter_image":""},"jnews_review":[],"enable_review":"0","type":"percentage","name":"","summary":"","brand":"","sku":"","good":[{"good_text":""}],"bad":[{"bad_text":""}],"score_override":"0","override_value":"","rating":[{"rating_text":"","rating_number":"10"}],"price":[{"shop":"","price":"","link":"","icon":""}],"jnews_override_counter":{"override_view_counter":"0","view_counter_number":"0","override_share_counter":"0","share_counter_number":"0","override_like_counter":"0","like_counter_number":"0","override_dislike_counter":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[205,188,189,247],"tags":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-272997","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arbitration","category-legal-insights","category-london-vyap","category-worldwide-perspectives"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyjus.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272997","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyjus.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyjus.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyjus.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyjus.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=272997"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/dailyjus.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272997\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":279446,"href":"https:\/\/dailyjus.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272997\/revisions\/279446"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyjus.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/279614"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyjus.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=272997"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyjus.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=272997"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyjus.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=272997"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyjus.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=272997"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}