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Advocacy: Business Law Students Excel in Public Speaking

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Published on January 30, 2025

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The SKEMA Business School/ULCO Master in Business Law double degree offers its students the opportunity to participate in a moot court competition, judged by a panel of lawyers and professors. This demanding exercise, both in content and delivery, allows students to unleash their creativity to persuade and convince.

Among the standout speakers, Capucine Dorlencourt, a second-year master's student in Business Law, won the competition with a compelling plea on the Arlette Ricci case, where she leveraged generative AI. Representing the prosecution, she successfully argued her case before a discerning jury. "We had one week to prepare our pleadings. I chose this case because it involves complex issues of tax and criminal law, which truly fascinate me," explains Capucine.

To make her presentation more engaging and impactful, she incorporated artificial intelligence to generate visual and audio elements. "AI helped me add an immersive dimension to my argument. It captured the jury’s attention and reinforced the strength of my points," she adds.

 

A Practical and Career-Oriented Experience

For Capucine, this experience was much more than just an academic exercise: "Presenting before a panel of lawyers and professors is real-world training for our future careers. It helped me improve my public speaking skills, my ability to synthesise information, and my rhetorical abilities. The school prepares us well for these challenges, which is a major strength of the programme."

With prior experience at Arendt & Medernach, a Luxembourg-based law firm specialising in investment funds, Capucine plans to take the Luxembourg Bar exam and pursue a career in this field.

For Samuel Bonhomme, the joint winner of the competition, the experience was equally enriching: "This advocacy contest was an incredibly formative experience, perfectly aligned with the demands of our future professions. In law, public speaking is an essential skill for convincing, arguing, and defending effectively."

 

A Competition with a Professional Edge

Stanislas Brun, another participant in the programme, highlights the practical, career-focused approach of this initiative: "This competition enables us to develop our advocacy skills in a real-world setting. We must convince both in form and substance—an essential skill for our future careers."

Beyond the competition itself, this initiative showcases the academic excellence and practical focus of the SKEMA Master in Business Law. It equips students with the skills to navigate the legal world’s challenges. "This exercise teaches us how to manage public speaking, handle stress, and engage an audience. More broadly, this master's degree prepares us effectively for the professional world," adds Samuel Bonhomme.

 

Can Humour Be a Persuasive Tool?

Some students, like Antsa Andriambololo-Nivo, chose a different approach—humour—to win over the audience. "How do you defend someone who, in reality, has been convicted? It’s a complex yet stimulating challenge. To tackle it, I opted for a lighter approach. Humour helped me manage my stress and, who knows, maybe even convince my audience..."
 

Find out more about the programmes offered by SKEMA Law School for Business.

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