Epilogue: Cicero and the Modern Advocate

Abstract This chapter looks at connections, similarities, and differences between the courts of Cicero's ancient Rome and the practice of the advocate's profession in modern England. In the field of civil cases, the institutional independence of the advocate's profession in England is perhaps clearest in the context of judicial review litigation, in which executive decisions taken by government ministers or in their name are challenged every day in the court calendar. The art of advocacy is the art of persuasion, with Cicero's spectacular success depending on a mixture of flattery, emotional appeal, and the force of argument. The modern advocate's ethics are by no means only concerned with the virtues of courage and independence and the cab-rank rule. He also has a duty to the court, which in today's jurisdiction is a permanent obligation. Cicero would not have recognised such a duty as it is now conceived.