Each lawyer has his or her own style of oral argument to a court. Myself, I think I should be as prepared as possible and as forceful as possible in explaining the correctness of my position, even though whether I am or not is up to the court, ultimately. It seems, however, that the lawyer in the Norm Coleman v. Al Franken Minnesota election contest took the simpering tack, "awww-w-w-w--w-w-w, judge, you're so big and tall and strong and handsome, pretty please rule in my favor!" -
At one point, Friedberg said how he's always hopeful that when he argues as a defense attorney, before juries that have become convinced of the prosecution's case, "I might get them to step back, clear their minds, open their minds, and let me try to convince them to the contrary."
But he also admitted, in a flattering tone of voice, "It's more difficult to do that with judges, because basically you know more about the law than I do."
