This course is designed to follow and expand upon the compulsory Litigation courses. Students are expected to know the fundamentals of evidence law and trial procedure. Evidence and Advocacy concentrates on the criminal trial and is designed to allow a hands-on approach to learning evidence law and developing expertise in trial practice and procedure. The advocacy component requires students, working in groups, to prepare cases for trial. Effectively, students will be learning what US advocacy writers have called 'case theory'. This is the pre-trial preparation of examination-in-chief, cross-examination, opening and closing addresses for trial.

The evidence component builds on students' basic knowledge of the doctrine, principles and rules relating to criminal litigation. Outside classroom hours students must attend criminal trials in progress to observe the conduct of judges, jurors, accused, witnesses and lawyers in real cases. Classroom discussion focuses on commentaries in the course text that examine a variety of issues associated with the dynamics of criminal trials. These commentaries are from a multidisciplinary perspective, incorporating the observations of historians, psychologists, sociologists and linguists. Course assessment includes witness examination exercises, trial presentations and an essay that is a comparative analysis of the conduct and practices of participants in observed trials with what the law expects, requires or assumes exists in relation to those participants.