For high school students preparing to begin pre-law coursework in college and aspiring to pursue a career in law, participating in competitive high school debate is one of the most powerful tools available to bolster their academic and professional success. Beyond the debate round, debate is a training ground that builds the rhetorical, analytical and academic skills that define successful lawyers and law students.

With many sitting Supreme Court Justices crediting their high school debate experience with shaping their success and passion for law, and numerous top trial lawyers beginning their journeys on debate teams, debate has proven to be a powerful driver of academic excellence and pre-law success.

Building familiarity with legal concepts

Debate, and the topics students spend hours researching, inherently draw upon numerous legal principles. Concepts such as constitutional interpretation, precedent, judicial review, and legal doctrines are often focal points in debate topics. Students are challenged to interpret and analyze the minutiae of landmark Supreme Court decisions, legal language, and understand the mechanisms of government — skills that reflect the intellectual rigor required of pre-law students and legal practices.

Debaters often take on questions involving subjects like criminal justice reform, international treaties, and civil liberties that teach them to think like law students and draw conclusions based on legal principles.

Research, Writing, and Argumentation

Successful pre-law and law students are defined by their ability to undertake rigorous research demands and their ability to construct persuasive, well organized arguments. High school debaters have the advantage of developing and mastering these skills early on. Competitive debate teaches students to interpret complex material, discern between weak and strong strategies, and develop coherent arguments quickly under pressure. Both in the debate round and the classroom, debaters learn and demonstrate their ability to communicate nuanced ideas based in fact with speed and clarity.

The ability to efficiently research and write translates directly into students’ success in college-level coursework and standardized tests, such as the LSAT, and generally improve their chances of moving on to top-tier law schools.

Practicing Courtroom Skills in a Classroom Setting

Competitive debate generally mirrors the same dynamics present in a courtroom during trial law. Debaters, like lawyers, must think quickly on their feet and have the ability to adapt and respond to unexpected challenges under time constraints with authority and composure. The adversarial nature of debate, with having both an opponent and a judge, allows students to develop the confidence to respond persuasively, professionally and authoritatively to challenges and arguments in the moment.

Providing students the opportunity to learn how to manage the stress of public speaking, quick critical thinking, and continuously refine their presentation style gives them a head-start in mastering competencies expected of legal professionals.

Competitive debate has the power to be more than just an extracurricular activity on a resume; it can be a crucial formative experience for those striving to pursue pre-law education and law school.

For students considering a future in law, competitive debate offers a head-start in developing the skill, confidence, academic excellence, and competencies that define successful law students and legal professionals.