Say what you mean, clearly, the first time.
Speaking and persuasion training for law and professional firms. Your people learn to be clear, brief, and convincing in the moment. Workshops and private coaching, delivered in your offices.
Most people find the right words an hour too late.
A client asks: so what should we do?
Well, it really depends on how you look at it, and honestly there's no right answer here. The first offer is the bigger number, obviously, so there's that. Then again the second offer has some things going for it, even if it's lower, and I gather it closes this month, for whatever that's worth. And of course a third could still come in. So I think it comes down to what you're comfortable with, really.
Take the second offer. It's lower, but it closes this month, and a deal that closes beats a better one that might not.
75 words that never answer the question. 23 that do.
Everyone knows the feeling. A client asks a direct question and the answer comes out long and tangled. A partner pushes back and the good reply arrives on the walk to the elevator.
Professionals spend years learning what the answer is. Almost no one teaches them to say it clearly, briefly, and well when it counts.
Making a point clearly matters whenever you are:
- Pitching an idea
- Closing a sale
- Winning an argument
- Contributing to a meeting
- Answering a client's hard question
- Briefing a senior colleague
- Negotiating terms
- Delivering bad news
Speaking well is a skill. It improves with practice on your feet.
Our method comes from competitive debate, where speakers learn to organise a thought in seconds and deliver it under a time limit. Participants spend most of each session speaking, with direct feedback after every round.
Clarity
Lead with the point. Give the answer first, then the reasons, in an order a listener can follow and repeat.
Brevity
Say it in half the words. Cut the preamble and the hedging, and know when to stop.
In the moment
Take a question you did not expect, buy two seconds to think, and give your best answer then, not later.
Persuasion
Make the case for your position, hear the objection, and respond to it without losing your thread.
Four formats, each built around your practice.
Every exercise uses situations drawn from the work your people do: client calls, internal meetings, pitches, and hard questions.
The Lunch Session
An introduction for a full practice group. One framework, two live drills, and something to use that afternoon.
90 minutesThe Workshop
The core program for up to sixteen people. Clear answers, short answers, unexpected questions, and making a case, with individual feedback.
Half dayPrivate Coaching
One-on-one preparation for partners and executives ahead of a pitch, a hearing, a board meeting, or a keynote.
By engagementThe Articling Bridge
Professionalism training for articling students: the unwritten rules of firm life, taught by a former lawyer. See the program
Full day or seriesTaught by a former litigator and competitive debater.
Rudi Lof has made his living by speaking clearly under pressure: in court, in mediations, in lecture halls, and at the World University Debating Championships.
He began his legal career as a litigation associate at Borden Ladner Gervais LLP and later became a partner at a boutique law firm, appearing in court and at mediations on contested files. He holds a JD/MBA from Osgoode Hall Law School and the Schulich School of Business, and is trained in alternative dispute resolution.
An award-winning university debater, Rudi has spent more than a decade teaching others to speak. He founded the Toronto Debate Academy in 2012, and his students have gone on to win national championships and the World Schools Debating Championships.
Since 2014 he has taught business law at York University, where he lectures to classes of about a hundred students. Outside the lecture hall, he works with the Canadian National Debate Team, four-time world champions who have reached seven world finals since 2010.
Workshops are led by Rudi and a small group of trainers he has selected and trained himself.
Therefore: let's talk.
A twenty-minute call is enough to learn where your people need to be sharper and whether we are the right fit. No pitch deck.