Trial Magazine

KJ: Alex, why can voice training be so important for some lawyers?

AW: When I was first beginning to teach voice and movement to actors, my father said to me, “Well, don’t people just already know how to do that?” The truth is, there is a difference between talking and communicating effectively. Lawyers, like actors, are storytellers, and their voices need to be flexible, malleable, and persuasive. When we speak with passion, we communicate effectively.

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The moment we start to lose that connection to our body and to our presence is the moment we begin to lose vocal stamina.

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KJ: It’s common for lawyers to have issues with their voices. Let’s talk about some of the most common issues we’ve encountered. The first has to do with what I’d call “stamina.” Many lawyers tell us, “When I start speaking at trial, my voice feels strong. By the end of trial, I have no voice. How can I keep from losing my voice?”

AW: Vocal training can help with stamina. If we think back to when we were babies, vocal stamina—sustaining sound over long periods of time—is something that our bodies know and understand how to do. You used to be able to fill an entire home, all night long, with your cries as a baby. Over time, we lose this ability. The moment we start to lose that connection to our body and to our presence is the moment we begin to lose vocal stamina.

The majority of this has to do with unnecessary tension in the throat, the tongue root (the back, bottom of your tongue, which you can feel by touching the squishy part under your chin), and the abdominal wall. Relaxation is so important. Nerves are normal, so part of what you’re learning to do is breathe properly and relax so that your instrument can work in the healthiest way possible. When we breathe properly, we can support the breath properly, which means we can make a free and released sound.

A simple exercise you can do to help release tension in the throat and the tongue root is called a “professional yawn.” First, take a few deep breaths, feeling your belly expand with each inhalation. Then, yawn—a big, long yawn like you’ve just woken up in the morning. Notice how that instantly relaxes your throat and stretches your soft palate. Your soft palate is at back of the roof of your mouth. You can feel it lift when you yawn, creating more space in the back of your mouth. Do this big yawn one more time, but this time, stick your tongue way out. Keep your tongue out for the entire length of the yawn. This stretches and releases the tongue root.

KJ: The most extreme version of this dilemma is the lawyer who says, “I can get out one question or motion, and then I lose my voice.” Do you attribute this to vocal stamina, too? Or is this something else?

AW: Vocal stamina has more to do with understanding vocal support and releasing tension. A voice that is lost that quickly, to me, stems from psychological silencing. Someone who has felt silenced for most of their life will often find that they readily lose their voice in certain situations, especially when they go into fight-or-flight mode. The first step in healing this is to explore when and why you feel silenced. Perhaps it’s around certain family members or when you’re in certain environments.

Then, notice how your body reacts to this feeling. Do you make yourself physically smaller? Do you scrunch your shoulders up toward your ears? Your body’s physical reaction to the emotional trigger is what we are looking for. Once you have an awareness of how your body responds, you can work on relaxing those body parts while continuing to heal the psychological piece. There are many modes and avenues of healing this piece, whether it’s therapy, journaling, or general self-care practices.

Your vocal instrument is so much more than just your larynx and your vocal cords. It’s more than even your diaphragm, your lungs, and your speech articulators (the body parts that help us shape sound: the tongue, lips, teeth, and soft and hard palates). Your voice is your whole body. It’s also your psychology. This is probably the biggest piece. It’s also the most forgotten.

KJ: There is a real equation between power and persuasion in the hearts and minds of lawyers. What do you say to an attorney who tells you, “People say I’m not powerful when I speak.”

AW: This breaks my heart. When I hear this, my next question is often, “Who says this to you and when?” I ask this because we can all find power in certain parts of our personalities. For example, when we are sticking up for the little guy or speaking about something we’re passionate about, we often speak with great power. But negative habits can impede this power. Negative habits often stem from “old stories,” which, to me, are ingrained narratives that we hold to be true about ourselves.

The problem, though, is that these narratives are usually not based in facts; in reality, they are often negative lies that we tell ourselves about who we are or about how the world sees us. These old stories shape the way we show up, and they can often be self-fulfilling prophecies. For example, if one of your old stories is, “No one listens to me because I have nothing important to say,” then you might show up with a weaker voice, bad posture, and an energy that pulls away from conversations. These traits send the signal to the world, “Hey, don’t talk to me. I’m not here to participate,” which ultimately proves your old story to be true.

Become curious about the moments when you feel unpowerful in your voice. Who are you speaking to or with? What are the circumstances? Is it a moment when you’re in a position of authority and you feel uncomfortable with the pressure? Or is it a moment when you’re in an inferior position and you feel like your power is minimized? What is the story that you’re telling yourself in that moment?

Think about a moment in your life when you felt empowered vocally. Perhaps it was when you were arguing a case where you felt a deep emotional connection. Or maybe you were standing up for someone or for yourself. Interestingly, when we are in the thick of an argument, our voices are usually perfect. We are supporting our voices, we are resonant, our speech articulators are on point.

Can you remember the last time you argued something passionately, inside or outside the courtroom? Technically, power really comes down to vocal support and body resonance, which is the quality and intensity of your tone when you speak. The deeper the sound waves move through the body, the deeper their quality and intensity. We often use the word “resonance” when something has an emotional effect on us. We say, “That really resonated with me,” or “That really moved me.” The more body resonance we have, the more affective and effective we can be.

Vocal support and body resonance can come naturally when we are deeply and emotionally connected to the topic and when we want to be heard and communicate.

KJ: How can lawyers work on building better habits so they feel powerful in their voices?

AW: Let’s start with vocal support. People often say to support your voice with your diaphragm. While this is true, you can’t move your diaphragm on your own. That’s like asking you to move your liver, so here is how you can support your voice: When you inhale, your diaphragm drops. If you are relaxed and have a relaxed abdominal wall, then your belly should expand with the breath. This is why relaxation is so important. Your belly expands because the diaphragm is pushing your internal organs out of the way. That’s a proper inhale.

The benefit of breathing this way—in addition to making it possible to support your voice—is that the diaphragm dropping and the belly expanding sends the signal to the brain that you are safe, which results in fewer nerves and more effective communication.

Vocal support happens while we are speaking, on the exhale. We use our pelvic floor and core support to lift the diaphragm back into place. So, in essence, we are supporting our voice with our diaphragm, which is supported by the muscles deep in our pelvic floor and core. Some exercises you can do to strengthen these muscles are planks, V sit-ups, and general core exercises.

To really feel your support in action, a simple exercise is the “birthday candle breath.” Get on all fours in a tabletop position. Take a few breaths and notice how your belly is expanding down toward the ground. That’s a proper inhale. Then, imagine there is a birthday candle between your hands. Blow out the birthday candle with a “fff” sound. Notice how your belly snaps back with each exhale. That’s your support.

Once you have felt the birthday candle belly movement, add in voice with a “fuh fuh fuh” sound. Notice how loud your voice is. See if you can transition from all fours to sitting back on your heels while maintaining the same level of vocal support.

If you have excess tension or have become disconnected from your support, vocal training can help you tap back into these known and remembered skills, so that your instrument is flexible, malleable, and ready. These are the skills that your body already knows how to do. Think back to our example of when you were a baby and knew instinctively how to support your voice, fill up a space with sound, and be emotionally connected. In a lot of ways, voice work is about taking away negative habits so that we can get back to what our body already knows how to do.

KJ: Stage fright is something lawyers talk about. The obvious connection to the theatre is in the name itself. Some actors stop performing completely because they have a bad case of it. What do you say to a lawyer who suffers from stage fright?

AW: Stage fright is incredibly normal. Actors experience it all the time. It’s a sign that you care. Something that can be helpful is reminding ourselves that our bodies don’t know the difference between excitement and nervousness. We feel excited because we know the outcome. For example, we know we’re excited if we’re going on vacation because that feels like something that’s in our control, and we know the outcome. We feel nervous when we’re going into court or on stage because we feel like we don’t have control.

We need to reframe our nerves. Think: “I’m really excited to meet this jury because they’re going to help my client.” A trial witness might tell themselves, “I’m really excited to tell my story because telling my story can bring about change.”

Leaning into nerves can be a source of jet fuel for ourselves. Nervous energy, or excited energy, makes us better listeners. It makes us more present. We can use it. Lean into it by breathing into it, deep in your belly. Don’t try to take a big breath. That will push the breath high into your chest and increase your anxiety. Instead, take a deep breath, feeling your belly expand. Dance with the energy. Don’t run away from it.

KJ: How about the lawyer who says, “I keep running out of breath when I talk?”

AW: In our everyday lives, we rarely run out of breath when we are speaking. We breathe to the thought. The bigger the thought, the bigger the breath. For example, if you are just saying, “Hi, how are you?” you will take a smaller breath than if you were going to recite some lines from Shakespeare. Our brains and lungs and diaphragm are adept at speaking to each other so that we take the right-sized breath for each thought. I find that people run out of breath when they have something memorized and rattle it off rather than thinking the thought and being present with the thought. If you are present with the thought, you will take in the proper amount of breath. Trust yourself. You do it every day.

What this example points to, though, is that every vocal “problem” is just a symptom of a bigger issue, whether it’s a habit, an old story, or a problem with preparation.

KJ: Some lawyers have told me, “People say that I talk in a monotone.” I am usually flabbergasted since they are not talking to me in a monotone when they confess it. But when I listen to their opening statement, there it is: the monotone voice. What causes this and what can be done about it?

AW: Monotone voice happens when we try to control our emotionality. The more pitch variety we have, the more emotional we seem. Lawyers sometimes wrongly think that their emotions, passion, and connection to the case are not allowed in their communication with the jury. It’s not just allowed, it’s needed.

Monotone typically deals with pitch, but you can add vocal variety by playing around with tempo and volume. If you want to keep the jury rapt, use vocal variety. Vocal variety lets jurors know that something is important or worthy of attention. Don’t underestimate the power of silence. Taking a long pause often makes everyone lean forward in their chairs.

KJ: Lawyers for whom English is a second language often worry about having an accent and that it might work against them. Is there cause for concern?

AW: I think there’s a big misconception that having a good voice means having a “perfect voice.” “Perfect,” in this context, means sounding American, sounding white, and sounding male. I say, boo on this. I’m not going to say that xenophobia doesn’t exist—it certainly does—but as far as accents go, if you can be understood then you can be effective. What jurors want to hear is someone who is authentic.

Accents and dialects are beautiful because they contain so much of our identity, our family history, and our culture. Because of this, in many cases, having an accent can be beneficial. The more of yourself you show to the jurors, the more they trust you.

KJ: Women lawyers have their own set of challenges when it comes to voice and persuasion. Why is this near and dear to your heart?

AW: The lessons that women are taught while growing up about what it means to be a “good girl” and a “sweet girl” are completely antithetical to the characteristics that are needed for leadership, such as being the lead lawyer in a case. Women make for great leaders. Studies have shown this time and time again. Yet, the habits that we women accrue throughout our lives often encourage us to stay small and silent. In doing so, we’re robbed of our power.

Helping women reconnect with their voices allows them to reconnect to their natural power. The first step is the psychological piece, and then we assess how that shows up physically and vocally.

Some women rush when speaking or speak in run-on sentences because women are often interrupted. When it’s their turn to speak, they think, “Well, I better get this all out at once and quickly, before I am interrupted.” This limits their power because power comes from taking time. People who take time, pause, and use silence when they speak come across as powerful and confident. But if you’re used to being interrupted and you rush, then you give away that power.

Women don’t need to sound like men. We are born with our own inherent, unique power. It’s just a shame that it is often minimized, co-opted, and literally silenced.

KJ: What would you say is the biggest reason lawyers should study voice to become more persuasive?

AW: Everyone should study voice because it helps us understand who we are in the world. It helps us reconnect with who we are authentically, and there’s nothing more powerful than that. Lawyers, in particular, can use voice work because they often worry about sounding a certain way—monotone, emotionally disconnected, and full of legalese. In reality, jurors want to listen to someone who is authentic. So, while I think everyone can find voice work to be transformational, I think lawyers, specifically, can find it to be transformative for themselves and for their clients.

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Katherine James is a founder of ACT of Communication, a trial consulting firm in Nashville. Alexandra Wright is an actor, coach, professor, and consultant at ACT of Communication. They can be reached at katherine@actofcommunication.com and alex@actofcommunication.com.