“How our word respond”. Reflections on the defense attorney’s speech in court

The article is devoted to the peculiarities of the public speech of the defense attorney at various stages of criminal proceedings: in the court of first, appellate, cassation and supervisory instances. The authors substantiate the significance of this type of activity and its influence on the formation of the internal conviction of the court. The work examines the specifics of the oral form of judicial speech, its difference from the business written style. The dependence of the content, structure, and speech techniques used on the stage of the criminal process in which the defensive speech is pronounced is emphasized. The authors rely on their rich professional experience, use scientific research on this topic and the results of surveys of judges, prosecutors, and lawyers.