Quiet in court: rethinking legal confidence

University of Exeter law student Sajanthiya Siridaran challenges pre-conceptions around the type of students that make great lawyers

I used to think I couldn’t be a good lawyer because I was quiet. When people think of lawyers, they often imagine naturally loud, confident, and bold personalities — always ready to argue and often expected to be the most commanding voice in the room. I believed this too, which made me uncomfortable as a naturally shy and introverted person.

I felt as if I didn’t fit the traditional image of what a lawyer should be. I wasn’t naturally argumentative or a confident speaker. I didn’t necessarily enjoy the spotlight, and I already found myself feeling like an outsider in an industry I was just starting to get into. It was as if I were experiencing a different kind of impostor syndrome, which was hardly the confidence boost I hoped for at the start of my legal career! However, I have come to realise that confidence in law doesn’t always have to be loud.

My name is Sajanthiya, and I have just completed my first year studying law at university. And this is what I have learned so far.

How I fell for the loud-lawyer myth and tried to change

I was convinced that being a good lawyer meant being extroverted, sharp-witted, and effortlessly persuasive. So, I made it my mission to ‘fix’ myself.

I signed up for mooting competitions, volunteered at open days, and took up speaking roles in mock tribunals to improve my public speaking skills and confidence. And I am glad I did because those experiences pulled me out of my shell, helped me build my confidence, and develop my public speaking skills. I would highly recommend these opportunities to fellow law students because they can offer real and rewarding growth, and they can help more than you would expect.

However, one of these experiences taught me a deeper lesson — not public speaking or voice projection — but something that completely changed how I saw myself as a law student.

A mock tribunal that changed my perspective

During a mock tribunal, I volunteered to play the role of a cross-examining barrister in another attempt to improve my confidence. Thanks to film and TV, I imagined the role would require fierce questioning, quick thinking and bold delivery. I thought a good cross-examination depended on intensity, volume and pressure. However, when it came to my cross-examination, I took a different approach. I was not loud or assertive, but I was calm and thoroughly prepared.

And it worked.

The real secret: preparation, not projection

I had mistakenly believed that advocacy was about putting on a performance, but it wasn’t my ‘performance’ that won the moment. Instead, it was the preparation and observation I did in silence.

I had spent hours behind the scenes reading witness statements, studying case details and carefully crafting my questions. These were the tools that played to my strengths as someone who tends to be reflective and detail focused. That’s when I realised: my silence was a strength, not a weakness.

Why silence is a strength, not a weakness

Being a lawyer definitely requires public speaking skills and confidence; they are vital. But I had wrongly assumed that being quiet, introverted and observant were qualities I had to leave behind. Ironically, in trying to boost my confidence and become more extroverted, I have seen the value of my quieter qualities.

You don’t have to be the loudest in the room to be a good lawyer because a good lawyer also knows how to listen closely, think critically, when to speak and when not to.

If you’re a shy or introverted law student feeling like you don’t fit into the legal world, give yourself a chance. Throw yourself into those uncomfortable opportunities. Build your public speaking skills. Push your boundaries. Get out of your comfort zone. But don’t throw away what makes you, you.

Law needs all kinds of voices; both the loud and quiet ones. It needs strategic thinking, prepared voices, and quiet confidence. We need to stop believing in the myth that there is a single mold that you have to fit into to be a good lawyer, and instead break the mold.

So, whether you’re stepping into a mooting competition, a mock tribunal, or a real tribunal, confidence doesn’t always roar; sometimes it prepares quietly, observes patiently, and speaks with clarity when it matters most.

Sajanthiya Siridaran is a first-year Law with Business student at the University of Exeter with a strong interest in family and human rights law. She hopes to practise in these areas in the future and is particularly passionate about legal aid and access to justice for vulnerable groups.