Here’s some good advice about what to do when your opponent makes numerous arguments for ruling against your client. The short version is of course don’t take the bait because, as Perelman advises, the very act of acknowledging an argument is tantamount to telling your jurors that it’s worthy of their consideration.
Now I must explain the Subtle Approach. There are three occasions on which we cannot use the Direct Opening, and these we must consider carefully: (1) when our cause is discreditable, that is, when the subject itself alienates the hearer from us; (2) when the hearer has apparently been won over by the previous speakers of the opposition; (3) or when the hearer has become wearied by listening to the previous speakers.
- Cicero "Ad Herennium"
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