Mastering Your Voice

Break through the noise and hold the room when it matters most.

You can craft the strongest submission of your career, but if your delivery falters, your argument risks losing traction. This workshop is designed to sharpen the one skill that can make or break your advocacy: your ability to command attention, maintain judicial engagement, and persuade in real time.

Led by Voice Coach Kirstie O’Sullivan and supported by the judicial insight of Hon Justice Helen Cull, this half-day masterclass brings together practical performance training and guidance from the bench. It focuses on the moments that decide whether your audience stays with you or switches off.

You will learn how to:

• create space to reset under pressure
• identify and overcome the barriers to being heard
• manage nerves with simple, workable techniques
• strengthen and trust your natural voice
• build connection with everyone in the room
• use contrast, pitch, pace, power and pause to full effect
• work on your skills in a safe and collegial environment

HALF-DAY MASTERCLASS including PRE-WORKSHOP WEBINAR

CPD: 5 hours (webinar and masterclass)

Pre workshop Webinar:  Thursday 12 February | 5.15pm – 6.15pm | Online via Zoom
Masterclass: Friday 20 February | 9.00am – 1.30pm
Venue: The Pavilion, ANZ Centre, 23 Albert Street, Auckland (TBC)
Participant Cost: Member $370 | Non-member $595
Audience Member: Member $295 | Non-member $395

*Materials will be provided – you won't need to draft anything. 

Limited participant and audience places available - we deliberately limit class sizes to ensure learners get the attention, support, and engagement they deserve.

Register to secure your place ASAP.

Kirstie couldn’t keep up with the demand for her coaching at our Mastering Advocacy Workshop held in March, and Justice Cull's valuable insights kept her booked back-to-back at our November course.  This is a focused, high-performance voice programme built for barristers who want to strengthen not just their material, but their delivery, presence and influence in the courtroom.

Two ways to attend:

• Join as an active participant and work in the room with personalised feedback; or

• Attend as an audience member and learn through expert commentary, guided observation and preparatory webinar content. Audience members can contribute through Q&A in the open sessions.

All attendees receive:

• A short pre-event questionnaire to tailor the learning

• A live 60-minute preparation webinar

• 5 hours of CPD

Participants will also receive a submission in advance to use for their spoken presentation. You’ll walk away with practical tools to steady yourself, use your voice more strategically, and hold the room with greater authority.

Secure your place now before the remaining spots fill.

About Kirstie O’Sullivan

Kirstie O’Sullivan is a Voice & Performance coach who specializes in equipping litigators, educators and business leaders with the tools and techniques they need to command attention, build credibility and genuinely connect when speaking in high stakes environments. 
Kirstie has been a guest speaker for the annual NZLS Litigation Skills programme since 2010. She has presented at the Oral Judgement Programme for the Institute of Judicial Studies and regularly delivers her Voice of Persuasion programme in-house for various firms and private clients.

Kirstie was the onsite voice coach at the NZBA Mastering Advocacy Masterclass in March 2025 and was in high demand for her valued feedback and constructive direction. She brings sharp insight and a focused yet flexible approach to unlocking the power of the human voice.

About Justice Helen Cull

Justice Cull joined the independent bar in 1991, was appointed a Queen’s Counsel in 1997, and practised extensively in general litigation, including high-profile criminal trials, trust, family property, and civil and public law litigation.  Appointed a Judge of the High Court in 2016, the Judge was a NZLS faculty member on NZLS entry and advanced Litigation Skills courses, CLE seminars and programmes on expert witnesses and trial advocacy from 1987, faculty member of the Australian Bar Assoc Advocacy Course in 2014, was Deputy Director of the Advanced Litigation Skills course in 2016, the Judge member of the Advanced Litigation Skills courses in 2021 and 2023 and the NZBA Mastering Advocacy Masterclass in March and November 2025. The Judge has qualifications in speech.