Practise the cross-examination
you can't rehearse alone.
Silk puts you against a realistic AI witness or client under real time pressure, then scores the session against the BSB Curriculum and Assessment Strategy - the same criteria you'll be assessed on. Book a scenario, run the session, get a structured debrief in minutes.
Most advocacy preparation happens alone, with nothing that argues back
Most preparation before a BSB assessment happens in front of a mirror or a patient friend reading from a script. It is useful for pacing and structure, but it cannot do the one thing that actually determines whether an examination holds up under pressure: push back. A friend reading a witness statement will not contradict you, will not notice when you fail to put the case on a material point, and will not remember what you said three questions ago and use it against you.
"A person is entitled to have his case put to the witnesses on the other side... it is a rule of essential justice that the witness be given an opportunity to deal with it."
Browne v Dunn (1893) - the professional duty behind every Silk Fatal Flaw checkA friend reading a script is not a witness
Real witnesses and lay clients are evasive, inconsistent, and sometimes convincing in the moment. A rehearsed run-through with a friend cannot replicate the pressure of a witness who contradicts their own earlier account, or a client whose story shifts as you question them.
Missed material points go unnoticed
Failing to put a material element of your case to a witness is both a technique failure and a professional conduct failure. Solo practice has no mechanism to catch it - you only find out you missed it when an examiner marks you down for it.
Performance goes unmeasured
A mirror cannot tell you that your structure held for the first six questions and fell apart under the seventh, or which of the five BSB competency dimensions actually needs work. That level of precision requires a different approach.
Mock advocacy days are rare and costly
Real mock advocacy days with trained actors exist, but they are expensive, infrequent, and oversubscribed relative to the number of students who need them before every sitting. Most candidates get one or two before an assessment - if they can get a place at all.
A practice and assessment environment for oral advocacy
You choose a scenario and a format - Cross-Examination, Conference Skills, or Examination-in-Chief - and face a realistic AI witness or client who responds in character, under time pressure, exactly as a real witness or lay client would. Every session is scored against the BSB Curriculum and Assessment Strategy's published weighted competencies for that format, with an automatic Fatal Flaw check for the conduct failures that fail a session outright regardless of score.
Silk's witnesses and clients are not reading from a fixed script. They hold a consistent account, respond to how you question them, and can be pushed - or can catch you out - exactly as a real witness would. When you fail to put a material point, the Fatal Flaw check notices, exactly as a real examiner would.
- Three BSB-aligned formats - Cross-Examination, Conference Skills, Examination-in-Chief
- Realistic AI witness or client, responsive to your own line of questioning
- Fixed session clock matching the real BSB assessment time limit for each format
- Fatal Flaw check running throughout - an automatic-fail layer separate from your numeric score
- Optional live coaching in practice mode - switched off entirely in assessment mode
- Structured debrief on completion - grade, dimension breakdown, and full transcript, emailed with a PDF record
Choose a format and scenario
Book a session at app.inquera.ai/silk/buy - pick Cross-Examination, Conference Skills, or Examination-in-Chief, then a fact pattern. Choose practice mode for live coaching, or assessment mode to match the real exam standard.
Read your brief
Before the session begins, you receive the case papers and brief for the scenario - the facts, the instructions, and what you need to establish. This is the only information you hold when the session starts.
Run the session
You question, examine, or advise against a realistic AI witness or client for the full format duration. The Fatal Flaw check runs throughout - if you fail to put a material point, or commit another conduct failure, the session can fail outright regardless of your numeric score.
Get your debrief
Within minutes, you receive a structured debrief: overall grade, a breakdown across the format's five weighted BSB dimensions, the full transcript, and qualitative feedback on what worked and what to change - emailed with a PDF record you can keep.
Three formats. The same BSB criteria you'll be assessed on.
Each format is scored against its own published BSB weighted dimensions - not a proprietary rubric you have to translate against what you'll actually face.
R v Whitfield
You cross-examine the defendant on an inconsistent account of a disputed transaction. A Fatal Flaw check runs throughout the session - failing to put a material element of your case on the record ends the session regardless of your numeric score.
Advice conference - GBH, self-defence plea
You advise a lay client weighing a self-defence plea, scored on the format's own weighted criteria for client-facing communication, case analysis, and professional judgement - the longest of the three formats, reflecting a real conference's pace.
Eyewitness identification
You examine your own witness through a disputed identification account, scored against the format's own weighted criteria for structure, open questioning, and narrative control - without leading your own witness.
The Silk debrief
Every completed Silk session generates a structured debrief - your overall grade and score, a breakdown across the format's five weighted BSB dimensions, the Fatal Flaw check result, the full transcript, and qualitative feedback on what worked and what to change. It's emailed to you with a PDF record you can keep.
The debrief is built for self-review before a resit or your next sitting - a precise account of where your technique held and where it needs work, cited to the moments in your own transcript, not a general impression.
Before an assessment or resit
Run the format you're weakest on the week before your sitting. The debrief shows exactly which BSB dimension needs the most work, cited to specific moments in your own transcript.
A record you can bring to a mentor
The PDF debrief is yours to keep - a precise, objective account you can bring to a supervisor, pupil supervisor, or mentor, if and when you choose to share it. Nothing is shared automatically.
"You told the officer at the scene you'd never seen the complainant before. But you'd give evidence today that you recognised him from the estate. Which is it, Mr Whitfield?"
Turn 14 - Undermining CredibilityAssessed against the standard you'll actually be examined on
Every Silk debrief dimension is mapped directly to published BSB standards. There is no proprietary rubric to translate against what you'll actually face.
Every Silk debrief is scored against the same weighted competency dimensions published in the BSB's own Curriculum and Assessment Strategy - the criteria that actually determine your assessment outcome, not a rubric we've written ourselves.
- Questioning Technique and Content
- Communication & Delivery
- Undermining Credibility (Cross-Examination)
- Putting & Advancing the Case
- Structure
Silk's Fatal Flaw mechanism reflects the same professional conduct failures the BSB treats as automatic-fail grounds in a real assessment - including the duty to put your case on a material issue (Browne v Dunn), distinct from your numeric score.
- Duty to the court and administration of justice
- Duty to act in the client's best interests
- Duty to put the case on every material issue
- Professional conduct, independent of numeric score
Silk takes exam-day pressure seriously
Preparing for a BSB assessment alone is isolating - there is no colleague to spot what you missed, no supervisor to catch a weak line of questioning before it costs you marks. Real mock advocacy days are rare and expensive relative to how many candidates need them before every sitting. Silk is not a replacement for a real mock, and it is not a guarantee of a pass. It is a private, available-when-you-need-it space to face something that argues back, as many times as you need to before the sitting that matters.
Practise privately
Run a session from anywhere, at any time - no booking a room, no waiting for a mock advocacy day with a place available. Practice mode gives you live coaching; assessment mode matches the real exam standard exactly.
Under real time pressure
Every format runs to the same clock you'll face in the real assessment. There is no pause button and no do-over mid-session - exactly the pressure that a mirror or a script-reading friend cannot replicate.
A precise record of where you stand
A completed session does not guarantee a pass. But it gives you something a mirror cannot: a dimension-by-dimension account, cited to your own transcript, of exactly what to work on before you sit the real thing.
Built for the individual practitioner
Silk is a pay-per-session, self-serve tool today - no subscription, no institutional sign-off, no chambers administration required to book your first session.
"How do I get realistic cross-examination practice before my assessment?"
Book a Cross-Examination or Examination-in-Chief session against a realistic AI witness who responds to your own questioning, under the same time limit and BSB criteria you'll be assessed on. No script, no friend reading lines - a witness who can catch you out.
"I need to prepare for a reassessment without booking a full mock advocacy day."
Run the format and scenario closest to your weak area as many times as you need, in assessment mode, and get a precise dimension-by-dimension debrief after each one. Pay only for the session you book - no waiting list, no minimum commitment.
"Can we book this for a cohort of pupils or students?"
Silk today is built for the individual, self-funded practitioner. Cohort booking and chambers or AETO administration are on our roadmap, not available today - get in touch if this is what you need and we'll let you know when it's ready.
Book your first session
Choose a format and scenario, decide whether you want live coaching or a clean assessment run, and start. Pay only for the session you book - no subscription, no institutional sign-off required.