Welcome to the Advocacy Club
The Advocacy Club was founded in 2007 to train articling students and junior lawyers in the arts of civil advocacy. Since then, it has expanded to include hundreds of participants from many law firms and governmental organizations. The Club's sessions are based on these principles:
- Trainees learn more by doing than by listening to lectures.
- Junior advocates benefit greatly from networking with other like-minded professionals.
- Collegiality, professionalism, and competence are interrelated and form the foundation for a successful career in law.
For more information, watch the Advocacy Club's promotional video here.
Advocacy Club Boot Camps
The Advocacy Club Boot Camp is the perfect introduction to civil trial advocacy for junior lawyers, paralegals, and articled/articling students who seek practical techniques for planning and conducting examinations, cross-examinations, and final argument. The Boot Camp is experiential CPD, small seminar teams led by a senior litigator, John Hollander. Want to join an active legal network with 800+ members? For greater detail of the program, visit Boot Camps - The Advocacy Club.
The Fall 2024 programs are:
Participants qualify for 7.5 hours of substantive CPD and 1.5 hours of professional CPD, of which 1.0 hours are EDI.
The cost is $400 for lawyers and $275 for articling students, summer interns, and paralegals, all plus HST, payable one week in advance and not refundable. For more details about the boot camp content & format, click here.
Boot camps can be (and have been) run for one employer (law firm, government department, NGO or corporation). In-person in Ottawa or on Zoom/MS Teams. Custom-made case studies are possible, based on reported decisions or cases in progress. We need the material for four witness statements, a timeline, and, ideally, a few exhibits.
A custom-made session on cross-examination (2 half days) based on a disciplinary decxision under appeal and a boot camp based on a custom-made fictional admin law case study will take place in the fall, 2024, both contracted by federal government agencies.
Please contact John Hollander to express your interest in this or a future session.
Recent Feedback:
"I'm amazed by how much I learned in such a short time. I gained practical knowledge and tools to be a better advocate for clients. This Advocacy Club Bootcamp is definitely a worthwhile investment." Participant.
"The Advocacy Bootcamp challenged me and allowed me to learn much about how I currently conduct my legal practice and how it can be improved. The instructors pushed us and helped us reflect on our advocacy skills and how to improve them. I highly recommend taking this course." Participant.
"Outstanding!" Participant.
"I was extremely impressed by the passion and expertise demonstrated by John Hollander – the lawyers on my team were very happy with the training." – Manager and Senior Counsel, Government Department.
For more testimonials, click here.
The Fall 2024 programs are:
- September 16 and 19, from 12:30 to 5:00, hosted and sponsored by Emond Harnden LLP at their offices, 707 Bank St., Ottawa.
- October 8 and 10, from 12:30 to 5:00, hosted and sponsored by Brazeau Seller LLP at their offices, #700-100 Queen St., Ottawa.
Participants qualify for 7.5 hours of substantive CPD and 1.5 hours of professional CPD, of which 1.0 hours are EDI.
The cost is $400 for lawyers and $275 for articling students, summer interns, and paralegals, all plus HST, payable one week in advance and not refundable. For more details about the boot camp content & format, click here.
Boot camps can be (and have been) run for one employer (law firm, government department, NGO or corporation). In-person in Ottawa or on Zoom/MS Teams. Custom-made case studies are possible, based on reported decisions or cases in progress. We need the material for four witness statements, a timeline, and, ideally, a few exhibits.
A custom-made session on cross-examination (2 half days) based on a disciplinary decxision under appeal and a boot camp based on a custom-made fictional admin law case study will take place in the fall, 2024, both contracted by federal government agencies.
Please contact John Hollander to express your interest in this or a future session.
Recent Feedback:
"I'm amazed by how much I learned in such a short time. I gained practical knowledge and tools to be a better advocate for clients. This Advocacy Club Bootcamp is definitely a worthwhile investment." Participant.
"The Advocacy Bootcamp challenged me and allowed me to learn much about how I currently conduct my legal practice and how it can be improved. The instructors pushed us and helped us reflect on our advocacy skills and how to improve them. I highly recommend taking this course." Participant.
"Outstanding!" Participant.
"I was extremely impressed by the passion and expertise demonstrated by John Hollander – the lawyers on my team were very happy with the training." – Manager and Senior Counsel, Government Department.
For more testimonials, click here.
Advocacy Club Guide to Courtroom Etiquette - Oct. 29, 5-7pm
WHAT: The Advocacy Club is excited to announce the 2nd annual "Guide to Courtroom Etiquette." At this workshop led by members of our local judiciary, you will learn the practical nuts and bolts of how to navigate the courtroom and the Ottawa courthouse. For example: How do you figure out which courtroom your matter has been assigned to? Which side of the courtroom do you sit on? When do you gown? When do you bow? How do you address the Court? How do you address the Court staff present in the courtroom? How do you hand documents to the presiding Judge?
The goal is to familiarize students and recent calls who were trained during the "Zoom era" with the physical courthouse/courtroom and provide a refresher to those who may not have been in court since the "before times." The workshop will be held in an actual courtroom and will followed by a networking social where light refreshments will be served.
WHEN: October 29, 2024. The seminar will begin at 5:00 pm with an informal networking reception to follow from 6:00-7:00 pm. Light refreshments will be served.
WHERE: 161 Elgin Street - the seminar will be held in an actual courtroom, with the networking reception to follow in the County of Carleton Law Association Lounge.
REGISTRATION: The registration fee is $25 + HST. Registration is limited so please email me ([email protected]) to reserve your spot ASAP. More information regarding payment will be circulated shortly.
OTHER: This event is open to lawyers, paralegals, articling students, and law/paralegal students. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Kelli Day or Victoria Boddy.
The goal is to familiarize students and recent calls who were trained during the "Zoom era" with the physical courthouse/courtroom and provide a refresher to those who may not have been in court since the "before times." The workshop will be held in an actual courtroom and will followed by a networking social where light refreshments will be served.
WHEN: October 29, 2024. The seminar will begin at 5:00 pm with an informal networking reception to follow from 6:00-7:00 pm. Light refreshments will be served.
WHERE: 161 Elgin Street - the seminar will be held in an actual courtroom, with the networking reception to follow in the County of Carleton Law Association Lounge.
REGISTRATION: The registration fee is $25 + HST. Registration is limited so please email me ([email protected]) to reserve your spot ASAP. More information regarding payment will be circulated shortly.
OTHER: This event is open to lawyers, paralegals, articling students, and law/paralegal students. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Kelli Day or Victoria Boddy.
Introducing the Advocacy Club Boot Camp on Substack
The AdvocacyClub.Substack.com now presents all our techniques with far more detail than the Boot Camp or my Trial Ad class at UOttawa, with well over 60 posts on techniques about:
- framing questions
- case analysis
- applying case analysis to the events in a case (Scenes)
- preparing for direct and cross-examinations
- conducting direct examinations
- issues in cross-examinations
- final argument
- preparing yourself & your client for discovery examinations
- dealing with issues that arise during examinations for discovery
- two posts about public speaking
Advocacy Club Newsletter
Communication is a significant issue. Emails? We all get too many; worse, bulk emails are vulnerable to phishing. And who reads them, anyway? LinkedIn? We have an active LinkedIn User Group (members are invited to ask for an invite - or check their inbox for the invite they have ignored), but despite "likes" and "shares", there is a very haphazard response to these. CCLA newsletter? Many Club members, especially outside Ottawa, don't read these.
So, we started to publish the AC Newsletter in March 2022. We send it to over 100 Club members and a few others who ask to be added to the list. If you get one by mistake and don't want it, let us know, and we will remove your name. If you want it sent to another email address, let us know that. Many members have changed firms/addresses or have left the law without letting us know, so please keep us advised of changes.
The technology foundation for the AC Newsletter is Weebly/Square, which is not very robust. We apologize if you receive unwanted emails because of that and undertake to correct any problems as soon as you let us know.
You can get access to the most recent Newsletter and add your name to the distribution list on request via email to me here. Here is a link to the July 2024 newsletter, as an example.
So, we started to publish the AC Newsletter in March 2022. We send it to over 100 Club members and a few others who ask to be added to the list. If you get one by mistake and don't want it, let us know, and we will remove your name. If you want it sent to another email address, let us know that. Many members have changed firms/addresses or have left the law without letting us know, so please keep us advised of changes.
The technology foundation for the AC Newsletter is Weebly/Square, which is not very robust. We apologize if you receive unwanted emails because of that and undertake to correct any problems as soon as you let us know.
You can get access to the most recent Newsletter and add your name to the distribution list on request via email to me here. Here is a link to the July 2024 newsletter, as an example.
From Novice Lawyer to Skilled Advocate
Founded by John Hollander in 2007 in Ottawa, the Advocacy Club trains novice lawyers to become skilled advocates. It has two focuses:
By the end of the Boot Camp, junior advocates have learned to apply the techniques to most of the situations they encounter in their practice. After this initial training, Club members participate in advanced sessions that take place throughout the year. To date these sessions have included training in:
- To teach the art of advocacy through preparation, interview and examination
- To promote collegiality among advocacy peers.
By the end of the Boot Camp, junior advocates have learned to apply the techniques to most of the situations they encounter in their practice. After this initial training, Club members participate in advanced sessions that take place throughout the year. To date these sessions have included training in:
Advocacy Club Handbooks
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John has written several handbooks presenting the Advocacy Club techniques. They are available through Irwin Law Publishers and on Amazon.com at John's Author Page here.
Hull & Hull, a leading estates law firm, recently reviewed one of the handbooks in the series, The Civil Courtroom. "It is a book within Irwin Law’s Young Advocates series that I found to be more insightful today than I may have as a first year lawyer." Check out Doreen So's full review, here. |
Chat with Lawyers Podcast Series
John Hollander interviews lawyers to present an entertaining discussion of their careers and techniques. Each podcast runs less than an hour. All of the episodes feature discussions with senior lawyers about issues faced by junior lawyers when dealing with professional choices.
There are themes to the series. The early podcasts featured senior prominent lawyers discussing specific techniques in civil litigation. The series expanded to include professional issues, such as parental leave, partnership and promotion. The series took a detour to interview Great Canadians, a retired Supreme Court justice, a law school dean, the creator of the Syrian Refugee Sponsorship program and a sightless law student, all of whom have had a major impact on our legal scene.
The series currently presents Advocacy Club members discussing their experiences in trials and contested hearings. All podcasts present tips and techniques for junior lawyers to improve their practices.
All episodes can be found at: www.chatwithlawyers.ca.
There are themes to the series. The early podcasts featured senior prominent lawyers discussing specific techniques in civil litigation. The series expanded to include professional issues, such as parental leave, partnership and promotion. The series took a detour to interview Great Canadians, a retired Supreme Court justice, a law school dean, the creator of the Syrian Refugee Sponsorship program and a sightless law student, all of whom have had a major impact on our legal scene.
The series currently presents Advocacy Club members discussing their experiences in trials and contested hearings. All podcasts present tips and techniques for junior lawyers to improve their practices.
All episodes can be found at: www.chatwithlawyers.ca.