John Hollander
Lawyer, Trainer, Author

Juliet Knapton
Lawyer, Teacher

A civil litigator in Ottawa since 1978, John founded the Advocacy Club in 2007, training junior civil litigators and students in the arts of advocacy. ​​

​The Advocacy Club now has more than 400 members across Canada, many of whom are leaders in the legal community. John's techniques are presented in French by the Association des juristes d'expression française de l'Ontario (AJEFO).
 
John teaches trial advocacy ​techniques to students at the University of Ottawa's school of common law. This is an experiential course, using the Advocacy Club methodology to train upper-year law students to become junior associates in litigation practices. He relies on Advocacy Club members as teaching assistants.

As a novel initiative, John has introduced the innovative Boot Camp to students at Lakehead and Queen's law schools, with Club Members are co-instructors and mentors.

Through Irwin Law, John has published eight handbooks for lawyers on the subjects of interview skills, legal writing, discovery techniques, courtroom skills, mediation, case analysis and examination skills. 

John has also produced five self-published handbooks for teaching trial advocacy in law school: Introduction to Trial Advocacy, Outlining Examinations, Estate Litigation, Authenticity: Public Speaking for Professionals and Think! Write! Speak!: Persuasive Speechwriting for Professional. 

For details of all handbooks, visit Handbooks on this website.

Juliet Knapton has a passion for teaching and loves to witness the growth in each Advocacy Club member she mentors. A former civil litigator and secondary school teacher, she has taught Trial Advocacy at the University of Ottawa.

​Until her appointment to the Immigration and Refugee Board as a tribunal member from 2017-2020, Juliet also provided mediation and workplace investigation services. She previously served as Vice Chair of the County of Carleton Law Association's Diversity Committee. 
 
Called to the Bar of Ontario in 2005, Juliet has represented clients at the trial and appellate court levels as well as in front of several administrative tribunals.  While in private litigation practice, she acted on behalf of both plaintiffs and defendants. She understands the motivations and limitations of litigation in each context. Her areas of expertise included personal injury, professional liability, insurance, equality and human rights law. For many years, she also coached the University of Ottawa Wilson (Charter) Equality Moot Team and then served as a judge of the competition.
 
Juliet graduated from the University of Ottawa law school after completing her BA(H) at Queens University and spending several years working in Colombia and Pakistan. She has chaired and been actively involved in a variety of community and advocacy groups (including LEAF, CLAIHR and Timeraiser) and was the Chair of the Ontario Bar Associations’ Equality Committee.

Juliet’s legal training has been complemented by a term at the Centre for National Security Studies in Washington, D.C., the legal clinic at the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, and a clerkship at the Federal Court of Canada. She served for eight years on the executive board of the Emily Murphy House in Ottawa.