John Hollander
Lawyer, Trainer, Author
|
A civil litigator in Ottawa from 1978 to 2021, 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 500 members across Canada, many of whom are leaders in the legal community. With Zoom, programs are available throughout Canada. John's techniques are presented in French by the Association des juristes d'expression française de l'Ontario (AJEFO).
Since 2012, John has taught trial advocacy techniques at the University of Ottawa's school of common law. This is an experiential course, using Advocacy Club's methodology to train upper-year law students to become junior associates in litigation practices. Advocacy Club members serve as teaching assistants. Many students join the Advocacy Club on graduation.
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. Three are for lawyers/students - Introduction to Trial Advocacy, Outlining Examinations, and Estate Litigation. Two deal with public speaking for professionals generally - Authenticity: Public Speaking for Professionals and Think! Write! Speak!: Persuasive Speechwriting for Professional.
For details of all handbooks, visit Handbooks on this website.
John has recently branched off to learn and practice the techniques of creative writing. Using Advocacy Club methodology of 'learn-by-doing', John created the Canadian Lawyers Creative Writing Workshop. Members learn and try out different assigned techniques each session, mimicking the syllabus of a college course in creative writing. His first novel, Murphy's Law, chronicles a litigator's first year in practice, which doesn't go as planned. It's available at the Creative Writing tab on this website. He is beavering away on the sequel, tentatively called The Kitchen Cabinet, a more traditional action story with a young law firm struggling to unravel a complex conspiracy. Along the way, John writes short stories and parables for junior lawyers based on the characters from Murphy's world.
Since 2012, John has taught trial advocacy techniques at the University of Ottawa's school of common law. This is an experiential course, using Advocacy Club's methodology to train upper-year law students to become junior associates in litigation practices. Advocacy Club members serve as teaching assistants. Many students join the Advocacy Club on graduation.
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. Three are for lawyers/students - Introduction to Trial Advocacy, Outlining Examinations, and Estate Litigation. Two deal with public speaking for professionals generally - Authenticity: Public Speaking for Professionals and Think! Write! Speak!: Persuasive Speechwriting for Professional.
For details of all handbooks, visit Handbooks on this website.
John has recently branched off to learn and practice the techniques of creative writing. Using Advocacy Club methodology of 'learn-by-doing', John created the Canadian Lawyers Creative Writing Workshop. Members learn and try out different assigned techniques each session, mimicking the syllabus of a college course in creative writing. His first novel, Murphy's Law, chronicles a litigator's first year in practice, which doesn't go as planned. It's available at the Creative Writing tab on this website. He is beavering away on the sequel, tentatively called The Kitchen Cabinet, a more traditional action story with a young law firm struggling to unravel a complex conspiracy. Along the way, John writes short stories and parables for junior lawyers based on the characters from Murphy's world.