CLE Online

They say there is no substitute for experience… but this is it!
A safe environment for building solid courtroom competence—you’ll learn how to influence the people that matter.

“This is invaluable—if you’ve appeared in court for years you still haven’t received the feedback. You can make mistakes and learn from them without cost to your client or your reputation.”

“There are things you’ll learn in this course that even 10 years of trial experience won’t give you.”

You need these skills
You’ve been on your feet in the courtroom (a little or a lot), now you want to develop your skills and enhance your confidence. One-on-one feedback from seasoned counsel and judges will ensure that civil and criminal counsel at all levels develop winning advocacy skills.

“Fantastic. I was very impressed with both the amount of time senior members of the bar and bench dedicated to the course and to providing individual attention and constructive feedback. I improved and developed my skills and I left feeling far more confident about my abilities as a litigator.”

“An excellent opportunity to learn new skills or to refresh old ones; a rare chance to see where you once were and where you are presently and to assist in mentoring junior counsel.”

Gain competence and confidence
Establishing a practical framework minimizes anxiety and gives you the freedom to respond to the unexpected. If you know the right way to cross-examine (as demonstrated and discussed by senior counsel and a judge) then you can keep your focus on strategy and tactics. If you know what the judge likes, you can make the judge like your case.

• Trial preparation
• Opening statements
• Examination-in-chief
• Cross-examination
• Hostile witnesses
• Exhibits and demonstrative evidence
• Objections
• Impeachment and re-examination
• Experts

Small group and one-on-one feedback using videotapes

“The ultimate mentoring experience—you’ll change who you know and how you learn.”

You’ll practice your skills, receive feedback and practice again. You’ll gain from the insights of your team of colleagues, leading lawyers and a judge. Then, in one-on-one sessions, you will watch your performance on video and receive individual feedback and encouragement from senior counsel.

“Awesome! I appreciated the opportunity to perform in front of my peers and such a distinguished panel. The feedback was very helpful and I enjoyed watching everyone else!”

“Excellent! As a ‘hands on learner’, I take away so much from doing and seeing rather than just listening. This was the perfect environment to experiment and try new things.”

Carefully designed case study

“Excellent materials—lots of ‘meat’/details to work with”

“I enjoyed the mix between civil and criminal. This made the material interesting and allowed for a wide range of appraisals.”

Case study: Flames burst from the Dry Cleaner on Elm Street in East Vancouver. Spontaneous combustion? The insurance company pays out but, through the work of a private investigator, gets a sniff of arson. The insurance company wants its money back. The police conduct an investigation and the owner and one of his employees are charged with arson.

You’ll use witness statements, statements of defence, pleadings, indictments, police reports, and exhibits including letters, cheques, a site diagram, investigator report, newspaper article, area map, witness criminal record, insurance company cheque, statement of loss and claim letter.

HERE’S WHAT OUR INSTRUCTORS SAY:
“I have volunteered for this course because there is almost instant gratification in seeing immediate improvement in the advocacy skills in the participants. I feel that we do make a “difference” in a nonthreatening, practical & highly useful approach.”

“To be videotaped and have real time feedback on your performance is a lifetime opportunity to learn and improve your advocacy. In fact, everyone learns, including the teachers. You could not teach a more enthusiastic group of lawyers, nor find a better way to watch lawyers dramatically improve their craft in a short time. Keep this going.”

“This is a great course—it’ll give you the basic skills needed to become an effective barrister. I thoroughly enjoy teaching this course and learning along with the students. It’s wonderful to see the progress the students make in just 3 days.”

“I encourage members of the bar who are in their early years of practice and interested in pursuing work in litigation to attend this workshop. It is a terrific opportunity to both meet and talk with senior and experienced counsel, as well as to obtain some tips on how to do things properly in the courtroom. As a course leader, I too welcome the time to engage in this course and discuss different approaches to the problems put forward.”