Picture yourself seated at counsel table in the Courtroom. The Judge calls upon you. It’s your turn to examine the witness. The Jury awaits what is about to be said. You rise and walk over to the podium. You’re not going to have a second chance to correct what you say. Nor is the witness going to have a second chance. The proceedings are on the record.
Our podcasts are raw, unedited recordings of legal commentary and lawyer interviews. Mick Hassell interviews leading trial lawyers and people involved in the trial process to examine what they do to prepare for and conduct trials.
It’s about time we get to cross-examine the cross-examiners!
Episode 1: Welcome
Episode 2: Trial Fundamentals
(note: it will help to review the Trial Fundamentals document in the Ontario Civil Trial Manual)
Episode 3: Preparing the Cross-Examination
(note: it will help to review the tables in the Fundamentals of Cross-Examination in the Ontario Civil Trial Manual)
Episode 4: Opening Statements, Interview with Jim Hassell
Jim conducted hundreds of arbitrations and shares his hearing experience on the record.
Episode 5: Trial Lawyer Qualities, Interview with Karen McArthur
Karen is a Criminal Barrister with 25 years experience and comments on how her her 3 Cs: Creative, Confident, Courageous apply to trial and beyond.
Episode 6: The Justice System, Interview with Darryl Singer
Darryl has over 2 decades of experience in litigation, including civil, commercial, criminal and family. His focus is on personal injury and commercial litigation. He comments on the importance of reading the Judge’s decision in the context of the Jian Ghomeshi case.
Episode 7: Trial Strategy, Interview with Jack Fireman
Jack has approximately 50 years of experience as a personal injury trial lawyer. He shares some insightful comments about trial strategy in terms of what to think about before asking a question and the choreography in the Courtroom.
Episode 8: A Litigation Metaphor, Interview with Gary Farb
Gary is a commercial litigator, mediator and partner at Clark Farb Fiksel LLP. Gary shares a very useful metaphor for explaining the litigation process.
Episode 9: Trial Teamwork, Interview with Adam Wagman
Adam is a leading plaintiff side personal injury lawyer. He is a Senior Partner at Howie Sacks & Henry LLP and takes listeners behind the scenes of a major brain injury jury trial to appreciate the team effort involved in achieving a successful jury result.
Episode 10: Intensive Trial Advocacy Program, Interview with Chris Bentley
Chris is the Executive Director of Ryerson’s Law Practice Program (LPP) and takes the time to share with us his thoughts on the LPP’s 3 day intensive trial advocacy program.
Episode 11: Cross-Examining Police Officers, Interview with Calvin Barry
Calvin is an experienced criminal lawyer, who has an appreciation of criminal law from both the Crown and defence perspectives and shares approaches to cross-examining Police Officers.
Episode 12: The Right to Silence, Interview with Scott Pearl
Scott is a criminal defence lawyer and shares some insight on the right to silence and how statements by an accused come into play at trial.
Episode 13: Costs Awards and Civil Jury Trials, Interview with Kris Bonn
Kris talks about costs awards after civil jury trials and explains how it is an access to justice issue.
Episode 14: Settlement Counsel, Interview with Mitchell Rose
Mitch talks about the advantages of having settlement counsel involved in litigation
Episode 15: Ontario’s Courts, Interview with Geraldine Castle-Trudel
Gerry discusses the differences between Courts in jurisdictions big and small and shares some interesting experiences.
Episode 16: Experts & Evidence, Interview with Justin Anisman
Justin describes how he stick handled some expert and Evidence Act issues at trial.
Episode 17: Commercial Arbitration, Interview with Alex Turner
Alex comments on commercial arbitration from the client and lawyer perspectives while speaking about an arbitration in which Alex and Mick were adversaries.
Episode 18: Trial Preparation, Interview with Michael Giordano
Michael shares a couple of stories from a 3 week Jury trial underscoring the importance of trial prep.
Episode 19: Juries & Advertising, Interview with Brian Cameron
Brian shares his thoughts on how Juries are affected by plaintiff advertising.