Presenting The Young Advocate Series from Irwin Law

Available online to Member’s through vLex, this collection of 8 titles from Irwin Law, the Young Advocate Series is meant to be a bridge between law school and real-world practice,

“The series derives from the Advocacy Club. Based in Ottawa, the Advocacy Club trains junior advocates to conduct interviews, and to prepare for and conduct examinations. In the process, they learn collegiality, civility, and modern techniques that help to make them professionals. A word about what these handbooks are not and what they are. The handbooks are not comprehensive re-placements for legal education; they do not contain legal citations or war stories from real or imagined victories in a glorious past. They do contain a great many tips and techniques that permit the thoughtful junior lawyer to develop and advance skills essential to the profession.”

•  The Art of the Interview: How Lawyers Talk with Clients – “Good interviews lead to a deeper understanding of both a client’s problems and possible solutions. Conducting successful interviews, however, requires knowing what questions to ask and how to ask them. In this handbook, author John Hollander provides techniques; tricks-of-the-trade; and a series of exercises on conducting interviews, witness preparation, examinations, cross-examinations, and submissions.”
• Case Analysis: The Critical Path to Persuasion – “How do lawyers get from the initial interview to a structured closing argument? Cases emerge in fits and starts — a fact here, a document there — and most of what lawyers learn about a case has no bearing on the outcome. How can lawyers begin to separate the wheat from the chaff? Case analysis, as outlined in this handbook, will teach you how to convert preparation into persuasion. Armed with case analysis, lawyers can plan and implement effective examinations, openings, and closings: start with the idea, then present the key facts in a manner that convinces — this is the critical path to persuasion.”
• The Civil Courtroom: Professionalism to Build Rapport – “Demonstrating professionalism is one of the most important courtroom skills for civil litigators. A collateral benefit of this skill is learning to establish rapport with the people in the courtroom, including decision makers, opposing counsel, clients, and witnesses. This book will help lawyers recognize and evaluate their courtroom skills, and develop the techniques to improve these skills. Professionalism—both how lawyers act and how they relate to others—should be the ultimate goal of this development.”
• Discovery Techniques: A Practical Guide to the Discovery Process in Civil Actions – “The discovery process is an opportunity for litigators to better serve their clients. This handbook examines various issues that arise during the discovery process; focuses the reader on questions and topics that allow improvement in performance; and offers examples and exercises that demonstrate best practices, common errors, and methods to deal with difficult situations.”
• Examinations in Civil Trials: The Formula for Success – “The rough and tumble of examinations — direct, cross, redirect — is the heart of this handbook, which offers up a wealth of practical techniques and advice for the novice litigator. For more experienced counsel, it can offer alternatives to practices developed over years. Maintaining a plainspoken style throughout, Examinations in Civil Trials presents a sophisticated and comprehensive approach to conducting examinations in court, and before administrative tribunals. Nearly every section wraps up with a case study — a fact situation drawn from the courtroom that sets up an exercise — and a “solution” clearly showing how an advocate might tackle the exercise with aplomb.”
• Expert Witnesses in Civil Litigation: A Practical Guide – “Expert witnesses can be the lifeblood of a lawyer’s case. This handbook applies recent pronouncements of the courts to the involvement of experts in civil litigation. It presents practical tips and techniques for lawyers with respect to the participation of experts from initial retainer, instruction, and report, to preparing experts to testify, leading experts’ evidence at trial, and cross-examination. In each chapter, the handbook uses court cases as examples of the points under discussion. Readers can see how case analysis applies to the role of experts in these cases.”
• Legal Writing: Mastering Clarity and Persuasion – “What should a lawyer think about before putting pen to paper? How should lawyers organize their documents? What makes them persuasive? This handbook provides examples and exercises to guide the reader through the process of learning how to communicate persuasively. The chapters deal with such overarching topics as legal writing as a case of project management, general principles of legal writing, and specific good and bad habits.”

• Mediation for Civil Litigators: Issues and Solutions – “Mediation presents a number of issues that confront the practitioner moving through the legal process, and this handbook guides the practitioner along that path. Law school rarely provides rigorous training in negotiation skills, yet the art of negotiation is central to the mediation process, the purpose of which is to facilitate settlement. Offering perspectives from several mediators, this handbook provides numerous commentaries and opinions about different aspects of mediation, as well as practical tips for successful negotiation and management of the mediation process.”