If I Knew Then What I Know Now: Reflections from the Bench

Three judges … three takes on the age-old question… What are judges really thinking? 

As litigators, you spend your entire career seeing the courtroom from the counsel podium, watching the often-inscrutable face of a judge looking back. You have probably wondered: What is the judge thinking? Is my argument making sense? How can I do better? Unfortunately, there is no rule of procedure that allows us to call a timeout and ask, “how am I doing so far?”   

This unique program will address these common concerns through a distinguished panel of three recently appointed Ontario judges: Justice Darla Wilson, Court of Appeal, Justice Ira Parghi, Superior Court of Justice, and Justice Robert Tomovski, Ontario Court of Justice. The judges will share what they have observed from the bench that they wish they had known when they were counsel, what advocacy techniques work and how advocates can be more effective.