Advocates’ Circle

The Advocates’ Circle

Purpose and Vision

The Advocates’ Circle (“the Circle”) is a series of speaking events at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law geared towards three principal objectives:

1. Providing a forum in which University of Toronto students with an interest in litigation can learn about the advocacy strategies that have shaped recent cases;
2. Allowing practicing litigators and intervener groups to share their experiences in a forum that is intimate and that promotes open dialogue;
3. Giving students, faculty, and practitioners themselves an opportunity to reflect on how cases are litigated, how advocacy decisions are made, and how strategies evolve in light of other developments, new parties, etc.

Structure

The events, which take place at the Faculty of Law, each focus on a single recently decided case.  Litigators from both sides, and possibly from intervening parties, share information about their legal arguments, their feelings about the process, and reveal how their strategic decisions were reached and how strategies changed as the action progressed.  Presentations are followed by a question-and-answer period and an informal reception.  All students and faculty members are invited to the events at no cost.