The annual program will take place on June 5th and 6th this year
Artificial intelligence and proposed reforms to the Ontario Civil Rules of Procedure will be among the issues that the Ontario Bar Association plans to tackle in the latest iteration of its “Anatomy of a Trial” program. The annual program, which returns next week, teaches lawyers the most effective techniques for conducting a trial.
The event, which will take place on June 5th and 6th, revolves around a simulated jury trial. The setup will include gowned judges and lawyers, as well as jurors seated as they would be in a courtroom.
“We try to make it as realistic as possible, to really drive the message home,” says Katherine Di Tomaso, one of the co-chairs of the 2025 program.
“The primary goal of ‘Anatomy of a Trial’ is to equip lawyers at all ages of their careers… with essential trial advocacy skills through demonstrative learning,” Di Tomaso says. She adds that participants can expect to see every step of a trial and “how to do all of these components of the trial correctly.”
Brenda Hollingsworth, who is serving as faculty for the program for the fourth consecutive year, calls it “one of the best trial advocacy programs in Ontario – and I've done a lot.”
Noting that she’s participated in similar programs throughout her 28-year legal career, Hollingsworth says “Anatomy of a Trial” stands out for combining demonstrations as well as feedback from judges and experienced counsel, who then dissect what they’ve seen and discuss different ways people could have approached the problem.
“It really combines seeing it in live action and then the practice points,” she adds. “I think it’s that combination that makes it really special.”
The OBA first launched its “Anatomy of a Trial” program in 2018, with updated yearly offerings. Di Tomaso says she’s attended the program multiple times as a participant, in part to gain access to its faculty.
“I want to just emphasize how outstanding our faculty are at ‘Anatomy of a Trial,’” she says. “These faculties, they really are considered the titans of our bar… the program really distinguishes itself with top litigators, judges, experts that guide the attendees through the key components of a trial, and participants have open access to all of these titans.”
Among this year’s faculty is Ontario Court of Appeal Justice Peter Lauwers, who will speak on a panel on artificial intelligence on trial advocacy along with Ontario Superior Court of Justice judges Fred Myers and Jill Presser.
Di Tomaso moderates another panel on proposed reforms to the Ontario Rules of Civil Procedure, which will feature Barbara Legate of Legate Injury Lawyers and Kevin Henderson of Oatley Vigmond LLP.
Chief Justice of Ontario Michael Tulloch and Associate Attorney General of Ontario Michael Tibollo will each deliver keynote addresses.
Hollingsworth, who owns the criminal defence and personal injury firm Auger Hollingsworth, says she is encouraging all the lawyers at her firm to attend the OBA program.
“I just think the value is really there,” she says. “For anybody who runs a litigation practice, especially in the personal injury realm, there’s not a lot of opportunities to learn, for example, how to pick a jury. It’s very hard to learn how to do that from a book.
“This program is unique in that way, that there’s all kinds of the small skills that practicing lawyers actually worry about, that you can see performed in this program,” she says.
