Foreword

• Author: Thomas a Cromwell
• Pages: 11-12

foreword

xi

Foreword

   to be the best teacher. But experience,

on its own, teaches nothing. It is just the accumulation of

the triumphs, disappointments, and disasters we all have

had along our way. ese experiences become our teacher

only when we reect on them critically, ask why we suc-

ceeded or failed, and use the answers to change our future

behaviour. is is a lesson that I learned when I articled

thirty-ve years ago. My principal stressed the import-

ance of lawyers becoming their own teachers. After every

court appearance, meeting, or discovery, there was a “de-

brief” — a period of critical self-reection — about what

worked well and not so well on our side, as well as on the

opponent’s. e goal was to learn and improve. So experi-

ence may be the best teacher, but only if we work hard at

learning from it.

is is both the explanation for and the core message

of this book. John Hollander has practised law as a civil

litigator for more than thirty years, and this book is the

product of his critical reection on that long experience.

It has allowed him to put into carefully organized and suc-

cinctly stated principles what most experienced lawyers