Provincial Court: Hearing Procedure 101 - Basics

My understanding of the general hearing procedure, which is followed during a Provincial Court Hearing, is this:

1.             Preliminary matters are dealt with;

2.             The Moving party is first 'given' and or 'have' the floor, to be heard on or present arguments;

3.             The responding party will then have the opportunity to respond and or rebut to those arguments initially presented by the moving party, thereafter, further present any additional alternative arguments, they may have;

4.             The Moving party "In Closing" will now have the final  opportunity to respond to arguments, that were therebefore presented by the responding party;

I believe it is in my best interest when making presentations to the Court that I provide the Trial Judge, with a Pre-Trial Brief well in advance of the Hearing. That which therefore provides the Court with ample opportunity, to fit in their already busy schedule, the time to read over and digest the arguments and facts I wish to present to the Court. One must remember that Judges are people too, they have lives, other than being Judges, and likely have a full schedule; so the more opportunities which I provide them to review my filled material, the more likely they will have reviewed all the material before my scheduled hearing and the less explaining I will have to do in person.

I have heard the term "high points" often referred to, by Council and the Court alike, thereby, referring to the oral presentations, placed on the record as we are heard by the Court.

 My new understanding of a "Oral presentation" to the Court is to think of it as addressing an audience of one, focusing on delivering a presentation which is concise and succinct, " hitting the high points" and which delivers the power points on one's argument.

The Court prefers that I not read from a script, or even directly from my  notes, they would like me to look them in the eye and make a brief, concise, succinct, summation of my arguments.

The longer one’s presentation, the more likely the attention of the audience of one (Judge) is going to stray and one may miss their opportunity to convince the Judge of the merits of their cause.

At the scheduled hearing day, the Court has the opportunity to ask any questions, which the Court would like clarification on. If one has prepared sufficiently, then the written arguments by way of submissions and or pre trial Briefs, that the Court should have already read, would be completed by the oral presentation, which sums up the arguments and restates the high points of the arguments.

A Judge, ideally, is  supposed to objectively hear the argument and facts from the parties as they are presented by either party, then decide, after weighing the evidence, which of either side has presented  the most convincing evidence and argument.  To the winner goes the decision.

Each time I appear before the Court, I have the opportunity to improve my presentation and do a better job than the last time.  I have made many mistakes, thus far, but I am learning as I go and hopefully by writing down my experiences I can provide a viewpoint for others, to benefit from, which I was unable to find when I began navigating this path as a Self Represented Litigant.

Re-reading your submissions, at a scheduled hearing may not work in your favor. I prepare my written submissions to be sufficient to win my cause, then use the hearing opportunity to sum up my arguments, and provide the Court with an opportunity to question and or Clarify any uncertain points, this should be increasing ones chances, that the Judge will find in their favour.