Embracing the inquisition

In an interview with The Globe and Mail, partner Jeremy Opolsky discussed his recent project called Pardon the Interruption, a “whimsical and undeniably nerdy” initiative designed to quantify how quickly Supreme Court judges interrupt lawyers during hearings.

Jeremy led a team of Torys lawyers and conducted a data-driven review of Supreme Court of Canada oral‑argument transcripts from 2021 to 2024. In their research, they found that:

• the average time before the first judicial question was two minutes and 42 seconds into a lawyer’s allotted speaking time;
• in one‑third of cases, judges posed a question within the first minute; and
• Justices Suzanne Côté and Malcolm Rowe were the most likely to initiate the first interruption.

The full findings were published in the fall 2025 issue of The Advocates’ Journal, co-authored with associates Alex Bogach and Molly McMahon.

In addition to the data found, Jeremy emphasized the importance of embracing the inquisition.

“Questions are a gift,” he said.

“They’re an opportunity to clarify your position and address the things that are most important to the judges.”

You can read more about our Disputes and Investigations work on our practice page.

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