THE ADVOCATE 407
VOL. 79 PART 3 MAY 2021
mercial litigation revolves around contractual disputes, but working with
students has opened my own eyes to new and creative ways of thinking
about contract law. It has also been hugely rewarding to think of ways to
maximize the pedagogical experience for students, and then implement
these ideas in our virtual classroom. I graduated from Allard Hall in 2015,
so my memories of being a student are still relatively fresh!
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Jon Festinger, Q.C., is one of Allard Law’s longest-serving adjunct professors.
Sometimes ju
He has taught media, entertainment, communications and corporate
law topics for close to three decades. Jon also developed the distance education
course “Law 508: Business Organizations” for the Allard Law LL.M.
program.
Why did you decide to teach at the law school?
Most of all, I always wanted to teach. Then, over several years I was a guest
lecturer in a number of classes at the school (notably Professor Weiler’s)
and really enjoyed it. So, when the opportunity came in the early to mid-
1990s to develop and teach a media law course, it was a very easy “yes”.
What has been the best part of teaching?
Easily the best part of teaching is learning, and that comes in many forms.
Foremost, there is being part of students’ very individuated and often hardfought
successes in grappling with, understanding and then using what
they have learned creatively. On another level, teaching demands that we
continuously learn different and better ways to trigger real learning. For
me, this process has been immensely satisfying. While that road is paved
with failure, success and everything in between, learning about learning is
never-ending. Finally, and though trite, one of the best parts of teaching is
the privilege of thinking even more deeply about legal subjects I really care
about. We all have our definitions of fun, and that is mine.