I had Criminal Trial Advocacy today. We had four problems in class, which dealt with examining witnesses and entering in evidence.
I have no prior experience with this whatsoever. So naturally, I got to go first.
Couple things I learned today that I would have liked to have known before I did this:
In Texas, you remain seated when questioning a witness.
You want to ask open-ended questions on Direct Examination and Leading questions on Cross.
You stand when you address the Court.
You ask permission to do everything when you are a baby lawyer, because the court will like you better.
When you are done with your questions, in Texas, you "Pass the witness for cross examination/redirect" or you "have no further questions AT THIS TIME"
You make sure you ask for the evidence you wish to present to the witness to be entered as evidence, and you make sure you bring a copy for the opposing counsel and the Court to view (they're going to want to see it and it's their right to do so, so you're just saving time).
After something is marked as evidence, you refer to it as "the item identified as state/defense exhibit Number __."
and mainly - I had no idea what I was going to say, and I had my questions in front of me.
But I got through it, and I feel better now than I did this morning - especially about what I'm going to have to do to get ready for class in the future.
NAFTA is next. I like this one.
2 comments:
Next time I watch a movie and it's got a court case in it and play off in Texas I'm gonna try and spot if they do it all correct. This is very interesting posts Steve, I just caught up on a few of them. The photo's are an eye opener.
Before you know it you will recite all this law stuff in your sleep, but it's great that you enjoy your course. I restart mine again end February and are getting very lazy!
Take care.
You stay seated when questioning witnesses?? Wow, we're all on our feet here! The witnesses remain seated though :o)
Everything else is pretty much the same as here :o)
Post a Comment