Attend a trial, or at least an important part thereof, for about 60 to 90 minutes. I prefer that you view a civil case, but criminal, traffic, small claims, moot court, or even administrative proceedings are fine. the trial can be a recorded trial from any part of the world but Anything within the last five years or so will be okay. If you do write about a televised or web proceeding, you MUST give sufficient information that a reader could view it, too.
*** PLEASE STATE, ON THE TOP FRONT PAGE OF THE COMPLETED WORK ASSIGNMENT, THE DATE, TIME PERIOD, AND LOCATION OF YOUR COURTROOM OBSERVATION, AND – IF POSSIBLE – THE NAMES OF THE PARTIES, THE LAWYERS, THE JUDGE, AND THE COURTROOM NUMBER/LETTER/NAME.
PLEASE SUBMIT YOUR PAPER USING WORD.
Very important to me is your assessment of the proceeding and the general conclusions about law, the legal system, and the legal players that may be drawn from the particulars witnessed. Think about what you saw. Be willing to philosophize, if that seems appropriate. Also, if the experience left you with questions, note them.
Some Points to Consider in Your Report
a. What did you see? For a big case, in which you saw only part of the overall case, describe the part you saw (e.g., voir dire, a motion hearing, opening statements) and how it fit into the larger picture of the case.
b. The legal and factual problems in the case or cases.
c. The legal subjects (e.g., contracts, torts) relevant to the case(s).
d. For a case with a jury, the ramifications thereof (e.g., judge’s instructions, attorneys’ terms of persuasion).
e. How would you have handled the case as a juror, lawyer, or judge?
f. WHAT DID YOU LEARN?
Minimum Word Total for your paper (not counting Titles, Footnotes, Source Lists, and other non-text) – 750 words.
