From Criminal Law Notebook
Court Etiquette
- Sitting, standing and movements around the room
- If the judge is in the room, everyone is expected to bow on entry or exit into courtroom and/or gallery
- Everyone should stand when talking to the judge, except when testifying.
- Sometimes permission from the judge is required when approaching a witness or clerk or the judge.
- Don’t copy the overly relaxed counsel
- Do not enter or exit the room while someone is on the stand
- Avoid unprompted or unexpected lengthy submissions unless given leave first
- Proper attire for local region
- different provinces and levels of court have attire rules for counsel. There can be business attire robes or a combination.
- Proper titles of judges and parties
- different provinces and levels of court have attire rules for counsel. Usually it will be "Justice", "Your Honour", but sometimes "Your Worship" or "My Lady/My Lord"
- First Appearing
- Identify self for the record. Some jurisdictions require that you spell
- Introduce names of counsel and client
- List records before the judge
- When to "Put it on the Record"
- Style of speech
- Disagree agreeably
- if your objection is heard and rejected, do not keep repeating it. Instead just confirm on the record what the purpose of the objection is and move on.
- if you are not permitted to ask questions in a certain topic, list for the record what the topics you were intending to cover.
