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Court observation report...

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Court Observation Report Court: Sutherland Local Court Magistrate: Carney Date: 09/05/19 Time: 10:30am - 12:30pm On Thursday the 9th, I visited my local court, Sutherland Local court. My decision to visit a local court was not only influenced by the convenience, but also my belief that visiting a local court would provide an interesting avenue of insight to the communication tactics that are utilised within courts. Taking into consideration the hierarchy of the court system it is inevitable that local courts deals with a high/er volume of cases and thus, effective communication is vital to ensuring efficiency.

Upon arrival to the court I was confronted with a security check, this was entirely unexpected as I had never entered a courtroom before. This security check was an imposing reminder of the formality and seriousness that accompanies attending court, further reminding me that I will be witnessing a real person's life on trial. After consulting a list displayed to the left of the security check I was able to clearly determine the name of each case, the presiding magistrate, when the case was heard and other decisive information. Based on this assessment I decided to enter courtroom four. The layout of the courtroom was somewhat simple to navigate as it was only one story with a single corridor for the different courtrooms. I decided to enter courtroom four as the other rooms were already well into hearing a case, or full to maximum capacity. This indicated to me the abundance of cases and how busy my local court really is.

As I took my seat in the back of the room I attempted to locate all the various people with roles of significance. I immediately noticed two accused sitting at the front of the public gallery, they were easily distinguishable as they appeared obviously nervous and briefly interacted with their lawyer. The magistrate Carney, sat as expected, elevated at the front and centre of the courtroom. The magistrate appeared to be a middle aged, white woman. Prior to the accused's case beginning I noted substantial moments of communication between the magistrate and the court officer. I was previously unaware of how heavily involved the court officer was in communicating/assisting the magistrate as they passed documents between one another and the court officer seemed to provide the magistrate with information on the upcoming case. The prosecutor sat somewhat separate from the defendant and seemed to be engrossed in his notes as I watched him quickly take notes on what appeared to be a notepad. Sitting amongst the public I realised that I was actually seated to the left of another accused and their lawyer whom were waiting to later hear there case.

The first case I witnessed pertained to a driving offence, driving whilst intoxicated. The accused was a young male whom appeared nervous and inexperienced with court proceedings as his lawyer quietly instructed him of the appropriate time to stand and to not talk back to the magistrate unless explicitly asked to. I was intrigued by this interaction of communication between lawyer and client as it demonstrated a subtle degree of informality as the lawyer somewhat comforted his client and provided instructions. The significance of this interaction was further apparent to me as I considered the notion of empathy explored in the article ‘try walking

in the clients' shoes1’, in this article, the necessity of having empathy for the client is explored. ‘Majority of clients will be totally unfamiliar with the terms and processes which have become an integral part of your life.’ The interaction between lawyer and client that I witnessed encapsulated this notion of empathy as a point (ie not to talk back to the magistrate) which may have seemed obvious to the lawyer was effectively communicated to the client based on empathy for his unfamiliarity with court processes. ‘Over 40 percent of professional negligence claims against solicitors are caused by poor communication with clients 2’. I believe that small efforts such as what I witnessed in court can dramatically improve the communicational aspect of the relationship between lawyer and client.

Throughout watching the cases progress I realised how fast paced court processes actually are, as the magistrate opened the trial and immediately heard from both prosecutor and defendant. I noticed that the magistrate generally maintained eye contact with whomever was presenting their argument and clearly centred all her attention on them, despite small intervals in which she reviewed her notes. At some point in the case the prosecutor directed the magistrate to examine a specifically provided document relevant to the case. I found the ability of the lawyer to direct the judge to such specific documents as an important forum of communication as the prosecutor was able to illustrate exactly what he was presenting. Following this, the prosecutor was also called by the magistrate to approach the court officer and provide her with further relevant documents, further emphasising this aspect of effective communication.

1 2

Purvis, Janice. ‘Try walking in the client's shoes’ (2011) 49(11) Law Society Journal 16. Ibid.

As I continued to watch a multitude of cases I began to notice the magistrate becoming increasingly frustrated with the defendant as they touched on points that she deemed not entirely relevant to the case. The magistrate seemed somewhat condescending as she repeated to the defendant that they needed to move on from a particular point. This seemed to create a subtle sense of tension between lawyer and magistrate as the lawyer appeared somewhat flustered and quickly moved on to the next point. I noticed that this could be deemed a point of ineffective communication as tension is unlikely to ever be beneficial. Nonetheless, I appreciate that it is necessary for the magistrate to communicate to the defendant and/or prosecutor that they need to move on from a specific point when not relevant, especially in consideration of the need for time efficiency in a local court. I felt that this notion could also be seen as a reflection of tactics of effective communication between lawyer and client, that are specifically analysed in the article ‘practical legal skills’ 3. Whilst the relationship differs, the notion of moving along your client or in this case (magistrate to) defendant remains the same as it can be imperative to establishing efficient and effective communications.

Ultimately, my experience of observing multiple local court cases exposed me to the reality of a court trial, both positives and negatives. I now realise that whilst a multitude of moments of ineffective communication exist, as a whole the court system works adequately to efficiently move through cases utilising techniques of effective communication skills.

3

Hyams, Ross et al, ‘interviewing: listening and questioning’ Practical  legal skills developing your clinical technique ( Oxford University Press, fourth Edition, 2014) 16-44....