Table of Contents: IntroductionBuilding Your CasePerformanceOpening StatementDirect ExaminationCross Examination: AttorneysCross Examination: WitnessesClosing ArgumentBefore the Judges ArrivePretrial ...MattersPretrial ArgumentsTeam ScoresOther RolesObjectionsRules of EvidenceGeneral Tournament TipsAdvice for Specific CompetitionsCompeting VirtuallyCoaching
This article presents the findings of the first empirical research into self-represented defendants in criminal trials in Bhutan, including interviews with 16 judges from 14 courts in Bhutan, and ...analysis of judicial forms relating to the exercise or waiver of the right to counsel in 92 criminal case files from nine courts across the country. This article reports on the demographic backgrounds of self-represented defendants in criminal trials in Bhutan, judicial perceptions of their needs and difficulties, their reasons for self-representation, and the services available to them. The results suggest that there are a distinct group of litigants coming before the court without counsel for particular reasons, with particular needs and facing particular difficulties. The findings reveal that there are no specific services available to them and highlight the need for more concerted action by the court and the state.
This article presents the findings of the first empirical research into self-represented defendants in criminal trials in Bhutan, including interviews with 16 judges from 14 courts in Bhutan, and ...analysis of judicial forms relating to the exercise or waiver of the right to counsel in 92 criminal case files from nine courts across the country. This article reports on the demographic backgrounds of self-represented defendants in criminal trials in Bhutan, judicial perceptions of their needs and difficulties, their reasons for self-representation, and the services available to them. The results suggest that there are a distinct group of litigants coming before the court without counsel for particular reasons, with particular needs and facing particular difficulties. The findings reveal that there are no specific services available to them and highlight the need for more concerted action by the court and the state.
This article examines sexual harassment as it affects the legal profession, weighing up the efficacy of the legislative provisions in Australia in the Sex Discrimination Act 1984 (Cth) (SDA). The ...article considers the recommendations for reform made by various reviews in recent years and the 2021 amendments to sexual harassment provisions. Following consideration of the alternate legislative drafting options and analysis of the approach taken in New Zealand, this article concludes that to address the systemic sexual harassment culture in the legal profession, change needs to go beyond the scope anticipated in current legislative amendments.
In the United States, civil trials are disappearing. Instead of litigating disputes in court, parties have increasingly turned to private settlements and other avenues of private dispute resolution. ...One result of this trend is that systemic discrimination and other harms that once might have been revealed in public trials have been obscured through sealed settlements and nondisparagement provisions. Such provisions are not uncommon; Baltimore has inserted nondisparagement clauses in ninety-five percent of recent settlement agreements with plaintiffs "alleging police misconduct." Recently, in 'Overbey v. Mayor of Baltimore', the Fourth Circuit found that the First Amendment prohibited enforcement of a nondisparagement clause in a settlement agreement between a civil rights plaintiff and the City of Baltimore. In doing so, the court emphasized that the substance rather than the form of the restriction of speech is what determines whether it conflicts with the First Amendment. This approach both preserves the benefits of private contracts and ensures accountability for widespread violations of civil rights.
The aim of this article is to flesh out the implications of seeing universal jurisdiction as a claim to authority. While the idea that jurisdiction is an exercise of authority may seem obvious, the ...article invites attention to the 'claim' inherent within it, particularly where the exercise of jurisdiction intrudes upon or displaces competing claims. Legal scholars and practitioners tend to focus on the legal source of authority to exercise universal jurisdiction. The consequence is a tendency to think in binary terms; a court either has jurisdiction, in which case the matter will proceed without further attention to the question of jurisdiction, or it does not, in which case the whole matter is at an end. Jurisdictional thinking invites attention to the need for those asserting such a claim to take responsibility for these claims to authority, encouraging responsiveness to the normative communities that such claims put into relation and the potential need to rethink conventional modes of operation. The article proceeds in two parts. Part 1 examines the deficiencies in the dominant 'legal source' narrative on universal jurisdiction. Part 2 assesses the value of understanding the legal-political dimension of universal jurisdiction as a claim to authority that must be understood, and justified, with attention to its purpose and the community (or communities) it is intended to serve.
This article examines the normative weight of 'certainty' as a legitimate end in private law theory and adjudication. Claims of uncertainty tend to neglect or ignore a simple proposition: namely, ...that the same criticism could equally be levelled against many established jural concepts, and yet it is not. This article aims to demonstrate that criticism of jural concepts (principles, application criteria, etc) as too uncertain or vague is often selectively made. In many instances, the law, given its complex nature and society's expectations of what it is meant to deliver, cannot avoid resort to concepts whose meanings are unfixed and whose applications leave considerable scope for expert judgement. This article argues that courts and commentators who rely on uncertainty arguments must reflect more critically on what 'uncertainty' means, what 'too much' uncertainty is, and whether 'certainty' is a feasible juristic goal in the relevant context. The article concludes by offering some observations about the persuasive force of arguments that are directed at the legitimacy and functionality of open-textured legal concepts. It stresses that the critical issue in many in- stances of putative uncertainty is a failure by courts and jurists to settle upon an agreed normative grounding for the given legal concept.
In September 2020, the Supreme Court handed down twin decisions on prison informant evidence: 'W v R and Roigard v R'. The Court divided on the approach to the admissibility of such evidence. The ...majority, comprising Glazebrook, O'Regan and Ellen France JJ, acknowledged difficulties with prison informant evidence, but placed significant weight on both the constitutional role of the jury as factfinder and the use of judicial directions to ameliorate unfair prejudice risks. The minority, comprising Winkelmann CJ and Williams J, proposed stricter controls on admissibility.
In September 2020, the Supreme Court handed down twin decisions on prison informant evidence: 'W v R' and 'Roigard v R'. The Court divided on the approach to the admissibility of such evidence. The ...majority, comprising Glazebrook, O'Regan and Ellen France JJ, acknowledged difficulties with prison informant evidence, but placed significant weight on both the constitutional role of the jury as factfinder and the use of judicial directions to ameliorate unfair prejudice risks. The minority, comprising Winkelmann CJ and Williams J, proposed stricter controls on admissibility.
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