Court Observation

The first court I decided to visit was at 393 University Av. on September 11th after my classes and got there on time for a court session at 12:00 pm. The security was very strict. They looked through my backpack and made me take everything out of my pockets. After the security check we started looking for courtrooms with trials going on and I discovered that not much was happening at that time. A very nice woman told me that there was an interesting case happening in room 702 so I headed down to the 7th floor from the 10th. In front of the courtroom there was a family waiting for the trial to begin. We engaged in a conversation which was very helpful because they were part of the trial and I got a lot of background information on the case before it began. The victim told me that she was hit by a car at a crosswalk on her way to school, and seven years later the case has finally begun. She explained that she doesn’t remember anything from the day of the incident and that she has long term health problems. When the attorneys arrived we all proceeded into the courtroom and I was surprised by the size of the room. The judge arrived shortly after into the small courtroom and we all stood up to honor him. Once the case was on its way, it was interesting the way the attorneys were addressing each other using the words “my friend”. The defense attorney seemed like he was trying to complicate things with technicality about the doctors that examined the victim and trying to hint that they weren’t qualified for the given situation. The judge disagreed, saying that the defense attorney is making matters more complicated then need be. The judge then addressed the witnesses to leave the courtroom and to not discuss any legal matters regarding the case. Following that, the jury arrived and was addressed by the judge, who was explaining the procedures on rules to follow by law. We were then dismissed by the judge from the court until 2:30pm for a lunch break. I was approached by the courts typist and was asked if I would be interested in knowing the details of his job. He showed me the equipment he uses and explained about the education which was required for the job and how difficult it was to graduate and get to where he is today. Although he does make a six figure salary! After an hour and a half of sitting through the trial, I gained a lot of knowledge about the process involving the courtroom. It was a different atmosphere than I am used to, I feel lucky with the trial I attended and am looking forward to the following two trials.

The next trial I ended up sitting in on was at The Federal Court of Ontario at 330 University Av. The building was old and beautiful with high ceilings and marble floors. The security helped me a lot and told me there was only one trial proceeding for the day at 2:30 in room 8-1. I waited for about half an hour before it began. This time I wasn’t searched, which I was surprised about, and they only asked to see I.D, which I didn’t understand the purpose of. Soon after I walked in, I noticed a large sign above the judge that said “Justicia”, which I then realized was the same sign that was at the previous court at 393 University Av. The case started off at a slow pace and I had time to look around the room and discovered that it was a larger space, the amount of people involved were greater, and the number of people observing was larger as well. There were a lot of economical terms being used which I did not understand, but I did manage to realize that the man being sued was a CEO of a large company.

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