Reforms of Trial Advocacy
Advocacy is one of the most ancient profession. To put broadly, Advocacy is the art of persuading others to one’s own point of view. The general level of competence of attorneys and more particularly their competence in specific aspects of the practice of law have been frequent and recurrent concerns. Indeed, as Judge Kaufman has pointed out, "insofar as bad lawyering is the product of bad character, or laziness, or apathy, there is little that can be done by way of education."
The most recent upsurge of concern was brought to wide public attention by Chief Justice Warren Burger in his Sonnett lecture at Fordham Law School in 1973, in which he singled out the problem of inadequate trial advocacy as the area needing
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In its brief yet thorough style it covers the entire gamut of a trial. Each topic can be read separately to meet the particular demands of the moment. Examples enable the reader actually to use the material in court. Most of us enter court for the first time hoping only not to become a spectacle. With books like Trial Advocacy at hand we may even leave the courtroom with a victory. In 11 concise chapters, it discusses such frequent problems as examination of experts, introduction of various forms of evidence and ways of structuring arguments to a lay jury. Examples are used to demonstrate proper techniques. Because effective trial performance cannot be mastered solely through study, this volume should accompany practical …show more content…
Specific course requirements might remedy some of the deficiencies of incompetent advocates such as inadequate knowledge or understanding of rules of evidence and/or procedure, but would not affect the deficiency of lack of preparation for trial. Trial advocacy courses would have a remedial effect on lack of preparation only to the extent that unpreparedness for trial is a result of not knowing how to prepare adequately. An empirical analysis of the Indiana rule concluded that the course requirements were not effective for promoting or ensuring competence, at least not in terms of bar examination results. Declining pass rates on the Indiana bar examination had led to the adoption of the rule. This is not to say that trial advocacy courses are not valuable but that their capacity to remedy this major deficiency of incompetent advocates is
After listening to both sides present their case the judge will issue a ruling on the defendant’s
CSU Long Beach, Political Science Department at Long Beach Municipal and Superior Court, Long Beach CA Legal Apprentice and Researcher 1996-1997 • Conducted political research on the public defender system and provided analysis by viewing, discussing and summarizing judicial procedure(s) and Trial Judge, District Attorney, Public Defender to gain a better understanding of the efficacy of the public defender system on criminal proceedings in Long Beach and its need for key structural improvement. Accomplishments: After reading Gideon’s Trumpet as a context by which to explore and analyze the public defenders system and the social injustices that often occur, as reference by the main characters denial of his legal right to receive legal counsel in his defense in a Florida court; I related my reading and first hand experiences, observations and findings on the efficacy or lack thereof of the Public Defenders system to supervising professors at the CSU Long Beach, Department of Political Science in an attempt to suggest needed improvements to the criminal justice and judicial system. CSU Long Beach, Office of Affirmative Action - Long Beach,
David Feige’s Indefensible: One Lawyer’s Journey nto the Inferno of American Justice invites people from all walks of life to a second hand experience of the criminal justice system hard at work. What is most interesting about Feige’s work is its distinct presentation of the life of a public defender in the South Bronx. Instead of simply detailing out his experiences as a public defender, Feige takes it a step further and includes the experiences of his clients. Without the personal relationships that he carefully constructs with each of his defendants, Feige would not be able to argue that the criminal justice system is flimsy at best, decisions always riding on either the judge’s personal attitudes or the clients propensity towards plea bargaining.
(Stevenson, 2015, pg.140) Because of this the courts come under pressure to take the prosecution’s side because
On the 14th of October 2011, Mr Rayney had submitted an application for a trial which only involved a judge without a jury present. This was due Mr. Rayney assuming that a strong bias had been manifested pre-trial as a result of the subjective publicity revolving around the death of his wife, Corryn(The Conversation, 2012). Therefore, the jury and any member of the public would already have preconceived views in favour of Mr Rayney being guilty of murdering his wife. The trial was successful for Mr Rayney where he was acquitted of murdering his wife. Similarly, this issue is somewhat common as it had also occurred in the case Evans v The State of Western Australia [2011] WASCA 182, in which both appellants had made appeals after being convicted for murder.
This resulted in the defendant filing a motion which resulting in a new case with a new trial (Brown, 2010). 2.5 Aspects of issue not covered under current law While judges do have the ability to order suppression orders, in which media outlets are not able to report on cases, generally there is no law suppressing media coverage (Carrick, 2011). As the media has a significant impact on the jurors, allowing reports encourages
The history of the modern right to counsel for defendants who cannot afford to pay for counsel or lawyer goes back over a century ago; the Indiana Supreme Court in Webb v. Baird, 6 Ind. 13 (1853), officially recognized the right to counsel for a person accused of a crime. However, this decision was not based on constitutional or statutory law but warranted under “the principles of a civilized society.” Since the case of Webb v. Baird, the courts have immensely extended the right to counsel beyond just appointing an indigent person an attorney. For more than a hundred years, the Right to Counsel Clause was interpreted as simply granting the right to retain a private attorney to a defendant but didn’t mean that a poor criminal defendant had
Lawyers also decide what is relevant in court, rather than letting parties decide what they believe to be relevant. Because of this, victims lose participation in their own case. Christie also discusses the types of segmentation and their effects on modern law. I agree with Christie’s views of modern law in regards to reduced participation of parties, the presence of too many specialists, and his view on segmentation. I agree with
Prosecutors and defense attorneys routinely use peremptory challenges to eliminate frim juries’ individuals who although they express no obvious bias, are thought to be capable of swaying the jury in an undesirable direction. The prosecution and the defense are also protected by the Equal Protection Clause
The U.S. legal system has numerous pros and cons discovered throughout history and the ambiguous system is a glorious quality. The American public has the right to decided whether the legal system’s benefits outweigh the
Alex Frost Values: Law & Society 9/23/2014 The Hollow Hope Introduction and Chapter 1 Gerald Rosenberg begins his book by posing the questions he will attempt to answer for the reader throughout the rest of the text: Under what conditions do courts produce political and social change? And how effective have the courts been in producing social change under such past decisions as Roe v. Wade and Brown v. Board of Education? He then works to define some of the principles and view points 'currently' held about the US Supreme court system.
The written story of how Clarence Earl Gideon, a poor Florida man, went from a convicted criminal to ultimately redefining legal history is astounding. The Supreme Court commonly dismisses more cases than it accepts and the fact that a handwritten petition from a prison inmate was accepted shows that even the seemingly most insignificant person can make a difference in our society. The book’s literature is highly legalistic but constantly provides a detailed account of how the judicial system is constructed. Coming from a regular college student standpoint with no previous formal law education, this makes the underlying concept easier to grasp. The story’s setting during the time of the Gideon case, showed how the legal system was constructed towards the growing concept of a defendant’s rights.
This remarkable courthouse only hosted approximately seven trials in its first year and since then has dropped even lower (Dzur, 2013). The early 20th century was the last time a jury was considered the normal process for dealing with criminal cases, and now the plea deal is king (Dzur, 2013). Simple fact is, today juries hear only a very few cases across the nation (Dzur, 2013). High-ranking members working in the justice system fear that the competence of a jury today is declining with the scientific evidence that is now available (Dzur, 2013). The statistics seem to support this fear.
This essay will briefly discuss the role of the jury and how it works, from the principle behind it, to the method with which members are selected, and to the powers available to jurors. Moreover, it will outline advantages and disadvantages of trial by jury, and it will point out a couple of ways which could ameliorate this type of trial. Trial by jury has been a part of the criminal justice system since the 12th century (Davies, 2015), it is considered an ancient right and a symbol of liberty (Hostettler, 2004). It creates no precedent and it can decide challenging cases equitably without making bad law, it also brings members of the public into the administration of justice and into an understanding of legal and human rights (Hostettler,
Juries are an intrinsic part of Queensland’s legal system as they protect and reinforce society’s views most importantly presumption of innocence. The fairly recent Criminal Code and Another Act Amendment Act 2008 has seen the introduction of judge only trials which has, although complicating the system, considerably improved the right of the accused to a fair trial. Although, as quoted by Justice Dean, juries were “administered in criminal cases as a protection against the tyranny of arbitrary punishment...” this amendment was implemented to protect the accused’s right to presumption of innocence without eroding their constitutional right to a jury which it has successfully achieved.