Understanding Courtroom Etiquette
Are you going to court and you’re not sure exactly how you should act? My name is Carl Birkhead. I’m Tulsa criminal attorney with Wirth Law Office, and I want to help you make law easy by going through my top five tips for the best practices in the courtroom. I’ve shot a couple of videos like this talking about various things that you should or should not do in the courtroom, and I want to go with just a few of the ones that come up the most often.
Dress Appropriately for Court
The first one, dress appropriately. You don’t want to be wearing anything that you’d be wearing out to the club or anything like that. I tell my clients, to wear something that you would wear to Easter Sunday if you’re going to church, or wear something that you would, like slacks and a button-down shirt for gentlemen. Ladies, I’m not great with fashion, so I would just say wear something that’s the equivalent.
Manage Your Devices and Address the Judge Correctly
The next thing, keep your cell phones turned off. I’ve seen so many people get yelled at in court because they have their cell phones on. Keep them off. Don’t even put them on silent. Just keep it off because sometimes it will go off accidentally, and that’s a bad day.
Third, you want to address the judge as your honor. I’ve seen so many people go, yeah, sir, yeah, ma’am, yeah, bro, yeah, but don’t ever call the judge bro. It’s very respectful to just say, your honor. All of these things come down to respect.
Speak Only When Permitted and Be Punctual
Don’t speak unless spoken to is a big one. Whether you’re representing yourself or especially if you have a lawyer, you don’t want to speak unless the judge addresses you directly or unless your attorney says, okay, you can say something. Recently, I had somebody who just wanted to argue with the judge, and he wanted to argue with the judge. No matter how many times I looked at him and said, he wouldn’t be quiet. That’s not going to help your case. If anything, it’s going to hurt it because the judge doesn’t want to be second-guessed. I barely get to argue with a judge, and I’m a lawyer.
The last thing is to be on time. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had a judge look at me side-eyed because my clients were running late. Again, it all comes down to respect. The biggest thing that you can do is do your best to be respectful in the courtroom, be respectful of the court’s time, and be respectful of everyone else in the courtroom’s time.
Be Respectful and Seek Guidance
I mean, more often than not, you’re going to be there on a docket that has tons of cases on it, tens upon tens of cases. Everyone needs the judge’s attention. Everyone needs the judge’s time, and you’ve got to be as respectful as you can about it.
Contact Us for a Strategy Session
If you have any questions, give us a call or check out our informational videos on our Tulsa Attorney blog. My name is Carl Birkhead. I’m with Wirth Law Office, and I want to help you to make law easy. Call us today at 918-879-1681 to schedule a low-cost initial strategy session. Thank you.
