a court reporter

Sun 11.27.22

The difference between state and federal court hearings is the difference between a hockey game and a figure skating competition. Any court hearing where a lawyer is not necessary, for instance Small Claims, Eviction court, the less likely the court will rely on law in any sophisticated manner.  The venial sins of society are given short shrift.   At that level, the lawyers are comparable to small time boxers, tough and not above coaching their clients on the finer points of lying, and very psychologically smart.  They have studied their fellow human beings and use that knowledge to win cases.  I once watched a lawyer in my hometown, a Jew.  I tell you that because the man was not acting Jewish, i.e. smart, pragmatic, and intelligent.  No, he was a doofus; a fool, I kept thinking.  This went on till his closing arguments, when the very erudite attorney laid out his case having somehow gained an advantage by playing the fool.  These are the street fighters of state courts.

Lead opposing attorney in my federal case, has a photo on his firm’s site of himself in a tux and bowtie.  It’s a party; he’s getting ready boogie, to dance the night away with a side of champagne and some caviar, the good beluga.  At that level, the law becomes more pliant.  It is comparable to a game of chess; you’ve got to plan your moves way before their denoument.  Yes, intelligence is more welcome at this level, but you are restrained by all the rules and procedures that have been created to make the judge’s work more efficient, the process more transparent.

For the person who’s initiated the process, or is the recipient of someone’s complaint, within the parameters of my rough description above, I see the Plaintiff slash Defendant’s role as one in which, unable to resolve a situation on their own they have presented it to a third party to resolve.  Having done that, they are now in the hands of a higher power.  To the court, the justice system?  No, anything can, and does happen in a court of law that is truly in the hands of the powers of the universe.  To bemoan one’s sentence is unsportsmanlike, as the man in the tux and bowtie might say, You accept the consequences, with grace, when you choose to enter the game.