Okay, so I’m writing a story about a lawyer and a law firm, but I know very little about how cases are represented, how trials work, etc.
Can someone who knows stuff like that help me?
Thank you. Just ignore this if it flops 
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I’m not a lawyer, but I was in a mock trial class for school one year 
So um let me try… So you got two sides of the court… Prosecution and defense. At least in terms of in a criminal case. Prosecution represents the government against the accused person and are the ones to present the trial and the defense are the ones guiding and defending the accused.
They each have to come up with what’s called an opening statement and that opening statement will provide the structure for what their case will be like. All the points kind of have to be summed up in the opening statement and the rest of the trial will be using that guide. You can’t just make random stuff up as you go- it has to be with accordance to your opening statement or the other side makes an objection. That would be what’s called hearsay.
Also, the opening statement is very important because it is for the court/jurors. It is used to explain the case because they haven’t seen it yet and guide how you want them to view it. Again, everything you present from that point afterwards must go along with your opening statement or else it’s hearsay.
In terms of witnesses you can’t ask them leading questions. A leading question is where the person interviewing the witness tries to get a certain answer from them so they ask the something that will kind of just lead the witness lol. Like: You saw that robber rob the bank, didn’t you?
You have to ask the witness general questions and trust that the witness will stay on par with their story. The witnesses are prepped before hand on what to say and what the side will ask them.
So think like, “How do you know the defendant?”
Objections are made when attorneys do stuff like that wrong. The other side can object if, for example, the other side asks a leading question. If they object, the judge will rule the objection.
" Once an attorney makes an objection, the judge then makes a ruling. If a judge sustains the objection, it means that the judge agrees with the objection and disallows the question, testimony or evidence. If the judge overrules the objection, it means that the judge disagrees with the objection and allows the question, testimony or evidence. The judge may also permit the attorney to rephrase the question to correct whatever was objectionable." (Cornel law)
I’d read up this on objections: Objection | Wex | US Law | LII / Legal Information Institute
Then once the trials are over and each side has presented their evidence each side will offer a conclusion to sum up their points. Then you ask for a certain judgement from the jurors and then the jurors vote. After they vote it’s finally the judge to sentence the person.
So yeah. That’s all I remember and I had to look up some stuff but that’s the generals of it. Oh yeah, and you also have a bailiff who tackles people if they enter the middle of the court room or something without permission of the judge (generally you have to stay in your seats/behind a certain line and this is probably used to protect witnesses).
If I were you I’d take in this stuff and just make sure I’m correct and also look up more about this stuff with what I told you in mind.
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damn, thank you so much.
didn’t expect this much information😭
would everything be the same if the trial was about a married couple who wants to get divorced?
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Oh idk you’d have to look that up. It probably wouldn’t be unless the husband killed the wife or abused her or something. The legal proccedure would probably be a lot diffferent.
Here’s an article about that: What Happens in a Divorce? | AllLaw
What Happens If We Go To Court to Divorce? | DivorceNet
So it does look like it’d be similar but I’d check out that second article.
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okay, thank you so much
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Oh yeah and since that article mentions expert witnesses, instead of an attorney just asking the witness a bunch of questions, with the expert witness they’ll probably ask more general questions that will lead the expert witness to basically explain things to the court since they’re the expert.
And here’s some stuff about expert witnesses:
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I know hoe it works, if you still need help.
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thank you, i could need some help with the dialogue, and characters, etc
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I’d love to help!
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you can pm me
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