How to Understand the Trial Procedure

Going to trial can be stressful enough without feeling that you’re the only one who doesn’t know what’s going on regarding the actual trial procedure. You don’t know when it will be your turn to present your evidence or when you can ask questions to the other party. There are several resources available for you to get the complete understanding of the order of things in a court trial. One way is to go to the court office and get an information package that explains the court procedure in its entirety. You should get yourself a copy and read it over thoroughly. If that is still sounding too complicated, you can ask the court office to give you the phone number of the legal service that provides a few minutes of free counseling to litigants. This free advice is only for about fifteen or twenty minutes but that could be long enough for the lawyer to explain court procedure to you. But while you're waiting, here are the basic steps of what to expect as far as the order of a trial goes.

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

How to Understand the Trial Procedure

1. The plaintiff always goes first in every step of the trial.
2. Each side will give their opening statement of why they think they should win, beginning with the plaintiff.
3. The plaintiff will get on the stand, tell his story and hand in his evidence. The defense will cross-examine him on his evidence and then the plaintiff will have the final word to clarify anything.
4. The plaintiff’s witness will take the stand and be questioned by the plaintiff. The defense will cross-examine her, and then the witness will have a chance to reply to that cross-examination.
5. All the plaintiff’s witnesses will be heard one at a time in this manner.
6. The defendant will then take the stand and give all his defense evidence. The plaintiff will then cross-examine that evidence and then the defendant can reply or clarify in response to those questions.
7. The defendant will call his witnesses, one at a time, and they will be questioned in the same manner.
8. The court will ask for submissions, and this is where each party, beginning with the plaintiff, will give their reasons why they feel they should win their case.
9. The court will then give judgment based on the evidence presented and the testimonies of the witnesses.

Tips & Warnings

• Sometimes the judge will reserve the judgment and give it at a later date if the evidence is intense or if the trial lasts several days.