Eamonn Kelly-- The Law and How it Works
The public get impressions about how courts work from the media. There are news items every day from court reporters. Their reports are done under time pressure and give brief information about complex cases, which gives the public a misleading impression. There are also fictional portrayals on TV, which show judges in an inaccurate way and behind-the-scenes interactions that would never occur in practice.
Not many people are privy to what really happens. The key players in a court are the judge and his/her associates, a jury (where the judge decides there is one), and the Tip staff (who keep order in the court and do ceremonial functions). The court also has a register and library.
A judge’s associate is like a personal assistant to a judge. They are like a consultant working for a client, who is the judge. One of the associate’s roles is to look after exhibits. Judges take notes while in court and may afterwards check these with the associate. Judges cannot confer with other judges about a case, because they have not heard all the details, so the associate is a person they can use as a sounding board. The judge has to justify every step of their decision making and may be criticized afterwards. The associate may look at drafts from the judge and be asked for opinions on how compelling they are.
The public are often critical of court decisions, but they make these judgements on limited information from the media. They often think courts are too lenient, but when they participate on a jury and know all the details of a case, they overwhelmingly agree with the fairness of the sentences given by the judge.
One of the most difficult areas for courts is probate cases, which involve families fighting each other. These fights can go on for many years and result in unfortunate consequences, including the estate being dissipated on legal costs.