Good Morning Your Honour… Court Appearances 101

One of the best parts of being a law student at MB is the amount of courtroom experience we get. From very early on, we attend settlement conferences, motions and if the files do not end up settling, we will even run our own trials. Now, I cannot speak to running my own trial (yet), but in the first three months of articling, I have already attended 3 settlement conferences and over 10 motions. The best part? For all of these appearances, the supervising lawyers have trusted me enough to attend on my own.

The key... with a settlement conference is the Deputy Judge will want to know what you are prepared to offer to the other side.

As summer students, our first solo appearances were attending settlement conferences for the Small Claims Court files we had carriage of. The key fact to remember with a settlement conference is the Deputy Judge will want to know what you are prepared to offer to the other side. Regardless of how much settlement authority your client has given you, it is your job as your client’s advocate to make your position and offer appealing to both the court, and the opposing party (even if your best [and most reasonable] offer is to go out without costs).

As articling students, although we still attend settlement conferences, I have found that the majority of my solo court appearances have been attending motions. While the Law Society restricts what kind of motions articling students may speak to (for good reason), we are still able to deal with a host of interesting issues. As always, the key to good advocacy is being well prepared (especially with motions). Never assume that the Master or Judge has (a) read your materials, and (b) will automatically agree with your position; so prepare for both possibilities. Identify the issues ahead of time with your supervising lawyer, and know how to address them. Be prepared to explain all of the supporting evidence in the affidavit to the Judge/Master, and be prepared for the Judge/Master to not give you the relief you sought, and/or to require you to return with a different draft Order. That day. Typed. Think about these things ahead of time, when you have the time to prepare an alternate draft Order, or to review the affidavit so you can speak to the issues without fumbling through the motion record. If you are nervous, or if it is one of your first motions, script out your introduction (good morning Master, my name is Caverson, first initial A, here for the plaintiff), and have a bullet point list of information you need to address.

If you have to remember one thing about appearing in court, remember to prepare in advance. If you have reviewed your material, you know what has happened on the file, and you know what you need to get (from the court or opposing party) at the end of the day, you will be just fine.

Also, don’t forget to breathe.

Alyssa C.