John Robert M.

Maagad

R E A C T I O N P A P E R

As a working law student I dont have much time in a day and

so I rarely visit and witness the court and its proceedings. As a
matter of fact I had visited it only once during my undergraduate
years. When I learned about the requirement that we have to visit
a court last Monday, I was excited and without any second thought
I applied for leave of work just to attend the event.
From what I have witnessed during the hearing, I have come
to noticed that the procedure in some courts were formal and some
are not, in fact some judges would even throw jokes at times,
however, court officer still appears concerned about protecting
the rights they are representing before the court. Since it is
just my second time to visit the court, the proceedings dont
appear fairly routinized and the calendar of cases suggests that
there are a lot of varieties of cases.
While sitting inside the sala of the judges, I noticed that
most of the judges are on their early forties. The demeanor &
skills of the judges, court personnel, and lawyers doesnt really
suggest

any

evidence

of

smoothly

functioning

courtroom

workgroup. At times, there are instances that they seem to be not

coordinated or organized in their manner of handling the course

of the proceedings.
With regard to the demeanor of the plaintiff, defendant and
their witnesses, Ive learned that you should really be very
careful with the words you put out since it could make the case
more complicated and that wordplay can be a little tricky to
handle especially if you use complicated words which could mean a
lot of things instead of using short and simple words that go
straight to the point. Ive also learned that when youre in
front of the judge, or in a hearing for that matter, you must
also be clear with the facts and your statements. You must know
why you are there and for what purpose are you going through with
the hearing. You must also remember all the necessary information
that might be related to the case for you to not misunderstand
nor

create

any

confusion

with

the

facts.

It

was

very

interesting experience to witness such proceedings.

Lastly, with regard to the outcome of the court proceedings
I have observed that day, I could say that most of it were
typical and it didnt even surprise me. I cannot really say based
on what I just have observed that the proceedings were fair and
just all throughout the trial. Somehow the court met some of my
expectations.