Court Observation Assignment: A Report On Three Different Ontario Courts

Superior Court of Justice

a)What is the full address of the court you visited?
b)With whom did you go to court? (Please provide the full name of each student)
c)What was the date of your visit?
d)What time did you arrive?
e)What time did you leave?
f)What was the name and official title of the presiding judge?
g)What was the name of the case you observed? (e.g. Smith v. Jones; R. v. Smith)
h)Who were the lawyers involved in the case, and which party did each lawyer act for?
i)If you observed a civil trial, what area of law did the case involve? If you observed a criminal trial, what was the charge involved?
j)Briefly describe the proceedings you observed.

a)What is the full address of the court you visited?
b)With whom did you go to court? (Please provide the full name of each student)
c)What was the date of your visit?
d)What time did you arrive?
e)What time did you leave?
f)What was the name and official title of the presiding judge?
g)How many cases did you observe?
h)Give the name of one of the cases you observed. (e.g. Smith v. Jones)
i)In the case you named, were the parties represented, and if so, were they represented by a lawyer, articling student or paralegal?
j)In the case you named, what area of law did the case involve?
k)Briefly describe the proceedings you observed.

a)What is the full address of the court you visited?
b)With whom did you go to court? (Please provide the full name of each student)
c)What was the date of your visit?
d)What time did you arrive?
e)What time did you leave?
f)What was the name and official title of the presiding judge or justice of the peace?
g)How many cases did you observe?
h)Describe briefly the types of cases you observed, for example, bail hearings, sentencing hearings, trials.
i)Give the name of one of the cases you observed. (e.g. R. v. Smith)
j)What was the charge involved in the case you named?
k)Briefly describe the proceedings you observed.

Summary Reflection – Reflect on your court experience in no more than half a page (double spaced), as follows:

a)What differences did you notice, between the 3 courts, aside from the types of cases in each one? For example, did the judges, lawyers or paralegals dress more formally in one court than the other(s)? Was it the same atmosphere in each court? Compare the role and demeanour of the judge, witnesses, lawyers, paralegals and the court clerks in the 3 courts. Other differences?
b)Was there anything you observed that surprised/struck you? (ie. some aspect that you did not know before or some misconception that was clarified by attending at the courts.)
c)What did you take away from this experience that might help you in your legal studies and/or your chosen career.
 

The first court which I visited was superior court of Justice- small. The court is located at 7755 Hurontario St, Brampton, ON L6W 4T1, Canada. As this was for the purpose of my individual assignment I decided to visit the court alone. I ensured that I follow all the court etiquettes as mentioned in the assignment instructions.  The date on which I had decided to visit the court was on, October 25th, 2018. I knew the fact that the trials in the court would start at 10AM, so I reached the court sharp at 10 AM.  I was present in the court for the entire as I was asked to do the same through my assignment instructions. I left the court at around 4.30 PM. The name of judge whose court room I had witnessed was judge, Madam Justice Shaw. During my visit I was only able to observe one case. The name of the case which I had observed was Deidun Jason V. Bernard Dan. The lawyer for Deidun was Mr Doan Harry J and for Bernard Dana was Wiley Thomas J. The case was in relation to a criminal provincial matter. The proceeding was sex service which had been provided in return of material benefits. The lawyers for the plaintiff and defendant were both present there. I observed that they were very busy making the submissions of evidence and illuminating some of the some evidence as well, before they set a jury to sit for the case. The judge heard the submissions made by the lawyers and provided a future date for the case to be carried out. After watching this long case I left the court.

The second court which I visited was superior court of Justice- small claims. The court is located at 7756 Hurontario St, Brampton, ON L6W 4T1, Canada. As this was for the purpose of my individual assignment I decided to visit the court alone. The date on which I had decided to visit the court was on October 26, 2018. I knew the fact that the trials in the court would start at 10AM, however I got late and reached the court at 10.30AM.  I was present in the court for half day as I was asked to do the same through my assignment instructions. I left the court at around 12.30 PM. The name of judge whose court room I had witnessed was Deputy Judge Upenieks. During my visit I was only able to observe one case. I really wanted to observe more cases but I was not able to manage due to an appointment and had to leave. The name of the case which I had observed was Mr. Jeff V. Mr Chan. There were no lawyers involved and both parties were representing themselves. The case was similar to a trial case whereby the plaintiff had made a claim against the defendant for refund in relation to equipment which he did not use. The plaintiff and the defendant were in court due to some auto part equipment the plaintiff bought from the defendant but did not use. The plaintiff wanted his money back but the defendant refused to pay him back the money because the stuff has been over due on the part of the plaintiff and therefore he denied to accept the return  irrespective of whether it was used or not. Meanwhile Mr. jeff had closed his shop for a long time and had no money in the auto part business anymore. The judge made a ruling that Mr.Jeff should return the items in a 20 day period. The judge informed both parties that it will be a waste of time to take the case to the next level. 

Superior court of Justice- small claims

In relation to the third court, I had visited the Ontario court of Justice- criminal, which is located at 7755 Hurontario St, Brampton, ON L6W 4T1, Canada. As this was for the purpose of my individual assignment I decided to visit the court alone. The date on which I had decided to visit the court was on 5^th November 2018. I knew the fact that the trials in the court would start at 10AM and as I was late last time, I reached the court sharp by 9.30AM.  I was present in the court for half day as I was asked to do the same through my assignment instructions. I left the court at around 1.30 PM. The name of judge whose court room I had witnessed was Judge Donald Mccloud . During my period of presence in the court I had observed three cases. All the cases which had been witnessed by me on the day were trial cases. The name of the parties involved in  the three cases were Bhatti Gurjit, MacNevin Donald and Singh Gurdev. The charge which has been put on Bhatti Gurjit was 1 count alcohol and impaired driving over 80. Mr.Singh also with the same charge with impaired driving by alcohol. Mr.MacNevin was charged with bodily assault. The first proceedings I observed was Mr Singh cases where the defendant had been found guilty by the judge for drinking and driving. He even also get his driver’s license suspended for 1year with a fine of $ . The next proceeding of the MacNevin Donald cases was quick and the defendant was getting the charges withdrawn. The last case was the Gurjit case where he was charged with first count of alcohol. I left before the proceedings were completed to pick up my nephew up from daycare. 

The observation made by me in relation to the three courts was not the same. On one hand the judges and lawyers in the Ontario Court of Justice-Criminal and Superior Court of Justice were dressed in a very formal manner, on the other hand the dressing was not very formal for the Superior Court of Justice- Small Claims. The security in the Superior Court of Justice was the highest followed by the Ontario Court of Justice-Criminal and Superior Court of Justice- Small Claims. I was surprised by the fact the courts were not at all the way they are shown in movies and were much more formal.  I am sure that I have experienced the way in which I should behave in courts which would be significantly beneficial from my future career prospects. I also experienced that the court is much more practical then what we read in books.