When a lawyer asks to “approach the bench,” he or she is asking the judge’s permission to literally step closer to the desk to speak with the judge outside the hearing of the jury. Typically, when attorneys ask to approach the bench they want to discuss a point of the case.
Depending on who the attorney is approaching, there could be a few different reasons. If the attorney is asking to approach a witness, opposing counsel table, or essentially anyone except for the bench, the primary reason is courtesy. The judge is the one who controls the procedure and decorum of the courtroom.
If the attorney is asking to approach a witness, opposing counsel table, or essentially anyone except for the bench, the primary reason is courtesy. The judge is the one who controls the procedure and decorum of the courtroom.
In recognition of courtroom courtesy, a lawyer always, always asks a judge to approve walking up to a witness, even if it is only for something like handing the witness a document. I even include this in sample testimony.
“Ex parte” is a Latin phrase meaning “on one side only; by or for one party.” An ex parte communication occurs when a party to a case, or someone involved with a party, talks or writes to or otherwise communicates directly with the judge about the issues in the case without the other parties' knowledge.
The definition of a sidebar is a short bit of information alongside a longer story in a publication or online, or a discussion between lawyers and a judge where jurors can't overhear.
In the United States, the sidebar is an area in a courtroom near the judge's bench where lawyers may be called to speak with the judge so that the jury cannot hear the conversation or they may speak off the record.
interrogatories - Written questions asked to one party by an opposing party, who must answer them in writing under oath. Interrogatories are a part of discovery in a lawsuit.
Approach refers to moving toward the bench, a witness, or the jury box in court. An attorney may approach the bench in order to have a conversation with the judge and opposing counsel off the record and/or out of the jury's earshot.
The area in front of or next to the bench that is removed from the witness stand and the jury box. Judges will often call attorneys to speak confidentially with the judge privately so that the jury cannot hear what is discussed.
2 : a conference between the judge, the lawyers, and sometimes the parties to a case that the jury does not hear.
In this page you can discover 9 synonyms, antonyms, idiomatic expressions, and related words for sidebar, like: sidebars, sidebar conference, toolbar, navbar, submenu, menubar, favicon, titlebar and menu bar.
But the problem with sidebars is that they are often conducted "off the record." The record is a big deal at trial. That's because the loser at trial, except when the state loses in a criminal case, can take an appeal.
Informal discovery is a short-hand description for the unregulated fact investigation undertaken by an advocate, or under the supervision of the advocate, in order to perform case analysis, garner evidence in support of a client's claim or defense, discover adverse information that might defeat the client's claim, or ...
: an additional direct examination of a witness following cross-examination sought clarification of the witness's testimony on redirect examination When cross-examination has been completed the attorney who called the witness may conduct redirect examination to clarify the testimony. — Civil Procedure.
Four elements are required to establish a prima facie case of negligence: the existence of a legal duty that the defendant owed to the plaintiff. defendant's breach of that duty. plaintiff's sufferance of an injury. proof that defendant's breach caused the injury (typically defined through proximate cause)