Assignment Task: Orange County Superior Court
I started my career in Los Angeles, but shortly thereafter relocated to Orange County where I have sent the vast majority of my legal career. I am not a litigator by trade, but rather as a general counsel I have managed large groups of litigators and so I have spent some time in our local courts watching them in action.
Overview of the Courtroom
The Orange County Superior Court put together an interesting video to watch which explains how the courtroom is set up. Please take a few minutes to watch this video.
In this video they showed the location of the plaintiff and the defendant. One thing not mentioned is that the plaintiff is always at the table closest to the jury box. This is because at the trial it is the plaintiff who is trying to make their case to the jury, though some would say it is because in the criminal context we want to keep the defendant as far away from the jury as possible to keep them safe. Irrespective of the reason, you can always tell which table is for which party purely based upon the location of the jury box.
Important proceedings happen in the courtroom, but rarely are they as dramatic as Tom Cruise and Jack Nicholson.
The Jury
One element discussed in the Orange County Superior Court video is the jury of twelve people (and the two alternates). In a criminal trial you are entitled to a jury of your peers. The twelve jurors are used in the context of criminal trials only. For civil trials, you need only nine jurors to agree on an outcome. Alternatively, as a criminal defendant you have the right to have your fate decided by the judge. In civil proceedings, you can also waive your right to a jury trial (assuming both parties agree).
Question Presented:
In the context of a civil trial, under what circumstances would you prefer to have a judge hear the evidence and rule on the case in place of a jury? Orange County has historically known to be very conservative whereas Los Angeles much more liberal. Does the change in geographic location change your analysis and conclusion in any way?