Client without a lawyer. Recommendations for communicating with a judge.

Any of us may need to go to court. This authority considers not only criminal processes, but also other cases. So, for example, if you are unhappy with the outcome of plastic surgery, your husband does not pay alimony, or your property was stolen, you can receive compensation from the offenders through the court.

Of course, if the case is complex, then winning the case on your own will not be easy, if only because you probably don’t know the laws well. To effectively protect your interests, take advantage of legal assistance.

Rules to follow while in court

So, the lawsuit you filed earlier was accepted in court (by the way, we have already told you how to draw up a lawsuit correctly). You received the appropriate summons and went to the specified address to act as a plaintiff. From the moment the designated subpoena is received, you must begin to behave in accordance with the unspoken rules established by the court.

Rules of conduct during the beginning of the process and the stage of examining evidence

Each stage of the judicial process obliges the person participating in it to follow certain behavioral norms.

You must appear at the meeting 10 minutes before it starts. This is necessary for the court employee to check the documents that you brought with you and record that the hearing will take place without any discrepancies. At the appointed time you will be invited to the hall.
You cannot behave frivolously in court. You do not have the right to speak first or insult the defendant. The process will begin with a question from the judge to see if you want to plead for anything.
During the entire process, you can only address the judge with the words “Dear Court.” This rule is no longer unspoken. It is enshrined directly in the Civil Procedure Code of our country, in Article No. 158. Individuals who behave inappropriately in court may earn sanctions in the process. Therefore, adhere to this rule without fail.
Testimony and answering questions may only be done while standing. This is how the dialogue is conducted at the hearing out of respect for the court. However, exceptions can be made to this rule when necessary, for example, for wheelchair users. However, this requires prior permission.

If citizens do not stand up to explain without being asked, then they are considered to be disrespectful towards the court. As soon as the judge asks you a question, stand up immediately and only then start speaking.

The judge cannot be asked questions. Just as you cannot interfere while court representatives are conducting a dialogue with other participants in the process. Remember that none of them interrupted you. The only thing you are allowed to do is ask questions of your opponents or witnesses.

We remind you that in court you need to behave with restraint and not get into an altercation with the defendant. For such behavior, you will first receive a warning from the court, and if you do not calm down, then a fine.

Rules of conduct during court hearings

So, the evidence in the case has been examined, and the stage of judicial debate begins. During it, the participants in the process behave in court similarly to the rules specified in the first section. But there are other behavioral norms that require compliance.

At this stage of the trial, no matter how your opponents behave, you no longer have the right to petition for anything. Even if additional evidence has not previously been examined, remain silent. You must behave in court according to the rules.
Subsequent debates are conducted by representatives of the court in the sequence that they determined. When you are given the floor, you will need to briefly repeat your position regarding the matter at hand.
Even during the debate, you can refuse the statement of claim or offer to enter into a settlement agreement. However, this must be done without interrupting anyone. If the court representatives and the defendant are talking, wait your turn.
You have the right to make a statement after all participants in the court have spoken. However, remember that as the plaintiff, you do not have the right to speak last. But for defendants there are no such restrictions.

All these rules must be followed at this stage of the process.

Rules of conduct at the stage of making and announcing a decision by the court

After the debate is over, government officials retire to the meeting room. There, court members conduct a dialogue about whether to satisfy the plaintiff’s demands, if so, to what extent, etc.

As soon as the decision is made, it will be announced to all present participants of the meeting. Do not forget - while the content of the decision, the deadlines and methods for appealing it are announced, the court participants behave quietly.

Sometimes only the operative part of the decision is announced. It concerns the following results of the meeting:

the claims were denied or satisfied;
who bears certain legal expenses, etc.

If the reasoned part of the decision is not announced, it means that the participants in the process will receive a notification later. It will say when and where the judges will announce the reasoning (explaining the decision) part.

Preparing for the process – 10 rules

1st: First, determine which of the 4 types of process yours belongs to: Criminal; Civil; Arbitration; Administrative. This is not so difficult to do, but if everything is completely neglected, it is enough to check with the secretary or assistant judge.

2nd: Get the necessary procedural code: Civil Procedure Code (Civil Procedure Code of the Russian Federation); criminal procedure (Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation); Code of Administrative Procedure (CAS RF); arbitration procedural (Arbitration Procedure Code of the Russian Federation). An electronic version is possible, but the current paper version is better (it’s easy to make bookmarks and highlight text, and you can quickly find the article you need). They cost pennies.

Even if you are not a lawyer, you should carefully read the sections regarding:

1) Your rights as a party to the process - what you can and should do in court.

2) What should be contained in procedural documents (claims, responses, petitions, statements, etc.)

3) What documents are submitted and how correctly, what is included with them.

4) What is evidence, what is it, how is it required.

5) What are petitions; how, when and in what form they are declared.

3rd: Evidence. Carefully and BEFORE the trial, consider the collection of evidence. It is better to collect evidence according to the principle - there can never be too much. What is obvious to you may not be at all obvious to the other party and the court. If it is possible to prepare several proofs of the same fact, do not neglect any of them.

All written evidence must be made in excess of copies (at least 3) if there are two parties. The more participants, the more copies.

If you cannot obtain some evidence, it is better to prepare a petition in advance and request it through the court. Important! No matter how convincing you are in your speech, without evidence, it's just a show.

4th: Petitions (Statements). All important judicial actions are carried out through petitions and applications. Some of them can be declared both orally and in writing, others only in writing. To avoid mistakes, it is better to submit all applications in writing (not forgetting to make copies).

In court, it is impossible to predict which petitions and when it is best to file; there is always a chance that such a need will arise suddenly, so it is better to have your own form. We print the header of the court, the plaintiff and the defendant, the case number, in the middle - the MOTION, and then we line it to match the handwritten text. At the end of the column: signature date. For complex processes, I prepared 10-15 of these forms.

Important! This saves time significantly; even in the middle of the trial, you can ask for a break of 10 minutes and, without delay, draft a petition on this form and submit it immediately, this is especially critical when the process is coming to an end, and procedural actions are urgently needed to change the course of the process.

5th: Studying judicial practice. It is in judicial practice that the most correct legal position can be found. Having studied several dozen similar cases and read the decisions on them, you can draw conclusions about the effectiveness or ineffectiveness of the chosen methods of defense and begin to develop your own legal position.

Important! You can be a savant, know the articles by heart and be sure that the Far Eastern District adheres to your position, but in Samara a different law enforcement practice may develop. In general, you can’t get anywhere without practicing in the desired region!

6th: Preparing a legal position. We carefully familiarize ourselves with all the norms to which we ourselves refer, and those to which the opposing party refers. It would be ideal if we printed out each article mentioned and collected it in a separate collection. It can be very useful in court.

Important! It happens that a well-prepared text, with a statement or conclusion directly indicated in the law, is broken by the question: “Where did you get this?” Without having the text and number of the required article at hand, you can lose all the advantage of your position.

7th: Getting ready for counter-arguments. In other words, we take our prepared position and look for the opposite point of view as if we were against ourselves. The more thoroughly we search, the more likely it is that even before the trial we will know what the other side will talk about. Accordingly, there will be fewer unexpected turns and we will look more convincing.

Important! You need to prepare for counter-arguments in advance. It happened that I intercepted the thread of objections, adding even more objections to the surprised faces of the judge and the opposing side, but in the end I led the thread of reasoning to a dead end, thereby devaluing the opponent’s arguments. You finish off your opponent with prepared court decisions from practice where there was a refusal with a similar position.

8th: Claim and revocation. The legal position is drawn up in the final document - a claim (statement) if you are the plaintiff (applicant) or a response to the claim (statement) if you are the other party. These documents can have different names and formats (see 2nd); in essence, this is the main document, the content of which will form the basis for the court’s decision when presenting your position. If your arguments change or are supplemented during the process, it makes sense to file an “amended” or “clarified” claim (statement)/revocation. The better the document is prepared, the greater the chances of success.

Important! It has happened more than once that a beautifully stated (oral) position was “forgotten” at the stage of making a decision. If your arguments are presented in writing and included, you can always return to them in higher authorities.

9th: If the material is already in court, and we join, it is MANDATORY that you familiarize yourself with the case before the trial. Take pictures and study everything.

10th: We always familiarize ourselves with the text of the protocol of the court hearing. Often the position on the protocol is distorted or gross errors are made. The period for objections is extremely limited.

Generally accepted behavioral norms that must be observed in court

In addition to the rules outlined above, you should also take into account the simple rules of polite communication. If you want to make a positive impression on everyone involved in the process, do not forget:

address those present as “you”;
do not raise your voice;
exclude profanity (sometimes you are even fined for it).

In addition, complex speech should also be abandoned. The meeting was initiated to resolve the issue, so let its participants not waste time deciphering your words.

The rules of conduct that must be followed while at trial are not that numerous. It's easy to remember them. If you forget everything out of fear or excitement, the main thing is to be polite. The judge will tell you the rest if anything happens.

Sources:

Civil Procedure Code of the Russian Federation, Article 158. Procedure at a court hearing

Arbitration Court of the Novosibirsk Region: rules of behavior in the courthouse

Court of General Jurisdiction of the City of Moscow: rules of behavior in the courthouse

How can a defendant find out that he has been summoned to court?

From the above it is clear that the defendant will have to defend himself against the claims. To do this, you need to know that a claim has been brought against you, evaluate the subject of the dispute and the essence of the stated requirements. You can find out that you are the defendant from the following sources:

from the contents of the statement of claim - the court must send this document to you when it receives the claim;
from a court ruling, which is sent simultaneously with a copy of the claim;
from the case file on the court website.

In the first two cases everything is obvious. If the defendant has a permanent place of residence, the claim will be heard in court at his address. There are a number of exceptions when the plaintiff can file documents at his place of residence. I will not dwell on this now, since the principles of determining jurisdiction deserve a separate article.

I recommend receiving all letters in the mail immediately, especially if they are marked with o. Failure to receive a summons or ruling does not prevent the consideration of the claim, although there are a number of nuances here. However, having received documents from the court on time, you can:

independently study the rules of law, judicial practice, prepare for the process;
find a good lawyer or advocate, choose the best defense tactics with him;
prepare documents in advance for participation in court, collect evidence, and create a list of witnesses.

If the plaintiff does not know your address, he can indicate his last place of residence in the application. A problem may automatically arise because you will not be able to receive a court ruling and a copy of the claim in a timely manner. If you know about a possible dispute, or have received such information from the plaintiff or mutual friends, you can periodically monitor the situation using court case files.

On the website of the State Automated System “Justice” (hhttps://sudrf.ru/) you can access the online file of cases of any court in Russia. Since this is a civil dispute, you need to check the information in the magistrates' and district courts. Here's how to do it:

select the court category on the start page of the State Automated System “Justice”, i.e. courts of general jurisdiction or magistrates;
on the next page there is a search form where you can specify the region and locality;
if there are several district courts or magistrates’ stations at your place of residence, you can go to the website of each of them, check the jurisdiction by street or on a graphic map;
after choosing a court, you can fill in your data in the case search card;
if no civil cases have been initiated against you, the search will not yield results;
if you are a defendant or a 3rd party in the case, you can find out the date and time of the next meeting from the online card.

You can come to court without a summons. It is enough to indicate your passport details at the entrance, after which the to-do list will be checked.

It is possible that you will see in the case card a process that has already been completed with a decision made. The Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation allows for the issuance of decisions in absentia if there is no reliable information about the defendant’s place of residence. However, even in absentee proceedings, the rights of the parties are protected in a special way. The defendant may file a complaint against such an act within 30 days from the date of its receipt, or within the same period from the day on which he should have learned of the verdict.

Having learned information about the place, date and time of the meeting, you can begin preparing for the process.

How to prepare for a lawsuit with a bank

It’s worth preparing for a lawsuit with a bank on all fronts:

Collect documents related to the case (loan agreement, account statements, receipts, etc.);
Provide evidence of personal financial difficulties (a certificate of dismissal, expensive treatment, or other situations that could cause delays in payments may serve);
Legal consultation. The specialist will explain whether there are chances to prove your innocence and what they are;
Consultation can also be obtained on forums where real people share their stories of struggle with credit structures;
Enlist the support of a lawyer who deals exclusively with banking issues. As a rule, he has much more experience in such matters and gets to the bottom of things faster.

Who is on the team working on the process?

In complex processes, the work of the team that conducts the case is important, from the lawyers directly in the courtroom to the final decision makers. Below are the members of such a team. Each team member appears to understand the purpose of the process and is up to date with the latest developments in the project.

The team includes:

Decision makers. These are the leaders who give the green light to certain processes. The lawyer’s task is to tell such a person in detail the pros and cons of the decision and the possible consequences of the decision.
Persons to whom they report. These are the chairmen of the board of directors and other officials. It is important to promptly inform such persons at all times.
Persons providing evidence. These are managers of the project from which the dispute arose, accounting workers and others. These are not professional lawyers, so when requesting this or that evidence, it is important to explain in detail what is required.
Non-lawyers speaking in court. These team members explain the details of the disputed relationship to the court. For example, the engineer who led the project would be better able to bring the nuances of the project documentation to the court. It is important that such team members speak in the field of knowledge in which they are experts, without “lyrical digressions.” The lawyer prepares such persons for the trial.
Lawyers preparing procedural documents. These are the specialists who monitor the progress of the case and the preparation of the client’s legal positions in court.
Lawyers appearing in court. This requires complete immersion in the case, since an unexpected turn in the legal process does not take you by surprise if arguments are prepared for each argument.