How courts work

Settling Cases Relatively few lawsuits ever go through the full range of procedures and all the way to trial. Most civil cases are settled by mutual agreement between the parties.

Jurisdiction and Venue The plaintiff’s lawyer must decide where to file the case. A court has no authority to decide a case unless it has jurisdiction over the person or

Discovery To begin preparing for trial, both sides engage in discovery. This is the formal process of exchanging information between the parties about the witnesses and evidence they’ll present at trial.

Pre-trial Conferences Judges use pre-trial conferences with lawyers for many purposes. One type of conference gaining popularity is the status conference (sometimes called the early conference). This conference—held after all initial pleadings have

Pre-trial Procedures in Criminal Cases Pre-trial procedures in criminal cases follow the general pattern of civil cases, but with important variations. For one thing, the process is apt to be

Bringing the Charge Criminal charges are brought against a person in one of three ways: Through an indictment voted by a grand jury. Through the filing of an information by the prosecuting attorney (also