If you have a court date for any reason, whether summoned, if you are pressing charges or even facing a divorce hearing, the tension can be overwhelming. In many ways it’s like driving past a police car on the highway – whether you are speeding or not, you can break out in a sweat and overcompensate for an indiscretion you only imagine they see. To keep your cool in court, there are a few extra things you can do to prepare and overcome the natural anxieties that come of this kind of ordeal.
The first thing you must keep in mind is to be as informed on your subject as you possibly can be. Think about it – the times when you are most nervous about anything is when you feel out of control in the circumstances, right? To feel in control of the court session, therefore, (at least as much as you possibly can) you need to know exactly what will happen, what is expected of you and even the most likely outcome. Without proper preparation, you will be left misunderstanding the court proceedings and even your role within them, so if you do some quick research into the process and your rights as they pertain to your situation, you should be more equipped to handle the court date and less nervous about the whole thing.
Knowing how to conduct yourself in court will also help you keep your composure as well as reflecting well on you in the eyes of the judge. It is best that you don’t try to act like a legal professional while in court, or act uncouth and disrespectful in any way. If you come off fake or rude, your respect for the entire proceedings will be called into question and your testimony may be subject to more scrutiny than it might otherwise have been. Just remember the relevant information, answer questions clearly and under no circumstances interrupt anyone else who is speaking.
Sometimes, although any other parties involved in the legal proceedings may not be friendly towards you in the slightest, it may help your confidence level to at least explore the possibility of settling out of court. If you can’t speak directly to another person or representative, explain your feelings to your lawyer and he or she will be able to present the situation clearly to the others so that if a deal can be made, it will be done before the two of you have to be seen in a courtroom. Even if you fail to make a deal, you can rest easy that you have made the utmost effort to settle the situation down and this will reflect well on you in court. Judges will be impressed that you made the effort to forget your differences outside of the courtroom.
Basically, you need to be informed and clear of conscience to rest easy and come off calm in court – do your best to achieve this and you will be fine!
