Court Procedures, Legal Concepts, and Criminal and Civil Procedure
Court Procedures
What is tested
Items ask you to order events, identify the actor who performs a step, and state the purpose of a hearing. Know both the criminal and the civil track, and the courtroom roles.
Criminal track
Arrest → initial appearance and bail hearing → arraignment (charges read, plea entered) → preliminary hearing or grand jury (probable cause) → indictment or information → discovery → pretrial motions (to suppress, to dismiss) → plea or trial → voir dire and jury selection → opening statements → prosecution case → defense case → rebuttal → closing arguments → jury instructions → verdict → sentencing → appeal.
Civil track
Complaint filed → summons and service of process → answer or motion to dismiss → discovery (interrogatories, requests for production, depositions, requests for admission) → summary judgment → pretrial conference → trial → judgment → post-trial motions → appeal or enforcement.
People and phrases
Judge, clerk, bailiff, court reporter, prosecutor or district attorney, defense counsel, public defender, probation officer, guardian ad litem. “Sustained” upholds an objection; “overruled” denies it. A “sidebar” and an “in camera” review are private proceedings. “Pro se” means self-represented.
Traps
Grand jury (returns charges) versus petit or trial jury (returns a verdict). Arraignment versus trial. Deposition versus testimony at trial. An “information” is a prosecutor’s charging document, not data.
Rule of thumb
Draw a one-page timeline for each track and label who acts at each step; most sequencing questions collapse once the actor is identified.
Legal Concepts, Criminal and Civil Procedure
Concepts to master
Elements: actus reus, mens rea, causation, concurrence, attendant circumstances; defenses include alibi, justification, excuse, and insanity. Burdens: the prosecution must prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt; a civil plaintiff must prove elements by a preponderance, sometimes by clear and convincing evidence. Distinguish the burden of production from the burden of persuasion.
Core doctrines: presumption of innocence, due process, jurisdiction versus venue, statutes of limitations, double jeopardy, the privilege against self-incrimination, Miranda warnings, the exclusionary rule, hearsay and its exceptions, attorney–client privilege, stare decisis, and res judicata. Distinguish criminal from civil proceedings: the state punishes in the first, a party sues for a remedy in the second. Remedies include damages, injunction, and specific performance.
Traps
Hearsay is an out-of-court statement offered to prove the truth of the matter asserted - not any out-of-court statement. Standards of proof get swapped. “Guilty” and “liable” are not interchangeable. Jurisdiction is the power to hear; venue is the proper place. Do not import another country’s procedure into a question about U.S. practice.
Rule of thumb
For every fact pattern, name the forum, the party with the burden, the standard, and the element in dispute. Questions usually turn on one of those four.
Worked example
An out-of-court statement offered only to show that the listener heard it - not that it was true - is not hearsay, so the objection should be overruled.