Legal Terminology, Court Procedures, and the Justice System
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You need the architecture of a case, not just vocabulary. Civil: pleadings, discovery (interrogatories, requests for production, depositions), dispositive motions, trial, judgment, post-trial motions, appeal. Criminal: complaint or indictment, arraignment, bail, motions, trial, verdict, sentencing. Know party designations (plaintiff/defendant, petitioner/respondent, state or people), and the trial sequence: voir dire and challenges (for cause, peremptory), openings, direct, cross, redirect, recross, offers of proof, closing arguments, charge, verdict.
Terms of art frequently dictated include subpoena duces tecum, hearsay and its exceptions, foundation, relevance, privilege, in limine, sidebar, allocution, nolo contendere, remittitur, and renewed motion for judgment as a matter of law. Latin appears constantly: pro se, pro hac vice, sua sponte, ex parte, in camera, prima facie, de novo, arguendo, res judicata, stare decisis, inter alia.
Traps
Nomenclature is jurisdiction-specific. In New York, the Supreme Court is the trial court of general jurisdiction; in most states the name denotes the highest court. An indictment is returned by a grand jury; an information is filed by the prosecutor. A sentence is criminal; a judgment is civil. Do not "correct" a term to match your home jurisdiction - record what the speaker said.
Rule of thumb: if a legal term does not match what you hear, spell it phonetically and verify at the next break; never substitute a synonym for a term of art.
Worked example: "nolo contendere" is not "no contest" in the transcript unless the speaker actually said "no contest."