New York Supreme Court

Sufficiency

Canada23833 Posts

May 16 2011 07:27 GMT

~~OK I admit I may have watched too much Law and Orders. But~~ I do have a trip to NYC coming up and I am itchy to get inside to see how they do things "IRL". I know real debates in a court of law is not as glorified as it is on television; nevertheless, I am considering if it is worth my time to go in and sit-and-listen.

Have anyone done it before? Is it really boring to sit in there? And can I even get in a courtroom? (seems odd for a tourist to be interested in such a thing).

On a related note I am still saddened by the fact that the show got cancelled even though that was a while ago. And Law and Orders LA is simply not the same as the original. Sigh.

garlicface

Canada4196 Posts

May 16 2011 07:36 GMT

This may be useless info, but my brother is in law school. Whenever I ask him why he doesn't aim for courtroom law he says "it's boring and has shit pay".

In first year though, he did participate in a mock trial. He really loved that experience.

I'd go and ask him for details if he wasn't asleep. I might be back in several hours, OP.

ZeroJumps

United States18 Posts

May 16 2011 13:32 GMT

I would recommend going to the Criminal Court of NYC and NY Supreme Court at 100 Centre Street. On any given day, if you go up to the higher floors (12-14) there are usually some pretty serious trials and jury selections going on (murder cases, grand larceny etc.).
I would, however, stay away from arraignments on the first floor; they aren't particularly interesting. In many respects, they're like taking a trip to the DMV.

Phrost

United States4008 Posts

May 16 2011 14:00 GMT

Having served on a jury in a nyc court, its not very entertaining. But it might have been partly because I had to do work and couldn't enjoy the drama.

MoonBear

Straight outta Johto18973 Posts

May 16 2011 15:39 GMT

Under the 6th Amendment, trials are open to the public unless there is an overriding consideration where public access to the trial would undermine the defendant's rights to due process.

As for if it's enjoyable or not... Well, it's not like the stuff you see on Law and Order for obvious reasons. It can be really tedious and dull at times. It really depends on how interested you actually are into law. If you're interested in a career in law (as a barrister perhaps?) then it might be worth while.

Sufficiency

Canada23833 Posts

May 16 2011 16:55 GMT

On May 16 2011 22:32 ZeroJumps wrote:
I would recommend going to the Criminal Court of NYC and NY Supreme Court at 100 Centre Street. On any given day, if you go up to the higher floors (12-14) there are usually some pretty serious trials and jury selections going on (murder cases, grand larceny etc.).
I would, however, stay away from arraignments on the first floor; they aren't particularly interesting. In many respects, they're like taking a trip to the DMV.

Thanks so much for the info!

Yea, I heard arraignments are so messy that it's like being in a zoo.

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