# "May it please the court..." **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 15, 2018, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/may-it-please-the-court/812465 "2018-04-15T20:49:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2018, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/may-it-please-the-court/812465/21 "2018-04-17T13:27:16Z")
It never hurts to accidentally address a Provincial Court Judge as “My Lord.” 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2018, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/may-it-please-the-court/812465/22 "2018-04-17T13:30:33Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > How common are mock trials? Is that something you do multiple times in law school? I never took a Trial Advocacy course, because I didn’t plan on being a trial lawyer. I did do one appellate moot in second year, as a course requirement: every student had to do it. We also did one moot in a first year criminal course, but again, it was an appellate moot. ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2018, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/may-it-please-the-court/812465/23 "2018-04-17T13:52:04Z")
> [@Pantastic](#): > > One thing that you’ll see on TV that I’ve heard you’ll never hear in actual court is: > > Prosecutor: “Did you or did you not eat the cake?” > Defense: “Objection, your Honor” > Prosecutor: “Withdrawn”. > > Apparently that sort of thing really pisses the judge off, since you’re both cutting the judge off (he’s supposed to make the decision on the objection) and if you’re so sure your question is objectionable, you shouldn’t have asked it in the first place. It’s a quick way to get slapped with contempt of court. Thank you for clarifying, I was about to ask this. They constantly do it in Law and Order and other shows, making the most outrageous remarks and quickly withdrawing them after objection. It always seemed to me highly unlikely that judges would let lawyers get away with this. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2018, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/may-it-please-the-court/812465/24 "2018-04-18T00:46:53Z")
In my experience in state and federal courts, there are no magic words. You basically just show respect - and deference. You pick up something that you are comfortable with, and you just rattle it off. I don’t know any judges who really care about specific terms of address. Well, Posner and Easterbrook at the 7th were pretty much sticklers about all manner of things, but they were exceptional jerks. Most judges I know are simply interested in the attorneys being prepared, presenting clear and well-supported arguments, and directly answering questions. That is a sufficient show of respect. I couldn’t care less if they stand when I enter, or call me “Sir” or “Your honor.” And, I posted before about what I think “With all due respect” means! 😉 You could probably track a correlation between how much an attorney uses “legalese”, and the likelihood that they don’t know what the hell they are doing. So many attorneys - male and female - act as though dressing the part, and saying certain formal words is all that is needed. Meanwhile, they are constitutionally incapable of answering a simple yes/no question with either of those options…:smack: ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2018, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/may-it-please-the-court/812465/25 "2018-04-18T00:59:04Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > How common are mock trials? Is that something you do multiple times in law school? > > Sam Weinberg: “I strenuously object?” Is that how it’s done? Hm? “Objection, your Honor!” “Overruled” “No, no. I STRENUOUSLY object.” “Oh! You strenuously object. Then I’ll take some time and reconsider.” Mock trials were almost non-existent when I was in law school. I can recall only two times we practiced arguing in front of the class. Once was for about five minutes in tort class (first year) and once was for about 20 minutes (in a real court room) as part of our final project for Legal Research and Writing. Moot Court was a competitive student club activity. You had to compete to get on the moot court team and generally they were some of the best students in your year. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2018, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/may-it-please-the-court/812465/26 "2018-04-18T02:24:51Z")
There were the competitive moots at my law school, but the second year moots were mandatory for all students to complete. But appellate, not trial. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/may-it-please-the-court/812465.md?page=1)