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  • 1. DUI Court Checklist
  • 2. Appropriate Dress Attire
  • 3. Getting your case on
  • 4. Addressing the Magistrate/Judge/Registrar
  • 5. Making your oral Court submissions

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STEP 5: ATTENDING & APPEARING AT FINAL COURT HEARING

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  • DUI Court Checklist

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Below we have included a step by step Checklist for you to use to ensure that you have covered some of the main steps throughout the Court process and during the case preparation of your drink driving matter.

CHECKLIST

A. COURT ATTENDANCE NOTICE:

  • Obtain the Court Attendance Notice (C.A.N.) – Police should provide this at time of charge.
  • Take note of date, time & location of first Court mention.

B. ASSESS THE CHARGE

  • Know what offence/s you have been charged with.
  • Do some preliminary research on the charge.
  • Consider seeking professional legal advice (if unsure of Plea).
  • If Guilty, continue to prepare for Court case.

C. PREPARE FOR FIRST COURT MENTION

This involves seeking an adjournment, but you need to consider what reason you have to adjourn your matter. Consider the following reasons:

  • Seek legal advice – find out when you will be able to obtain an appointment with a Solicitor.
  • Traffic Offender Program – find out time needed to complete the program.
  • Medical assessment & report – find out how long Doctor needs to complete report.
  • Time to prepare case – find out how long you think it will take to sufficiently prepare your case.
  • Written Representations – if you disagree with Police Facts Sheet or wish to negotiate the charges with Police.
  • Before you go to Court know why you require an adjournment & how long you will need.

D. FIRST COURT MENTION:

  • Attend Court promptly.
  • Locate Court List or Court Clerk to find out which Courtroom your matter is in.
  • Obtain & review a copy of the Police Facts Sheet & Traffic History from the Police Prosecutor inside the Court (do this before entering a Plea).
  • Enter your plea (Guilty or Not Guilty) or enter a No Plea if you require further advice or wish to issue written representation on Police.
  • Record the details of your next Court appearance & any other orders made by the Magistrate.

E. PREPARE CASE

  • If you decide to issue written representations on Police – issue within 1 week.
  • Organise character references.
  • Attend medical appointments, Traffic Offender Program, lawyers appointments.
  • Obtain final character references, medical reports, Traffic Offender Program completion certificate & workbook.
  • Prepare submissions to Court.
  • Practice reciting your Court Submissions at least 20 times.

 F. ATTEND COURT & PRESENT CASE

  • Arrive at Court on time.
  • Take all original character references & any other documents or material you wish to hand up to the Magistrate.
  • Find out which Courtroom your matter is in.
  • Patiently wait in the public gallery section of the Courtroom until your matter is called.
  • When called approach the standing microphone or the bench & indicate who you are.
  • Hand up documents or material you wish to show the Magistrate.
  • Once the Magistrate has read that material proceed to present your Court submissions.
  • Once finished, remain standing until Magistrate sentences you.
  • Do not engage in too much dialogue, if the Magistrate asks you questions, then keep answers short & to the point.
  • You should then be allowed to leave the Court.

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  • Appropriate dress attire

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Choosing the right Court attire or clothes to wear to Court is not going to be a critical aspect of your Court case and the penalties that the Magistrate will deal out to you. However, the idea is to put together the complete package and that also includes the smaller things such as what you wear and the way you present yourself before the Court. Dressing in a way that is clean, neat and tidy shows a degree of respect for the formal process that is the Court system. It is advisable to go that extra step and wear something formal such as a suit.court attire

If you do not own a suit then you may consider borrowing such an outfit from someone you know. Alternatively, if you don’t have access to a suit or an outfit similar to the one depicted in the picture above then you should try to obtain a long sleeve collared shirt with a tie, long pants and enclosed shoes. Try to choose clothing which is clean and formal. If you are unable to get hold of a formal business looking type of outfit then try to obtain clothes that are at the very least dressy and clean. There are a few DO NOT’s to keep in mind when choosing your Court attire which include:

  • DO NOT wear shorts
  • DO NOT wear tank tops or muscle shirts
  • DO NOT wear house shoes
  • DO NOT wear low cut tops or blouses
  • DO NOT wear hats
  • DO NOT wear sunglasses
  • DO NOT wear t-shirts with obscene language or inappropriate graphic (in fact you should try to choose neutral clothing with no language or graphic prints).

Use your common sense in choosing what to wear. Understand that the Court environment is made up with professional lawyers, police prosecutors, Court staff and of course the Magistrate who are all dressed in formal business attire. It is a good idea to blend into this style of dress code and not stick out of the crowd because of what you are wearing.

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  • Getting your case on

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It is a good idea to arrive at Court early (approximately 30 minutes before your matter is listed), this way you can search the Court List or speak with Court staff to find out which Courtroom your matter is in.

You should register your name with the Court staff, indicate your name, what your charge is, what your plea is and that you intend on representing yourself.

If you are attending a larger Courthouse such as a City Court then you will need to get there earlier because these Court are usually very busy and it may take longer to register your name with the Court Clerk.

Once you have registered your name with Court staff you should ask where the Courtroom is and if you may go inside the Court to take a seat.

It is recommended that you do sit in the public gallery section of the Court so that you can observe procedures, how the Court operates and other cases which are run before your matter is mentioned. You can certainly pick up some ideas and a good sense of what you will be required to do. It will also give you a good idea of what the Magistrate on the day is like and what sort of things that the Magistrate is compassionate to and what things the Magistrate clearly doesn’t have time for.

You may even wish to make a few small changes to your Court submissions whilst you are sitting there waiting for your matter and gaining valuable tips on what to say, what not to say and how to phrase certain points.

If you cannot find a Court staff member then do not be afraid to ask a Police office where you should go and take a seat.

It is not uncommon for people to attend Court and represent themselves – in actual fact there are generally far more unrepresented people in Court than there are represented defendants. So you will not be out of place just because you are representing yourself and generally the Court staff, Police prosecutors and even the Magistrate is always willing to assist you so that you are fully aware of what you need to do and what is expected.

The final Court hearing will generally play out as follows:

1. Your name will be called out by the Magistrate or Court clerk.

2. You will be told where to stand by the Court clerk or Magistrate (generally behind a microphone).

3. The Magistrate may ask whether you are represented, to which you will reply…

“I am representing myself, your Honour.”

4. The Magistrate will read out the offence that you have been charged with.

5. The Magistrate will then want to know what you are pleading for that particular charge (Guilty or Not Guilty). Here, you reply…

“Guilty, your Honour.”

If you wish to plead Not Guilty then we suggest you obtain a qualified traffic lawyer to represent you.

6. Following your plea you should then inform the Magistrate that you have some material (i.e. character references, medical reports, traffic certificates etc) that you wish to tender:

“Your Honour I have some documents that I would to read, may I tender them to the Court”

At this stage you should hand those documents to the Police Prosecutor who will view them and hand them to the Court officer who will then provide them to the Magistrate.

7. The Police Prosecutor will hand up to the Magistrate the Police Facts Sheet and your Traffic Record along with your material. You should have already reviewed the Police Facts Sheet and Traffic History when you obtained a copy at the first Court mention.

8. The Magistrate will take the time to read all of the material handed up to them.

9. After the Magistrate has read the documents and material they will generally turn around and ask you what you wish to say. This is your cue make your oral Court submissions.

10. The Magistrate may or may not ask you some questions about certain points that you make in your oral Court submissions. The Magistrate will do this to either clarify a point or make a point of their own.

11. The Magistrate will then determine your penalty – they may or may not ask you some brief questions, however the Magistrate will generally give a short speech (or dressing down) directed at you. The Magistrate will then tell you what your penalties are and what will be required from you to comply with those penalties.

You need to be well aware of the roles of each person in the Court.

Magistrate – controls the Courtroom and determines the sentence and penalties to be issued.

Police Prosecutor – presents the facts and the allegations to the Court, and can sometimes advise their position on what penalties they think should be issued.

Court Officer – is there to assist the Magistrate in any way.

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  • Addressing the Magistrate/Judge/Registrar

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Magistrate or Judge: If you are addressing the Magistrate or Judge of a Court in New South Wales, Australia then you should refer to them as “Your Honour”. This has been the case since 3rd of May 2004, where “Your Honour”, replaced the previous term of respect, “Your Worship”.

Registrar: You may find yourself before the Court Registrar particularly on the first Court mention (at larger Court houses) in the Callover Court. You should simply address the Court Registrar as “Registrar”. 

If you are unsure of whether the person running the Courtroom is a Magistrate/Judge or Registrar then you should ask someone (perhaps the Police prosecutor). However, if you are unable to find our then simply play it safe and address the person as “Your Honour”.

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  • Making your oral Court submissions

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When your name is called the Court clerk will show you where to stand (generally behind a microphone) and it is at this point that you should hand up your character references, medical reports or any other documents and material

First, you should let the Magistrate read your references and wait until he/she is finished. Then, you read your submissions slowly and carefully. Make sure to have read through your submissions many times, and everything else will come easy.

Your submissions should last no more than 5 minutes. Remember to make as much eye-contact with the Magistrate as possible, and speak loudly and clearly. The microphones in the courtroom are for recording and not usually amplifying sound.

 

Ready to move on?

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LEGAL DISCLAIMER: The information provided in the “NSW DUI Court Bible” is NOT legal advice and we do not hold ourselves out to be offering legal advice. We have no claim that this information should be taken as legal advice in replacement of seeking out the services of a legal practitioner.