The Novice Guide to Court Hearings

(pdf, epub and Kindle versions!)

Have you a court hearing coming up?

Are you secretly terrified?

Everyone is scared, or at least a bit worried, the first time they attend court. Even experienced trial lawyers get nervous.

With legal aid being cut and the cost of having a lawyer represent you being beyond most people’s means, more and more people are having to represent themselves at court.

However if you know what you are doing and are properly prepared you can do very well. Even if you have no experience whatsoever at court work.

This little book will give you the confidence to be prepare and present your case – and WIN!

Written by experienced landlord and tenant solicitor Tessa Shepperson, the Novice Guide to Court Hearings has a clear and easy to understand style and includes sample documents and forms to help you prepare your case.

Tessa remembers well her first hearings and how nervous she was! Thats why she wanted to write a book to help people in this position.

Contents include:

• Foreword by Steve Wiseman – former Chief Executive of a local Citizens Advice Bureau

• Introduction – some background information on court proceedings

• Guidance on settlement – you should always try to reach an agreement with your opponent if you can. This saves everyone’s time. This book discusses the best way to do it, and shows you what a ‘consent order’ looks like.

• Preparation – preparation is key. If you have your case details at your finger tips you are more likley to do well. This chapter runs through all the things you need to do and take with you to court. Includes a draft front page of a bundle of documents, and a draft witness statement.

• Before the hearing – what do you do when you arrive at court? This chapter talks you though it, and discusses what sort of things you need to talk about with your opponent before the hearing (if you are on speaking terms, that is!)

• Interim hearings and applications – not all court hearings are trials. Some of them are ‘interim hearings’ – hearings before the Judge to make decisions about how your case will be dealt with. Or there can be applications for various purposes – such as adding a new defendant or enforcement of a judgment. This chapter gives essential guidance on how to deal with them.

• Trials – this is the big one, the one that everyone is scared of! But you need not be if you follow the guidance set out here. This chapter explains how the Judge will normally deal with the trial hearing and gives some tips and tricks (often used by lawyers) to help you make sure that nothing is left out in your presentation.

• Judgement and costs – this chapter looks at what happens when the Judge makes his decision, and the things that you will need to check with him afterwards. Including a short discussion on legal costs.

• After the hearing – this chapter looks at what you can do if you miss the hearing, appeals (very briefly) and discusses the order that you will recieve from the court.

Appendixes:

• A: Without prejudice – a short article discussing what it means
• B: Witness summonses – when you need them and how you get them
• C: Types of final order – a brief list and description
• D: The proof of Evidence form – a special form designed by Tessa to help you prepare your case. Includes a completed sample to help you use it
• E: The Principles of Betterment – or how to claim the right amount of money when replacing a second hand item. Written by Tom Derrett, author of How to Win Deposit Disputes (to be published by Your Law Store shortly)

Note that the book is based on a series which first appeared in the Landlord Law Blog in 2010. However the content has been completely revised and it includes new material, plus the forms and examples.

The Novice Guide to Court Hearings is written for Court Hearings in England and Wales. Some of the principles discussed in the book will be helpful for ALL hearings, but Tessa (being an English solicitor) cannot speak for any courts other than those she knows.

The examples used to illustrate the points and procedures in the book are mostly taken from the field of landlord and tenant law (as Tessa is a specialist in that area of work) but again, the general principles will apply to all types of case. However the book will be particularly helpful for people needing to attend hearings for possession, and other hearings relating to rented property.

Remember its an ebook

The Novice Guide to Court Hearings is provided in electronic format only (at present). It is not a physical book which you can hold in your hand.

However this means that you can download it and read it NOW!

AND we provide it in a variety of formats – you will get:

• The Novice Guide to Court Hearings in pdf format (to read on your computer or ipad)
• The Novice Guide to Court Hearings in mobi format (for Kindle readers)
• The Novice Guide to Court Hearings in epub format (for other e readers)
• Three separate pdf forms

What if after buying the book, you don’t like it?

We have a 14 day no quibble money-back guarantee. Just email us saying why you did not like the book and we will refund your money.

But why not try it before you buy it?

Yes! I want to buy it now!

• Place your order by clicking one of the ‘buy now’ buttons on this page
• You will then need to make payment via pay pal
• After this, you will be sent a link (by email) to a page where you can download the book
• The book will be in a zip file – you need to save this to your computer, you can then open the zip file by clicking on it, to get to the book.

You could be reading the book in under a minute!

Just make sure though that you put in the correct email address when ordering, and if it seems to be taking a long time to get your download link – check your spam folder! The emails are sent automatically by the system so they WILL go out.

(Note that your pay pal statement will show the payment as being made to Zollch Ltd – which is the name of the company which owns Your Law Store.) Any problems, there is a feedback form you can use on our How to Buy page – which is linked from the top of the main part of the site.

The Novice Guide to Court Hearings – Price: Just £12

Forget the fear and concentrate on winning your case!

*****

Here are some comments by users of Tessa’s other books and products:

“I recently represented us at court using your rent repossession kit to prepare everything. We achieved everything we wanted.

Your kit was marvelous, so user friendly. I have no legal training whatsoever. So thank you so much.” – Ronni O’Gara, Landlord

About Tessa’s section 21 ebook:

“First Class, at last we have a book that explains things simply without the usual legal jargon that goes with it”. Geoffrey Lee, trustee landlord”

About Tessa’s Landlord Law service:

The content is easy to read, doesn’t patronize and you don’t need a legal dictionary to understand it!” Amy Harrison, tenant