The project is court visitation, reporting and education. To earn points I am looking for the following:
1. Caption: the name of the court you attended (County name, name of court (eg. Superior Court of Benton County, District Court of Linn county/small claims, etc)), parties involved, the date and time of the court proceeding, and whether a civil or criminal matter.
2. Nature of the dispute: act as a reporter attending the court hearing informing the reader (me) what the nature of the dispute was. Why were the parties there? What was the essence of their argument(s)? What facts were important to the respective parties cases? What did the parties or their attorneys say or how did they act? What did the judge say/act? Were there witnesses, evidence reviewed if so how were they presented, how did the parties respond, why do you think they were presented?
3. What was your reaction: Was this your first visit to a courthouse? What was it like to be in court? Did your experience differ from other court experiences or what you may have seen in the media? What was unique, shocking, interesting, etc.
4. What did you learn: tell me what you learned from attending the hearing. What did you identify at the court setting that you did not know before attending this class. What rules or laws made sense to you that you would not have identified before the term. Perhaps what could you have done differently than the parties, by your knowledge of the law, where you could have avoided going to court, unlike the parties you observed.
