- Court experience is emotionally intense, confusing, and humbling, often leaving counsel both satisfied and unsettled.
- Judges test everyone equally, exposing uncertainty, fear, and vulnerability in the courtroom.
- No book can fully capture the lived reality of standing before the Bench and being judged.
Court experience is beyond words, to be honest. The whole thing is hard to explain.
Going to court makes me happier. Facing those difficult old men and women they call judges gives me adrenaline. I sometimes feel my heart beat faster and get shivers, especially when they ask a lot of questions.
A court experience cannot be written in any book. It is confusing yet enjoyable. All courts are the same but different at the same time. All courts are enjoyable but very irritating as well. In court, you will understand why they call them judges, they are really judging.
A court experience is funny. You can walk out half happy and half angry. I remember one judge made a ruling that gave us all 50/50 in a matter. The learned friend then said in Sepedi, “Re e boletjie, sekgoro ya banna, ke lekhotla la banna, ga se court.”
At times, when you enter court, you must be willing to understand what matters most to you. What are you willing to lose and what are you willing to win? You will find yourself in a corner where winning and losing have the same meaning in court after the judge has dealt with you.
Being tested by the bench
Judges will show that they are judges. They will ask applicants and respondents the same difficult questions. You will all feel like you are in the wrong place, doing the wrong things. Actually, the reason no counsel is laughing at another counsel in court is that you know your turn to be laughed at will come.
A court experience cannot really be written down. The experience differs. The way one counsel feels in court differs from how another feels. One attorney once asked, when they were calling our matter, why my ring was flickering with light so fast and my leg was pounding the floor. I said, “Stress, my brother. I am about to address the court.”
I do not like the first line I must say, when addressing the court. At times, I do not know whether I must say to the judge, “Please relax, old man. I respect you so much, you look good today,” or compliment their hair. You want to ease the room. There is always that look before you speak that says, “You better know your story,” and another that asks, “Are you sure you are doing this?”
Often, if you observe advocates before a court session, there are fights on paper. In the morning, when you meet to introduce matters in chambers, there is that energy of readiness to fight. Once questions are asked in chambers, many counsel, when they come out, find each other and walk to court holding hands like lovers before a priest. Court will humble you.
When court takes a physical toll
One judge, in December 2023 at the Johannesburg High Court, made me land in hospital with fatigue just after appearing before him for three days. I will never forget 12, 13 and 14 December 2023. I think it was Judge Khan, an old Indian man. I remember there were many advocates from Pitjie Chambers. They saw that in court, I was fighting like a madman. They said, “Relax, he is like that.”
That judge was cooking and frying every counsel before him. I remember coming from court and asking Tebogo Sweatz to drive me; I was feeling extremely sick. The judge never allowed me to even complete an answer to any question for the full three days.
If all counsel were honest about court experience, they would advise clients, “Let us not go there.” A court is like an initiation school. What happens there stays there. There is no tell-all because none of it is easy for anyone. The worst part is that there is no one cruising in court. Anyway, court is court.
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