Courtrooms are not as theatrical as they may seem on TV. Instead, the courtroom is primarily a place of order and silence. When you arrive at the courtroom assigned to your case, you will notice that there are other people present. There will likely be other parties there for their own cases, attorneys, clerks, a court reporter, bailiffs, and of course, a judge. With that said, most courts will require absolute silence in the courtroom unless you are in front of the judge for your case. In most Texas courts, this includes speaking with your attorney. Not only is talking distracting for the court, but if your attorney is listening to you instead of the court proceedings, they may miss something important. Usually, you’ll be required to briefly step out of the courtroom to conduct this conversation during a break to maintain the order discussed above. Remember, it becomes difficult for the court reporter to transcribe testimony if he or she cannot hear adequately, and it creates a similar problem if the judge cannot hear testimony due to courtroom chatter.
Next, you should know that taking pictures or video with any device while in the courtroom is strictly forbidden. For this reason, we recommend clients keep their electronic devices out of view, so it does not even appear as if a client is attempting to violate this rule.
When in court or the courthouse, it is key to be polite and courteous even in the hallways. You never know who may be observing you or making judgments about your credibility and character.
We’d argue that the most critical and universal rule of all Texas courts is that your cell phone must be in silent mode or powered off while in the courtroom. We have witnessed bailiffs both remove people from the courtroom and confiscate cell phones because of a non-silenced phone during a proceeding. To avoid this issue and embarrassment, we recommend that our clients power off their phones just to be safe.