How to correctly announce your appearance

Announcing your appearance in a clear and confident manner is very important to settle your nerves and ensure you do not get roasted by a Registrar who likes to “induct” young lawyers. It also serves the purpose of providing the monitor with a name to record on the court transcript log.

I was quite confidence at announcing my appearance in court until I realised that almost every practitioner announces their appearance differently. What is the correct way? And are there any rules to guide you?

I was taught to announce my appearance in the following manner:

“May it please the court, Holmwood*, spelled h-o-l-m-w-o-o-d~, for the Defendant#”.

*State your last name here. You may also have to state your first initial if there is more than one admitted solicitor in NSW with your last name.

~Unless your last name has an obvious spelling, like “Smith”, you will have to spell it out to the Judge or Registrar. Just do it. The amount of times I see people not spelling their name and then having to be asked by the Registrar to spell it out is embarrassing. Not only are you wasting the Judge/Registrar’s time if you have to be asked to spell your name, you are wasting the time of everyone in the list behind you.

The only time you don’t have to announce your appearance or spell out your last name is if the Judge does it for you, as in “oh yes, I see we have Smith for the Plaintiff, and who is that appearing for the Defendant?”. This only happens for a select few QCs and SCs who happen to be well known to the Judge.

#State the party you are representing here – ie Plaintiff, Applicant, Defendant, First Defendant.

I also like the even more formal examples provided by Dean Morzone QC in a CPD seminar:

·      A barrister might say: “May it please the court, my name is [surname] initials [say your initials], of counsel, I appear for the [party] instructed by [instructing solicitor] solicitors.”

·      A solicitor might say: “May it please the court, my name is [surname] initials [say your initials], solicitor of [practice name] and I appear for the [party].”

Appearances I have heard in the Local Court:

·         “Smith for the Defendant”

·         “Good morning, Smith for the Defendant”

·         “Smith, your Honour”

I hope these made you cringe as much as I did when I heard them. Just because you are in the Local Court Small Claims Division does not mean you can avoid talking in sentences or speak to the Judge/Registrar as though you are on the street – “good morning” is not a way to announce your appearance. The Local Court represents the rule of law and the legal system just as much as the High Court, your standards should not vary depending on the hierarchy of the court.

Are there rules that apply?

After a thorough search of the Uniform Civil Procedure Rules (and myriad other statutes and regulation), I could not find any rules covering the announcement of an appearance at court. The UCP Rules deal with filing an Appearance, the consequences of failing to file an Appearance, and how to withdraw an Appearance, but are silent on the method of announcing your appearance at court.

The actual announcement of your appearance before the court is a formality not provided for in the Rules.  However, I would argue that the tradition of announcing your appearance has become a custom, and that the formal/traditional method of announcing your appearance should apply at all times.

If you are acting as an agent...

You need to let the court know when announcing your appearance you are acting as agent. This is important, as if you need to stand you matter in the list to receive further instructions from the principal, the court will already be alert to this possibility as you earlier informed them you were acting as agent.

A suggested appearance would be:

“May it please the court, Holmwood, spelled h-o-l-m-w-o-o-d, as agent for Law Firm X who are acting for the Defendant”.

I have heard some lawyers use this formulation:

“May it please the court, Holmwood, spelled h-o-l-m-w-o-o-d, as agent for the Defendant”

Technically this is incorrect. The agency relationship is between you and the law firm you are acting as agent for. There is no direct agency relationship between you and the Defendant.

A final tip: Write your appearance word for word at the top of your notes. This sounds ridiculous, but you will be thankful you took this step in the event you stand at the bar table to mention your matter and your mind goes blank. By the time you have read your appearance you will probably be feeling more comfortable and able to continue.