First appearance in court

Had my first appearance in court today. It went really well... until I did something a bit silly.

First thing was discovering that the other side hadn't sent one of their trainees but the heavyweight pro from the office. Not great.

Second thing was being first up - bad, as I didn't have the chance to gauge the sheriff beforehand, but good as he wasn't yet impatient by the time I was on!

I was nervous beforehand but when I went up I felt fine. The pursuer's agent set the scene then the sheriff turned to me.

I made my submissions (went well), tendered a photocopy from McPhail and a Westlaw copy (I know...). Went well, sheriff was with me. I was doing OK. Sheriff was even smiling at me. And then... doh!

Pursuer's agent said that he didn't have the papers he needed with him and asked for a continuation. And I didn't oppose it. So it was continued for 2 weeks. And the sheriff told me that whilst he was impressed with my submissions, agreeing to the continuation was "commendable". I think that means he was calling me a ninny.

Why? Because it was in the bag... and now I have given him the chance to appear with a bunch of papers that will no doubt cast enough doubt about my defence to sink my arguments, or something along those lines. Or I will have a less sympathetic sheriff. Or I will be last on (being a continued diet) so the sheriff will have no patience for bringing out McPhail. And I could have put it to bed this morning and returned to the office to a hero's welcome (or something like that).

Drat.

So why did I do it? Well, I didn't actually think it would be worth opposing a continuation. Right? Wrong. Let's face it, the pursuer's agent should have been prepared with the right papers, just as I was.

A lesson in inexperience! Am becoming fed up of learning from mistakes! At least I enjoyed the advocacy. And maybe it will be OK in 2 weeks... we'll see.