| Standards of Review for Appeals of Federal Administrative Hearing Decisions |
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| Federal agencies make administrative decisions in regulatory, entitlement, and enforcement cases. The agency can make an informal decision or hold a formal administrative hearing in a case. If the person or company affected by the decision is dissatisfied with the agency's decision, the decision is subject to review by a higher level within the agency or by a court. This article discusses the standards of review applied by a court in evaluating federal administrative agency decisions. More... |
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| Jury Consultants |
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| The jury serves a vital function in the American legal system. The jury is the trier of fact in a civil jury trial. The jury's role is to weigh the evidence presented by both sides and reach a verdict. The United States Constitution guarantees a right to trial by jury in civil and criminal cases. The jury must be fair or impartial. The jury pool, the group of individuals from which a particular jury is selected, has to be representative of the community. Voir dire is the process of interviewing potential jurors to determine who will sit on the jury. The purpose of voir dire is to identify and remove individuals who cannot be fair and impartial. It is becoming more and more common for attorneys to hire jury consultants to assist in the selection of jurors, especially for high-profile cases. More... |
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| Special State Courts |
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| The state court system is made up of a trial level court, a court of appeals, and a supreme court. In addition, the state court system has special courts that hear only a specific type of case. This article takes a look at some special state courts. More... |
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| Federal Appellate Procedure |
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| A litigant can file an appeal after a United States District Court, which is the federal trial court, enters a final judgment in the case. The person filing the appeal is called the appellant, and the other party is called the appellee. This article discusses the steps in the federal appellate procedural process when a case is appealed from the United States District Court to the United States Court of Appeals. More... |
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| The Common Law and Judicial Precedent |
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| The common law developed from unwritten English law, which was based on tradition and custom. English common law is the basis for federal law and the law of all states, except Louisiana (whose law is based on the Napoleonic Code or the French Civil Code). The most important characteristic of common law is that it is judge-made law rather the law derived from constitutions, statutes, regulations and ordinances, which are legislative enactments. Under the common law system, current cases are decided using the precedents established by past judicial decisions.More... |
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