Privacy and Public Access to Court Records

Court records include the case file of a lawsuit, records of any hearings, and information the court or clerk court prepares in connection with any judicial proceeding. A court's management information and data (budgets, reports, and statistics) are also considered court records. Since computers make it easy to gather and store information, many courts have developed databases of information. This database is also considered a court record.

Reviewability of Federal Administrative Agency Decisions

Federal administrative agencies make adjudicatory decisions in regulatory cases. Agency cases include Social Security benefit claims, Federal Communication Commission licensing matters, and Food and Drug Administration proceedings to enforce provisions of the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. If the person or company affected by the decision is dissatisfied with the agency's ruling, the decision can be appealed to a court. This article discusses the requirements that must be met before an agency's decision can be appealed to the court.

Hiring An Attorney

If you are stuck with a car that is a lemon or if an electronics store won't repair the big screen television that you bought from it, you may need to hire an attorney to help resolve the dispute. Legal advice is also helpful if you are buying or selling a home or starting a new business. Attorneys can provide valuable advice on estate planning, tax matters, and marital issues.

Judicial Accountability

Judges take an oath of office to follow and apply the law faithfully. In certain cases, judges find themselves in a dilemma--that of faithfully applying a law that conflicts with the judge's own beliefs, principles, or sense of justice. In addition to taking an oath to uphold the law, judicial ethics and judicial precedent require a judge to follow prior case law on matters that have been decided by higher courts.

Juror Misconduct

In the American judicial system, there is a fundamental right to have a trial by jury. The United States Constitution and the constitutions of the states guarantee the right to a trial by jury. The constitutional right to a trial by jury includes a right to an impartial or fair jury. Before a jury is impaneled, the jurors take an oath in which they swear or affirm to try the case in a fair and impartial manner, according to the law and the evidence. This article discusses juror misconduct. Under some circumstances, courts grant a new trial because of juror misconduct.