How to Become a Barrister or Magistrate

Law-enforcement and courtroom RP action are tremendous fun, and when done well, are both easy to learn and a delightful challenge to carry off. The Stormwind Courts of Law and Equity are particularly designed to help bridge the gap between guard and criminal roleplayers, give additional opportunities for deeper RP, and help them create closure for their stories.

But what kind of court could there be without judges and lawyers? That's where our members come in! The SCLE offers the opportunity for anyone willing to qualify for the role, to roleplay as officers of the court.

Qualifications? Why Qualifications?
The key thing to doing RP well is to know how to do it well. Courtroom RP is more intricate and formulaic than average RP, and has a visible impact on the future of the characters involved--especially the defendant! It has a bit steeper of a learning curve as a result.

In the real world, people study for years to receive permission to practice law, and then take more years learning all the intricacies and nuances that can't be taught in schools. Not to worry; the SCLE has worked hard to simplify the court process, and have managed it to a very significant degree.

Learning the rules of the SCLE is a fairly simple and easy process, especially as you always have access to the materials. We've created a two-part process to help you become familiar and comfortable with what we do here, and help you help your "clients".

Licensing Barristers
First of all, we do limit licensing of barristers to members of the IMPROV Network. This is primarily because we want to help ensure easy communication with other users of our Courts, and also because we want to be sure we know you. No obligations are upon you there except that you be a decent roleplayer and not break any RL laws.

The SCLE's path to becoming a barrister has two prongs: the academic side, covering the contents of the laws and rules, and the structure and functions of the courts; and the practical side, covering those laws and rules in action through a mock trial. We like to refer to this method as

Theory and Practice.
Mostly because the pun was too good to pass up.

The Theory side of licensing is covered by taking a short bar exam. The exam is not, in fact, a written one, but conducted "orally"--real-time RP--in a public setting. A fluid set of questions is put to the examinee by a Justice of the SCLE, designed to ensure that the examinee has the necessary basic knowledge of law and principle, as well as ensuring that he/she knows how to find answers to trickier questions on the fly.

Once that is completed, the Justices will schedule a "mock trial" to cover the Practice side of licensing. A mock trial is essentially a set of facts and established witness statements designed to allow both sides of a case to make their best effort, in a situation where mistakes will have no lasting impact. This allows you to get a feel for how a trial should run, and how the rules interact--and hopefully will give you a liking for what you're preparing to do!

Once you've passed those to the Justices' satisfaction, you will be cleared to practice law in the SCLE.

Certifying Magistrates
But what if you want to do more? Becoming a magistrate is another, even larger way you can help the RP community out.

Magistrates serve as referees for the trials, as well as helping to coordinate the process and keep it moving forward. Since they have to make judgment calls about burdens of proof, objections, and procedures, they need more expertise than barristers.

For that reason, we require that magistrates have to have been barristers, and have represented clients well in three trials from start to finish. Once you've accomplished that, a Justice will give another short examination to verify that you know the system well enough to serve as referee.

But What If I've Been a Barrister or Magistrate?
We try to stay flexible, because ultimately, this system exists to help foster and serve RP, rather than to be a pretty system of its own.

If you've qualified as a barrister or magistrate for another court-RP community or program--or especially IRL--then we're happy to give you a pro hac vice license (a "guest" license) for your first case! If you do well, we'll count it as your Practice requirement, and only ask that you pass the bar exam (as the laws and rules we use are somewhat different, both in spirit and letter).

We can't allow new members to serve as magistrates, though; we need to know you before we tell people to trust your judgment. You'll still have to serve as a barrister for three cases--but again, we hope this will be a quick and fun experience!