A young man with a phone and headphones in a black hoodie

A young girl with pink hair in a pink hoodie

Know before you go:

Be comfy!

You should be comfortable in court. Just leave the pajama shirts at home.

Dress in layers

Courtrooms can be a lot like your school. Sometimes it’s hot, sometime’s in cold. So bring a jacket or sweater if you think you might be cold.

You don’t have to be all “dressed up”

You don’t need to wear a tie or a dress (unless you want to. You do you!). Just make sure you don’t wear any shirts with offensive stuff. If you can’t wear it to school, don’t wear it to court.

Jeans are fine!

Jeans are cool. And so are skirts as long as they’re an inch or two from your knee.

The courthouse has security

Everyone passes through security at the courthouse, just like the airport. So an officer may ask you to take off any large belts, jewelry, jackets, or shoes and put your phone into a little basket for a moment. They’re just doing their job to keep everyone safe. The less you carry the less you have to worry about!

Smart watches and phones are probably okay

Everyone has a phone, even the judge! But court is a lot like taking a test at school: sometimes you can have them, sometimes you can’t. Ask your Advocate if your local courthouse has a policy.

If they allow phones, put it away, leave it alone, and don’t let it make any noise when things start happening.

If you have an Apple Watch or something like it, don’t spend a lot of time looking at it. Maybe wear a long-sleeve shirt to help keep it from distracting you. And turn on DND!

NOTE: All this stuff passes through a metal detector on the way into the courthouse.