After half an hour of research, I finally have the opportunity to observe a court in person for the first time. At the 302nd Family Court in downtown Dallas on December 3, 2013, the case I was looking at was a child custody case between Anna Smith and David Smith. The case number displayed on the board outside the courthouse is DS-12-08126. Additionally, the judge of the 302nd Family Court is Tena Callahan. It was quite an experience when I entered the court building and I really didn't know where to go. I stopped and asked security and a court employee. I was informed that I could walk into court in silence and if anyone started asking questions I just needed to tell them why. This is totally new to me as an international student. The case I came across is a child custody case between Anna Smith and David Smith. Anna Smith, from what I observe, is a dark-skinned woman who appears to be somewhere between thirty-five and forty. On the other hand, David Smith is a gentleman who looks forty-two to forty-five years old. When I walked in, they were discussing the truck payment that Anna Smith was tasked with paying for when they divorced, and she is asking her husband for a share of around 60%-40% monthly. The truck was purchased in 2010 and is worth $15,000 to $16,000. Next, I observed that the attorney on David's side, Lafleur Eric, was asking questions of "lawyer" Anna Smith who was the defendant. When I said "lawyer", I mean that he intends to ask Anna a series of questions to bring out the guilt, truth, frustration, confusion and remorse in Anna. He covers his entire answer by asking the first question. “Will you fully understand and answer my questions truthfully under any circumstances? He said yes. When he started asking pretty quickly and she started to get confused. I thought it was t... middle of paper... Anna has an advantage over the witnesses and the judge; however, she also has to worry about Eric because he will have some tricks up his sleeves that he will pull out. For example, regarding medications, Eric called Dr. Mason and the doctor informed him that Anna was mixing up Logan's medications lately and she testified to it. As far as I know, the chance to make Logan grow bigger lies with Anna Smith. This experience is really interesting for me. Watching the court procedure, seeing how the American system works, seeing how government money is spent, seeing one of the most common cases in the United States, and witnessing something I have never seen with my own eyes before is really interesting. While I can't know what the judge's response to child custody is in this case, I got something out of this helpful post.