Disorder in the Court: Great Fractured Moments in Courtroom History

by Charles M. Sevilla, Lee Lorenz (Illustrator)

Sit back and enjoy a collection of verbatim exchanges from the halls of justice, where defendants and plaintiffs, lawyers and witnesses, juries and judges, collide to produce memorably insane comedy.

A: You mumbled on the first part of that and I couldn't understand what you were saying. Could you repeat the question?

Q: I mumbled, did I? Well, we'll just ask the court reporter to read back what I said. She didn't indicate any problem understanding what I said, so obviously she understood every word. We'll just have her read my question back and find out if there was any mumbling going on. Madam reporter, would you be so kind? 

Court Reporter: Mumble, mumble, mumble, mumble, mumble.

Genres: Nonfiction, Humor, History, Law, Comedy, Legal, Historical

255 pages, Paperback

First published June 30, 1992

About the author

Perennially on the “Best Lawyers in America” list, Charles M. Sevilla has a private law practice in San Diego. He is the author of Wilkes on Trial and Wilkes: His Life and Crimes and a columnist for Forum.

Reviews

[Jenny · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not nearly as funny as the facebook post was.

[Bren fall in love with the sea. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hysterical! I actually got this for someone as a gift but wound up reading it myself. Hysterical! I cannot believe some of these things were actually said. I really can’t.

If you just want to read something to make you laugh..congrats, this is the book to do that!

[jessica ☾ · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was absolutely hilarious! There were some parts that I didn’t really get, but I think that’s mainly due to my lack of judicial system knowledge.

[ChrisA · Rating 3 out of 5]

I chose “Disorder in the Court” because I was looking for something unique and funny for me to read. The book is about all the stupid and silly things people have said and done in a courtroom. From accounts of people misunderstanding terms in the courtroom to people saying ridiculous stories. Each story has a unique name for what’s occurring in the court. Each type of story is in its own chapter. For example, a story about the judge saying something funny would be in a chapter labeled “The Judges” with other stories involving judges. That’s how this book is organized.

What worked was how the author set up each story. It has the title in the biggest font with the location of where it occurred just below it. It is followed by quotes of the people speaking in the courtroom with bolded names beside the quotes to clarify who’s speaking. “The Court: Please begin. Counsel: Thank you. Q. (to witness) Miss, while you have, if you do have- you still- oh, you don’t. The Court: That was a great start, Counsel” (Sevilla 40) The chapters were organized to help you find specific genres of stories. Say you wanted to find a story where the defendants say stupid things. You can look in the contents section and find where that story would be in the book.

What didn’t work was that lots of things in the book got repetitive. At times it feels like you’re reading the same thing over and over again. You would read similar jokes back to back since every joke in a chapter is somewhat similar. It made the reading feel slower because it was like reading the same thing at times. It slowly made the book less interesting for me when I came to parts like that. Some jokes are actually pretty funny, but some jokes make no sense or just aren’t funny. However, I think this book is a decent read overall.

[Ash Burke · Rating 1 out of 5]

Typically I like reading, but this book was so awful to force myself through. Parts either out of context didn’t make sense, or were just not meant for a general audience. I saw this book initially on Tumblr and it is safe to say it was advertised as more than it is.

[Minni · Rating 2 out of 5]

2,5
Honestly? Forgettable, and maybe because it's not my native language I didn't understand everything

[Stuart McCarthy · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[Nortia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hilarious read, most of them were funny, some of them I didn't quite understand (which I blame to me having studied law based in roman law and not in common law, the systems are wildly different) but some were GREAT and I am sure I will remember them in days and weeks and months to come, which is why in a 3.5 star read I chose to rate this as 4 stars on GR

[Oliver · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hilarious. Entertaining. You won't believe the authenticity of the things people say in court.

[Surbhi · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is really really funny and makes a great light read. I wish I could write this in Sanskrit 🤣🤣

[Vickie Richey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Most stories made me LOL. Some course language. But mostly very, very funny.

[Indira Wolf · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okay, I skimmed through this for fun. Gods, it gave me some good laughs. I recommend finding this online if you want to get a good laugh at the legal system and stuff. Some of the funniest stuff was said in this. The snark and banter, from normal people...gods. And most of the things that were funny involved sexual stuff (not criminal). It is a fast read, especially if you just skim for ones that seem funny and dont read every single line. let me know if you want the link to this for a fun and fast read.

[Paul Gaya Ochieng Simeon Juma · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am informed that Mr. Charles M. Sevilla is ranked one of the best lawyers in America! He also has a good sense of humor I must admit. His collections of some of the most hillarious moments in court kept me laughing on my own like a mad man. Honestly, I bought this book for other reasons, but it turned out that it was meant for a different purpose all together. You should try it sometime!!!

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had read a court transcript book before and I wasn't that impressed as it was very cartooney. However, this book had more meat to it and therefore was a lot more interesting.
I, however, can't believe all the shenanigans that go on it court with explanations and questions. Some of it is funny, some of it is shocking and the other bits seem downright dumb.

[Heather · Rating 2 out of 5]

A good book for reading small sections at a time - funny in parts but I'm sure I would have enjoyed it more if I was a lawyer.

[Amanda Lynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm actually looking into taking court reporter certification courses at my local community college now; that's how much I love this book!

[Nicci Everitt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Did u go to law school

Great book have a couple lawyers in the family, good laughs. It is fun to watch the witness be brutally honest

[Will · Rating 4 out of 5]

More "great" moments in courtroom history. It is advised to read this book in a place where people will not try to save you from choking.

[Sandy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I went into this having high expectations from the snippets I saw on tumblr. Because of that, I feel like I was greatly disappointed to the point where I couldn't really enjoy it.

[Pamela · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although I imagine this book is most entertaining for attorneys, it includes clever stories that are well presented.

[Trauermaerchen · Rating 3 out of 5]

While this was certainly an entertaining read, there were quite a few very tedious sections; not all of them were particularly funny and while there were some hilarious sections, I realized I really don't need a whole book of them.

I don't think you really need a lot of knowledge about (US) court to appreciate this but there were probably sections that would've hit harder with more knowledge but I have a hard time truly confirming or denying this.

I appreciated the organization of the book, how it made fun of pretty much every section as well as some the little quotes (although not all of them really felt fitting; there were some that felt like they were just in there for the purpose of being in there).

I'd recommend it if you want a light read to chuckle over (although be aware that this does mention some heavier topics, some of which could have been handled a bit better but then again, this is a book from the 90s; just know that going in) but it didn't change my world.

[bhavya · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was initially very excited to read this book. It was okay because it had some funny parts, but I felt like I wasn't even processing the words at all in the last chapter and a somewhere in the middle and just dragging my eyes over the words. This book is just a collection of dialogue and courtroom scenes, which I should have seen coming; I don't know why I expected something more.

Till the very last moment though I felt like something good is going to come up and I don't want to miss on anything hilarious. If you are going to read this, I suggest you get familiar with basic court roles and procedures, because I wasn't and I felt kind of confused while reading it.

[TheDragonThatReadsALot · Rating 2 out of 5]

A quick read, that definitely helps combat boredom (especially while taking public transit). Some sections were funnier than others. However, based on the excerpts I saw while reading reviews prior to picking up a copy I was vaguely disappointed --it just wasn't the source of side-splitting laughter I was hoping for.
That being said, different people have different views about what is humorous and I'd recommend a read to judge for yourself. There are still a number of scenarios sure to make you smile.

[Marla Nayer · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is amazing what gets said in court. While most of these are likely not verbatim, many have the actual court case reference. Some lawyers and judges are quite witty, some are off their rocker. Witnesses can be either as well, or just downright nutty. Even jurors have their moments. Defendants don’t always defend themselves. Expert witnesses are not always so expert (though some are very clever when dealing with irritating lawyers). And evidence isn’t always what it seems. We had lots of chuckles.

[Tony Hinde · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book feels like a subreddit forum on legal humor.

First published in 1992, most of the material in it is much older. And, while it is aging pretty well, some of the elements went over my head and thus missed the mark. There's also some casual racism and plenty of sexism, (think "mad Men").

On the whole, it is an easy and quick read. If you're into [supposedly] real-life stories then this should be satisfying.

[Maartje Paauw · Rating 3 out of 5]

My teacher recommended this to us, saying that reading about the fun moments in court, could help us get through the boring law cases faster. I laughed and laughed! We discussed our favourite cases from it in class and had a blast. It’s not a book to pick up and read in one go. It’s a book to pick up when you feel like it, read a few pages and laugh your ass off! Finished the last pages today and I already miss having the opportunity to read about new cases

[Sharon Kurtz · Rating 1 out of 5]

I thought this book would be hysterically funny...NOT! What a disappointment. I guess you have to be a member of the legal system to find the humor in this book. I ordered this book because my DIL is a Senior Court Stenographer and I wanted to know how she could keep a straight face or refrain from rolling her eyes or laughing out loud at some of the testimony that comes her way. Now I know. There is no humor to be had.

[Haven Blackfire · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am unsure about this one. It's somewhere between a 2 and 3 stars, maybe a 2.75. I first found this book on Pinterest, and it looked very funny.

Now that I've read it, I've gotta say it wasn't as funny as I though it would be. There were some funny excerpts here and there. There were some chapters that had more funny excerpts than others, but the book as a whole wasn't as fun as I thought it would be.

[Jim Jimmerson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Painfully slow, too many excerpts are clearly fake and just proto-internet viral facebook forwards from grandma. The 2nd largest chunk of excerpts are illustrations of incompetence, sometimes seemingly malicious, that is infuriating rather than funny. So a large chunk of the book is a sleep aid or anger inducing. The first book is better and more distilled, each of one of these gets longer, it didn't need the filler.

[Carlos · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was as funny as I expected, a chuckle here and there with most of the situations just being silly. Definitely more geared towards a coffee table book that you pick up every once in a while. The illustrations did help to keep some of the more sagging bits going while the book could have also benefited from a bit of pruning here and there.