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Called for Jury Service.. I'm a full time student

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The Hamburglar said:
there is no such thing as a full time student in the UK. Unless you call 10 to 12 hours a week of seminars and lectures full time?

assuming this is a three year undergrad course.
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10-12 hours? Maybe for a cute little arts student, but for degrees worth getting its expected that you're in the university studying for far more than that.
 
Escargo said:
I've told them I was a full time student and gave them proof when I went to the court house. They basically just told I can leave.
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A Fish Aficionado said:
You are legally excused from class. The jury pool isn't looking for students generally.
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Yeah, I dunno how it works out in the UK, but typically speaking in the US one attorney or the other will probably strike you from the jury anyway because you're more likely to lean one way or the other. I was on a jury in an insurance fraud case, and the prosecutor for the insurance company struck this one girl from the jury and I'm pretty sure it was because they guessed she was a bleeding heart liberal.
 
for the guy in ny, i don't know NY, but you should be able to put in for a change of venue to the courthouse near you.

i've been summoned a several times for jury duty, to several different courthouses in my county, i always put in a change of venue request to either my home town or the town next over, the reason, would be travel hardship due to being a parent and having to be home until the kids go to school (wife has to be at work at 7:30 so i dealt with the kids -their school started at 8:50)...you had to be @ court by 9:15am...i could MAKE it to my towns by that time, and the courthouse one town over...not the courthouse that is 45 minutes away- without traffic....and at that time, traffic would tack on another 45 minutes of travel time.

now i cannot quite use that excuse, since the kids are now out of the house by 7:30....

of the times i had to actually show up at jury duty, i was dismissed by noon, the one time i got actually tossed in a pool for a case, judge went, case will take a week, who had a hardship, i raised my hand, he goes what is your hardship. i went, my wife leaves for work at 7:30, my kids goto school at 8:50, i could make it on time, but i have to pick my kids up at school at 250 every day... he said, i could make you come, i went, sure you could, and frankly it will be an easy case, you read the charges, the dude is guilty...
he went, your excused.- charges were drug possession(think it was heroin) with intent to distribute, driving an unregistered uninsured car and resisting arrest.
 
The Hamburglar said:
there is no such thing as a full time student in the UK. Unless you call 10 to 12 hours a week of seminars and lectures full time?

assuming this is a three year undergrad course.
Click to expand...
My course (Physics) has 21 hours of lectures, tutorials and laboratories per week plus 4-8 hours a week homework and a few projects per term. And that's just the compulsory stuff.
 
Canada is so much easier. You get a letter and told you can go online to set up an account. There you can ask to be taken off and you give them your reason. I told them my story and was notified shortly after that my request for leave was granted.
 
uncleniccius said:
I've heard that it is quite difficult. When I phoned and talked about this I was honestly told that it was my 'responsibility to Queen and country' and that I needed to 'grow up and take responsibility'. I didn't even say I wouldn't do it, just that I'd like to defer it.
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In Canada, it's been very easy for me to get deferred. Much harder to be excused completely.

Big-E said:
Canada is so much easier. You get a letter and told you can go online to set up an account. There you can ask to be taken off and you give them your reason. I told them my story and was notified shortly after that my request for leave was granted.
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Does vary province to province. Nothing electronic in Nova Scotia except the phone recording that hopefully tells you that you don't need to show up.
 
uncleniccius said:
I've heard that it is quite difficult. When I phoned and talked about this I was honestly told that it was my 'responsibility to Queen and country' and that I needed to 'grow up and take responsibility'.
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If they literally said that, write to them and say your not doing it on grounds that you're taking their advice and taking responsibility by attending a course that is probably costing you £10,000
 
liquidtmd said:
If they literally said that, write to them and say your not doing it on grounds that you're taking their advice and taking responsibility by attending a course that is probably costing you £10,000
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I can't believe I didn't ask to speak to her manager.

But yeah, I did the maths and those two weeks (if it was just two weeks) are £750 in tuition. That's without the cost of my student house (so £1000 all in as I'd be living at home for Jury duty). What a joke.

The thing that is really frustrating is that I want to do an internship or something next Summer.. if I get deferred then I can't do that. If I don't do that my job prospects are hurt. It is a lose lose situation.
 
uncleniccius said:
Hey GAF,

I just received summons for jury service in the UK. I'm at University, and I've been called in late October (midway through the semester).

Does anybody have any advice on what to do? I fear that it will hurt my academics. I'm doing a semester abroad from January, so that might be something to take into account. As a result of that I'll have to finish my work earlier than I otherwise would have to.

Do you think they'd allow me to defer it until next Summer on these grounds?
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I was called for Jury Duty in the UK when I was 18, and it was during my A-level exam period. I just told them I was in full time education and would be unable to attend and that was the end of it.
 
In the US you can get out of it by claiming you're a full-time student (there's even a box you can check in the form they send you in the mail). I don't know how it works in the UK but I'm fairly certain the same exception can apply. Talk to your academic advisor to see what your options are.
 
Today's headlines: Video game forum misses opportunity to title thread about jury duty "Call of (Jury) Duty".
 
OP, I received Jury summons while at uni and was able to defer. In my case the date was just before my final deadline, and in a court on the opposite side of the country, but I'm fairly sure full-time education is a valid excuse regardless.

Had to go eventually though, and it wasn't exactly fun. I did at least only have to serve 4 out of 5 days.
 
I got called jury duty and told them I wasn't currently living in that constituency (which was true - our house had gone on fire like a week earlier lol) but they didn't even ask for proof or anything.

Could always try that :P
 
It's honestly not that hard to get out of if you have a legit reason. I wasn't even a student when I got my jury duty notice and I got out of it saying that it would cause me "significant financial burden" to be away from work for that long.
 
sankt-Antonio said:
How many days of your time are we talking here? Don't have this kind of thing in Germany so I have no clue whatsoever.
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In the UK Jury duty is minimum one week. Sometimes you can sit around for the 5 days doing nothing. If you finish a case you can get reassigned to another case though.

If you're really unlucky you get assigned to a lengthy case and it takes weeks/months.
 
Mine came just as I was finishing my first year, perfect timing really. Two weeks of waiting around though. I think they asked me what I did, and when I said I was a student they asked me if I wanted to defer, but I told them I'd be fine. Shouldn't be a problem OP.
 
Linkstrikesback said:
Right.

Good luck getting a law degree while also only spending 10-12 hours studying a week.
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History is definitely a good example though. If you're doing an arts degree at a good university you haven't got an issue. I get STEM elitism, but if you do well in Arts at a top university you should be fine.
Broken Joystick said:
Mine came just as I was finishing my first year, perfect timing really. Two weeks of waiting around though. I think they asked me what I did, and when I said I was a student they asked me if I wanted to defer, but I told them I'd be fine. Shouldn't be a problem OP.
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That's good to hear. The uni have recommended I just roll with it. Not happy about losing time, but if I want to do an internship or something next year on screwed.
Kuros said:
In the UK Jury duty is minimum one week. Sometimes you can sit around for the 5 days doing nothing. If you finish a case you can get reassigned to another case though.

If you're really unlucky you get assigned to a lengthy case and it takes weeks/months.
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You can say no to lengthy cases in some circumstances though can't you?
 
uncleniccius said:
You can say no to lengthy cases in some circumstances though can't you?
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Yeah, some cases are obviously going to take a while, and they'll ask if it's inconvient for anyone to miss weeks of work/school, and you can (eventually) be assigned to a different case that'll take a few days. Prepare for a lot of sitting around though, I spent like four days sitting from 9-3 doing nothing. Take a book, or some work.
 
Broken Joystick said:
Prepare for a lot of sitting around though, I spent like four days sitting from 9-3 doing nothing. Take a book, or some work.
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So much sitting around. I was told I was allowed to bring a laptop/tablet if I wanted, but since you can be called up at any time you'd want something you can save and shut off at 30 seconds notice. Also the wifi cost money to use.
 
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