### **Chapter 5: Voir Dire**
The courtroom had always been an arena, but Elle Hoods knew that the real battle started long before the opening statements. It began in the jury selection—the process that decided who got to define justice.
Harvard Law's mock trial exercise was no different.
Elle watched as students shuffled through profiles, assessing jurors with the same detached analysis they used for case law. Preston Montgomery III was seated across from her, flipping through his notes with the confidence of someone who had never needed to question the fairness of the system.
"I move to dismiss Juror #7," he announced.
Elle raised an eyebrow. "Reasoning?"
Preston shrugged. "She's hesitant in her responses. Could indicate bias."
Elle smirked. "Hesitant, or just careful? There's a difference between bias and self-preservation."
Preston leaned back. "You assume too much."
She leaned forward. "And you assume too little."
The professor watched the exchange. "Miss Hoods, your counterargument?"
Elle tapped her pen against the table. "We talk about justice like it's neutral, like it operates in a vacuum. But justice doesn't exist in isolation—it exists in the hands of the people who enforce it. Jurors don't just *interpret* the law. They decide whether it applies at all."
Silence.
Preston exhaled sharply. "That's not the point of voir dire."
Elle tilted her head. "Then maybe voir dire isn't the point of justice."
The professor adjusted his glasses, clearly intrigued despite himself. "Proceed with the selection."
Elle didn't smile. Harvard Law wanted her to prove she belonged. But she had a better idea.
She was going to prove that belonging wasn't the point. *Justice* was.