Be a professional when you’re in Court. Show the Judge you’re an well adjusted adult…Address the Judge, never the other party.
For a non-attorney and even some attorneys a courtroom can be a strange and scary place. Courtroom proceedings can seem arcane and intimidating. This is one of the myriad of reasons that it is always far better to try to settle or mediate your dispute outside of court. Why allow a third party to make all the decisions for you when you could conceivably settle the case on your own?
The time to address the other side regarding your case is before you enter a courtroom. Once you enter the Courtroom, it’s the Judge’s Show, and the “winning litigant” always respects that.
Sometimes it is impossible to even talk with the other side, let along negotiate some kind of agreement that would make stepping inside a courtroom unnecessary. If you have fallen into this situation, you will probably either need to hire an attorney.