LINKS TO GUIDANCE ON DRAFTING WITNESS STATEMENT: INTERACTIVE BLOGGING

Yesterday I was speaking on the APIL Fatal Accidents course. One of the points I was making was the importance of reading the rules and and guidance in relation to the drafting of witness statements.   The delegates asked for links to the guidance I was referring to. It turned out that the easiest way to do this was to put the links on this blog. (So for everyone who was on the course today, I hope you got home safely, look I kept my promise-  and Hilary and I had a great time). For everyone else here are some useful links on drafting witness statements.

Most (but not all) of the delegates in Manchester

GUIDANCE FROM JUDGES

I recommended looking at writing from judges on witness statements.

• Six Circuit judges have already written a useful Guide for Litigants in person available free of charge on the Courts and Tribunal Judiciary website (The witness statement section is Chapter 11).
• The guidance provided by Scottish judges appears to have disappeared. However it was summarised in this post on the guidance. 
• The Chancery Guide is available here  Chapter 19 on Witness Statements is summarised in the blog post here.
• The Guidance from Western Australia can be found in the links on the page here. However the guidance is set out in some detail in the post here.

OTHER GUIDANCE

• Guidance from the Bar Council is set out here. 

GUIDANCE ON THIS BLOG

There are dozens (possibly hundreds) of posts on this blog about witness statements and witness evidence.  A good starting point is:

• Drafting witness statements that comply with the rules: a checklist too important to ignore.
• Drafting witness statements and the genius of John Munkman
• Drafting witness statements: “4 Golden Rules” Directly from the Judges who hear the cases.
• Asking Leading Questions and Witness Statements: This is going to end badly: eight crucial points on evidence (& then 10 more).

OTHER SELECTED POSTS ON WITNESS STATEMENTS

• Witness statements and evidence: After 278 years of judicial prompting have practitioners got the message?
• Psychobabble in witness statements: strong views from the family court.
• Appeals on issues of fact: Speculation and “opinion” evidence from witnesses is to no avail.
• Opinion evidence in witness statements
• The Rhianna case and opinion evidence in witness statements
• The dangers of letting witnesses give their opinions: it hinders rather than helps your case
• Witness statements are for facts: knowing the difference between evidence and submissions (and why it matters).
• What the Jackson report said: Problems with witness statements: “lengthy, irrelevant and rambling”