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.
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”