Drafting Witness Statements

Drafting Witness Statements

Live Online

Virtual classes –
tailored for your staff

Face-to-face

At your office –
tailored for your staff

E-learning

Anytime, flexible learning for
indviduals and organisations

Coaching

Bespoke intensive
support for individuals

Drafting a witness statement is not a simple task. This course will help you draft effectively so your statements comply with the CPR and are an accurate and reliable account of each witness’s evidence.

This Drafting Witness Statements course covers organising a witness’s evidence, using their words (not yours), and avoiding common errors that can damage your case.

Course Content

Content & Outcomes

See face-to-face course

Format

Courtroom reconstructions on video, live cross-examinations, group discussions in breakout rooms, redrafting work.

Drafting Witness Statements Live Online Course

3 hours

Lawyers (max 8)

Face-to-Face

This course is for desk-bound litigation lawyers who rarely see the witness statements they draft exposed in the courtroom. By recreating the experience of witnesses, it highlights the techniques used in cross-examination and allows lawyers to practise counteracting them as they draft statements.

Content

  1. How to recognise statements that include:
  • unnecessary evidence
  • evidential gaps
  • lawyer’s wording
  • inconsistency
  • uncertainty
  • argument
  1. How advocates take advantage of drafting errors
  2. How to manage the risks when drafting statements

Outcomes

As a result of attending the course, you will be able to:

  • prepare statements that are accurate and fit for purpose
  • use the witness’s words and not your own
  • protect the witness from avoidable damage in cross-examination

Format

Courtroom reconstructions on video, live cross-examinations, group discussions, redrafting work.

Drafting Witness Statements Face-to-face Course

3 hours

Lawyers (max 8)

E-learning

Witness statements can make the difference between winning and losing a case. They can be a key part of the settlement negotiation process, and if you go to trial, they will stand as evidence in chief and then be subjected to intense scrutiny in cross-examination. So it’s vital that your witness statements are well drafted and can be used as an effective litigation tool. This e-learning course will help you to develop the skills you need.

 See the coaching section for details of our follow-up drafting exercise and coaching.

Content

  • Purposes – understanding the reasons for writing witness statements
  • Structure – selecting the best approach and sequence
  • Writing clearly and precisely
  • Using the witness’s own words
  • Ditching formal language
  • Statements of truth
  • Exhibits

 

Outcomes

As a result of this course, you will:

  • comply with CPR requirements for witness statements
  • draft well-organised statements
  • draft clearly and concisely
  • use the witness’s words

Format

Practical e-learning based on drafting a witness statement from a real case.

Drafting Witness Statements E-learning Course

30 minutes - 2 hours with drafting exercise

Lawyers and case handlers looking to improve their skills.

£30 + VAT

One-to-one coaching session as a follow-up to the e-learning course. Delegates download an exercise which has notes from an interview.  They draft and submit their statement and then receive feedback from a tutor in a Teams call or telephone call.

Content

See e-learning course. The coaching also helps with avoiding common errors like unnecessary evidence, evidential gaps, lawyer’s wording, inconsistency, uncertainty and argument.

Outcomes

See E-learning course

Format

One-to-one coaching based on your drafting

Drafting Witness Statements Coaching Course

90 mins

Lawyers and case handlers looking to improve their skills.

Tutors

Peter Kinch website image
Peter Kinch
James Welsh image
James Welsh

Testimonials

Bee Flower website image
We think our training is the ‘bee’s knees’ but don’t just take our word for it. Read what our clients have to say about us on our testimonials page.

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