Courtroom Skills Training
Course duration: 1 Day Course
Course overview
A highly practical and experiential course designed for any professional who may be called upon to give evidence in any legal forum; civil or criminal. Delegates will learn how to present evidence under cross-examination by looking at the theory, practice & procedure of giving evidence and will then practice their skills in a cross examination role-play.
Who should attend
Many witnesses find the witness box to be a lonely place. Our adversarial system means that cross-examination can be uncomfortable.
Doubt can be cast upon your experience, qualifications, methods and opinions.
The session is designed to ensure that those who may have to give evidence undergo a process of familiarisation or review to gain knowledge of the procedures involved and to equip them with the necessary skills to give a coherent account from the witness box.
Course content
The course is an intensive and highly practical day. The procedures in giving evidence, the order of events, the roles of different people in the court and the process of giving evidence will be explained.
The techniques lawyers use to disconcert and discredit witnesses will also be examined. The morning session is designed to demystify the process of giving evidence.
In the afternoon session delegates will experience being cross-examined by a lawyer on a fictional case study.
The trainer will give constructive feedback on their particular witness box presentation.
Skills learned
Key Learning Points
- How the adversarial system works
- The procedures, order of events and roles of those in the adversarial systems
- How to prepare for giving evidence
- Taking the oath/affirmation with confidence
- Techniques lawyers use in cross-examination and how to handle them
- How to give clear, honest and objective evidence
- How to make appropriate use of supporting evidence, documents and notes when giving evidence
- How to give confident and clear testimony under cross-examination
