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PI Brief Update

“Call the Witness” - Lianne Naughton, 7 Harrington Street Chambers

03/12/13. We have all heard of “Call the Midwife” and, as we head towards Christmas and the inevitable Christmas Special we know that such familiar shows bring comfort and warmth at the end of grizzly winters day and- even if things look a little dicey for a bit- all will be well in the end.

As a Barrister, the words “Call your Witness” can have dramatically different effects and turn that cosy feeling into something rather more chilling. A short conference prior to the trial has revealed that whilst the witness duly ‘signed where indicated’ and returned their statement to the solicitor, at no point did the witness (or solicitor) check its accuracy or question the use of the phraseology within it, or, even more worryingly, question the meaning of some of the paragraphs. The result? A wholly inconsistent witness who can be torn apart by even a mediocre Barrister...

Image ©iStockphoto.com/mediaphotos

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All information on this site was believed to be correct by the relevant authors at the time of writing. All content is for information purposes only and is not intended as legal advice. No liability is accepted by either the publisher or the author(s) for any errors or omissions (whether negligent or not) that it may contain. 

The opinions expressed in the articles are the authors' own, not those of Law Brief Publishing Ltd, and are not necessarily commensurate with general legal or medico-legal expert consensus of opinion and/or literature. Any medical content is not exhaustive but at a level for the non-medical reader to understand. 

Professional advice should always be obtained before applying any information to particular circumstances.

Excerpts from judgments and statutes are Crown copyright. Any Crown Copyright material is reproduced with the permission of the Controller of OPSI and the Queen’s Printer for Scotland under the Open Government Licence.