Lawyer's Timeless Guide For Witness Examination For Any Trial

Introduction

To all aspiring young lawyers, pupils, law graduates and other passionately curious public:

Do you ever feel jittery and nervous because you don't know what will happen in the Court?

What separates an inexperienced lawyer and an experienced lawyer is the fact that the experienced lawyer already knew what will happen (more or less) and therefore is more confident and more sure of him or herself.

Fear of the unknown is the father of all fears.

Like me, I believe most of you would want to be fearless in the Court, therefore, I am sharing with you a guide on what typically will take place from the beginning to the end for the examination of a witness.

I sincerely believe this guide can be useful as a reference to do some self-practice, to help you in visualising a trial, to use it as a checklist or cheat sheet.

Without further ado, here's it is:

Pre-examination

1. Enter attendance with the Court Interpreter. Inform him or her who is attending today for your side and for which party.

2. When all parties are present, check with the Court Interpreter what are the references for the bundles and write the references down. Eg: "Bundle A" for Bundle of Pleadings, "Bundle B" for Common Bundle of Documents.

3. When the Judge enters the Courtroom, bow slightly to show respect and make sure you are properly robed (for High Court) and ready for your case.

Tip: Don't wear the robe in front of the Judge

4. The Court interpreter will call the cases for the day by the case number and the name of the parties in the suit (according to the "Cause List" and only when respective parties are present)

When your case is called

5. Plaintiff's lawyer will introduce the lawyers and the parties which they are acting for. The lawyers who were introduced, will have to stand up and acknowledge the introduction.

6. Update the Court the necessary. (Eg: where there are any new changes such as filing new document, calling new witness, where you may need to excuse yourself later or to stand down etc.)

Examination In Chief

Examination will be conducted by the witness' lawyer. The purpose of examination in chief is to elicit facts favourable to the case of the party, to establish the witness' account for the case.

Here are the steps:

7. Place in the witness box a copy of witness statement and other documents which will be relied upon later.

8. Ask for Court's permission to call the witness.

(Once the witness is called, Court interpreter will guide the witness to swear under oath, if there is a translator, to fix the microphone; then Court Interpreter will ask a few basic questions such as how old is the witness, the IC number and where does the witness stay)

9. Refer to the witness statement and ask the witness to check whether it is his or her witness statement and whether if there is anything he or she wishes to add or amend.

10. If the witness is fine with the witness statement, then ask the witness to sign the witness statement (along with everyone else's copy).

Possible objections: The witness statement is not served within time / Copy is not the same as the witness's copy

11. Ask the Court to mark the witness statement as a document. The Court Interpreter will then give an abbreviation such as PSD-1. (You will have to refer the documents throughout the trial and during the submissions using that abbreviation)

12. Go through the questions in the witness statement one by one which refers to the witness' documents. Refer to the question specifically.

13. Go through that specific document by referring to that specific page in specific bundle. Verify whether the witness prepared the document.

14. If yes, then ask the Court to mark the document as exhibit. The Court Interpreter will then give an abbreviation for that document

Possible objections: witness does not have the capacity / the witness is not the maker / this document is computer generated, the document should have admitted the document under Section 90A of Evidence Act / the witness wouldn’t have knowledge about the document

15. Ask for Court's permission to ask additional questions.

16. Ask witness open-ended questions which are relevant to the case.

Possible objections: The question asked is already stated in the witness statement / the question is irrelevant to the case / question asked is not open-ended questions / question asked is a leading question

17. Close your examination in chief. Then, pass the time to opponent for cross-examination after you are finished.

Cross-Examination

Cross-examination will be conducted by the lawyer which is the opposing party to the witness. Its purpose is to test the credibility of statements made by the witness and to further scrutinise the witness on his or her account.

17. Ask the witness leading-questions. Leading questions are questions which are not open-ended and can only answered by yes, no or not sure, or with specific / concise answer e.g. time, date, figures. You can make some exceptions but it is not a good practice.

Possible objections: The question asked is irrelevant / the question asked is not in the pleaded case / witness wouldn’t know the answer / the witness wouldn’t have the knowledge / the witness wasn't there to know / witness already answered the question / it is a repeated question / the question is confusing or too lengthy, please shorten or reframe the question / it is a statement, not a question

Tips:

• Ask the witness to speak up if necessary, explain to them that everything they said will be recorded.
• Remind the witness that they are under oath when critical questions are being posed to them.
• If you want to get a step further, remind the witness that it is an offence to lie under oath i.e. perjury.
• Instruct the witness to answer "Yes", "No" or "Not sure".
• Warn the witness that you are not asking for explanation if they try to explain.
• Tell the witness that they can explain during re-examination.

18. Put your allegation to the witness after you have built up your issue.

19. Close your cross-examination. Then, pass the time to opponent for re-examination.

Re-examination

20. Repeat the specific question which was asked during cross-examination.

21. Repeat the answer that was given by the witness.

22. Ask the witness whether they have any explanation. Let them explain.

Possible objections: The witness is going off the tangent in answering / it is a repeat of examination in chief / the lawyer is leading the witness / the question is not raised during cross-examination / that was not the answer given by the witness previously / the witness’ answer does not address the question / the lawyer is asking a new point

Conclusion

The above is the guide for witness examination for any typical trial. I can't go too detailed because that will be too many things to cover. I do hope it covers all the basics.

Thank you for reading.

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