About Loquitur
At Loquitur, we believe that everyone should be able to understand the legal and evidential process, not just lawyers.
Giving evidence to a court is alien to the vast majority of people, and can cause them to feel stressed, nervous and extremely uncomfortable.
But we believe in better evidence, and the openness of justice.
Who We Are
Tom Nevin
Founder and Director
Tom is qualified in both Queensland, Australia and England & Wales, and has worked throughout Australia and internationally for law firms and in house in various organisations. Having practised litigation for many years and across many jurisdictions, including in many high profile Supreme Court, Federal Court, UK High Court and international arbitration matters, Tom is aware of the great difficulties faced by witnesses when required to give evidence.
Tom leads a team with the resources to help expert witnesses, lay witnesses and other professional witnesses deliver their evidence in the most effective manner. Through independent, systematic, innovative and practical learning methods he hopes to provide improve the quality of evidence delivered to courts, allow for better judicial outcomes and increase the public confidence and trust in the judicial and evidential system.
Rachael Paxton
Witness Training Manager
Rachael worked over 15 years as a physiotherapist and has seen the difficulties and issues faced by prospective witnesses when required to give evidence.
Since joining the Loquitur team Rachael has been instrumental in optimising operational and training aspects of the business, for the benefit of clients and witnesses.
Rachael is now also studying law with a view to obtaining a deeper understanding of the legal, judicial and evidential process.
Rachael is also a former professional triathlete, and when not working, studying or looking after her beautiful daughter, can usually be found cycling up a mountain.
Click here to meet some of our Instructors.
What We Do?
In this way our courses help witnesses develop the skills and confidence necessary to prepare and deliver their own evidence clearly, concisely and with confidence.
What Inspired Us?
As a lawyer, I created Loquitur because I believe that people giving evidence in court should have the best opportunities to prepare for and understand this process.
Having practised extensively abroad, I had seen how other jurisdictions have advanced, comprehensive and thorough training courses for all types of witnesses in all different types of proceedings.
Not only did these courses allow witnesses to better prepare for court, it also gave them the confidence to better deliver their evidence, and to better understand what to expect.
These courses also helped the legal teams prepare their witnesses. Trial preparation is a hectic and difficult period, with packed schedules and heavy workloads, and court deadlines all pressing the already limited capacity of the legal team. This training allowed an additional level of training which the legal team were often unable to provide due to time constraints. Furthermore, this training was of such a nature that the legal team were generally unable to undertake such training due to strict and rigorous ethical requirements arising from their proximity to the case. Rather, this training by independent, dedicated organisations on unrelated materials complemented and streamlined the actual proofing and preparation of witnesses the legal teams would conduct on the evidence itself, and allowed a greater degree and level of training that the legal team were themselves able to provide because of their knowledge of the cases.
Such training also allowed expert witnesses to better understand their obligations and duties, and the nature of their evidence at a very early stage, and well before they could be called to give evidence. It led to improved quality of expert engagements, from the initial expert engagement, during the report writing process, in trial preparation and during cross examination. They would also offer enhanced Continuing Professional Development and ethical training to experts as part of their ongoing professional development.
These courses were also greatly beneficial to professional witnesses who would often be called to give evidence as part of their job – for example police officers, civil servants, medical staff and emergency responders. These individuals often represented their department or organisation at hearings, sometimes as a factual witness, sometimes as an expert, and sometimes as combination of both. This training gave those people the confidence to take the stand and justify and defend themselves and their professional actions, and it gave their employers the reassurance that their organisation would present in the best way possible.
Most importantly, perhaps, this training provided great public benefits. It made for a more open judicial system, and enhanced the public’s perception and understanding of the courts and judicial process. Further, by providing witnesses who were much better prepared for the evidential process, the court was itself able to obtain better evidence.
However, this very useful and beneficial training was sorely lacking in Australia. This meant that Australian witnesses, legal teams, professionals and courts did not have access to this valuable service and understanding. It was this deficiency that we sought to remedy in a simple, ethical and practical way.
We seek to provide all Australian witnesses with the many and varied benefits of this training, as well as improve outcomes for the judicial and legal system, and the general public.
In this way we allow Australian witnesses to best deliver their own evidence. The clue is in our name: “loquitur” is the Latin word for “he speaks”.
Founder and Director, Loquitur
How We Do It?
We pride ourselves on providing ethical, practical, interactive and interesting training, with a focus on attendee involvement, engagement and participation. Our materials are provided in “plain English” – clearly and without legalese and jargon.
Loquitur’s materials have all been specially prepared by experienced and practising Australian solicitors and barristers and other subject-area specialists.
Many of our trainers are practising Australian barristers, highly experienced in the court process and have undertaken many cross examinations of witnesses over their careers. Our trainers are also experienced educators, who have provided advocacy and other professional training to other members of the profession throughout Australia and abroad.
Training We Provide?
We work with many types of witnesses, and we specialise in training for:
- Witness familiarisation: for expert and factual witnesses who are to be cross examined as part of upcoming proceedings.
- Expert Witness Trainingongoing training for expert witnesses across all aspects of the evidential process.
- Witness Skills: ongoing training for public servants and health services staff, police, fire, ambulance, and other government departments.
To see how our training can best help you, please contact us.
Who are Loquitur’s instructors?