Witness Skills
Giving evidence and cross examination can be a highly technical and specialist process which is alien to the vast majority of people and can cause them to feel stressed, nervous and extremely uncomfortable.
As part of their role, government staff, health professionals and emergency responders such as police, ambulance, fire and prison staff are regularly called on to provide evidence to courts, tribunals, inquiries, investigations and commissions, but they often find themselves unprepared for the process.
At these hearings, it is common that, the witnesses’ decision making, procedures, experiences, notes and considerations will be forensically analysed and debated. Witnesses will be required to justify their actions and can be criticised for these actions. This often causes considerable personal discomfort, as well as potentially reflecting poorly on their department or organisation.
Wouldn’t it be helpful if there was a solution to prepare witnesses as to what to expect, how to deliver their evidence and to deal with the ‘tactics’ used by defence barristers or cross examiners in a court or tribunal? Well, the good news is that we have a solution. Our Witness Skills training offers a specially developed training course to help overcome the ongoing difficulties faced by certain civil servants and health professional witnesses when providing evidence and when under cross examination. This course seeks to redress the imbalance which many public servants, officials, managers and executives face when giving evidence, including in particular testimony under cross examination.
Additionally, and related to the above, certain government staff are also required to undertake interviews and investigations as part of their roles (and on which they may have to provide evidence and be cross examined). It is imperative that these are conducted in an effective, strategically focussed and ethical manner.
We have developed a series of specially designed courses for this to suit the relevant arms of government and other similar such organisations:
- Police: For police officers, managers, specialists and civilian support staff
- Health Services: For government and non-government health service providers
- Public Servants: For others government departments often required to give evidence
- Investigations, Interviewing and Intelligence
- Emergency Responders: For fire, ambulance and prison officers, and other first responders.
This training serves as a foundation on which government and organisation representatives can understand more about the collation and delivery of evidence including under cross examination. It also provides those staff likely to be giving evidence a detailed understanding of the fundamentals of the witness process, as well as rigorous practical experience in being effective in this role.
In this way government staff called to be witnesses (and their legal team, organisation and other stakeholders) can be assured and confident that the witness will be well placed to effectively obtain, collate and deliver evidence effectively and be able to handle the evidential process.
To see how we can help you please contact us.
What are the benefits
of witness skills coaching?
