Creating an Effective Witness Statement for Court

What is a Witness Statement?

A witness statement is a written or recorded account of an individual’s knowledge of a particular case. It is a crucial legal document that describes the facts behind an issue or incident. The primary purpose of a witness statement is to be used as evidence in proceedings. Witness statements are key pieces of evidence. They help judges and juries understand what happened before, during and after an incident, and they rely on them to inform their judgements about the events leading up to a court proceeding. While multiple witness statements can be submitted in court pertaining to the same event, the statements all have to align with each other, to form a consistent account of the issue . For this reason, it is important to have a witness statement law firm to put together a strong, coherent and accurate account. In essence, a witness statement is a factual report. It is not opinion-based and should never include any interpretation or conclusions. The only subjective element to a witness statement should be how the writer feels about the matter. Each witness statement needs to be signed and dated by the person making it and preferably include a picture of the witness. While witness statements can help build a case, they cannot be submitted into evidence within themselves – it must be submitted as an exhibit.

Witness Statements in Legal Terms

Witness Statements must comply with the legal requirements of the particular court in which the proceedings are taking place. It is important to follow legal formalities to ensure that the document will be admissible at court. Crucial areas where failure to comply may result in an inadmissible statement, or worse a dismissal of the case are:
Particular guidelines imposed by each individual court include: It is advisable to check any potential specific rules relevant to the court and jurisdiction in question. The above is not an exhaustive list. Particular points to consider for example are criminal courts, which generally do not make allowances for witness statements to be executed in a language other than English. The witness statement should be signed by the deponent after the reading of the statement and the accuracy of the content confirmed. Both the witness and the solicitor must sign the statement which must also be endorsed with a certificate of compliance with the civil procedure rules 1998, part 32, rule 32.4.

Main Components in a Witness Statement

A witness statement is a written summary of your experiences and observations pertaining to a specific incident. It must be accurate and factual, so the police and the prosecutor can determine whether charge(s) should be laid using the information you provide. There are a number of essential elements that a witness statement must contain to be considered effective:
Personal details: Your full name, address, gender, date of birth, telephone number (day and evening) and email address should be included in the statement. If there is more than one witness, an additional statement should be prepared for each witness.
Chronological events: The statement should be in chronological order (i.e. in the order that things happened or were thought to have happened).
Facts as observed by the witness: An effective and efficient way to start a statement is to write the words "I was present at the above location on the day/time/specified by the complainant (the alleged offence occurred)."
In your own words, describe everything you observed and heard, avoiding guessing or giving opinions.
It is not necessary to write down your conclusions. Use your own words and make sure you do not use slang. The statement should read as if you are telling a story. Do not hand-write the witness statement, type it neatly on a computer. You may have an opportunity to review the final product and discuss the wording used to ensure it is accurate.

Helpful Hints When Writing a Witness Statement

A witness statement should accurately reflect what the witness saw or heard without unnecessary detail. The following strategies can be useful in keeping the length of the witness statement to a minimum: A witness statement must be kept to the point. There is no purpose in it stating or recording more than is needed to convey what has happened. A witness statement should be as brief as is practicable. It should concentrate on what the witness saw, or what happened, not on his or her own feelings about it, or: hearsay evidence, or irrelevant information. Short paragraphs are helpful. They break up important information into digestible chunks, and make it much easier to read. Do not add comments such as "this is a statement under caution" at the beginning of the statement. It is an unnecessary statement that adds nothing. If it is relevant to the case, such as in a police caution interview, then the caution will be given to the witness at the time it is required. Use clear everyday language. Avoid any use of jargon or legal terms which may confuse the person reading the document. If a question is asked that has nothing to do with the case, do not ignore it; rather, say in your response that the question is irrelevant. Make sure that the statement has been properly typed, and is properly referenced. When the statement has been written, ensure that you read the document as a whole. Ask yourself whether the information makes sense, so it can be understood and followed by a judge or jury. Ensure that you know who is responsible for disclosing the witness statement to the other side when it is eventually signed. Make sure that the correct date is used. It is more helpful for a witness to number each paragraph in the witness statement so that it can easily be referred to by another party. Witness statements must be taken down in the first person – clearly, accurately, and in language which is easy to read and understand. If there are spelling, grammatical or typographical errors, even though these are of little or no importance, they can be annoying.

Pitfalls to Avoid

When prepping your client for a statement, a crucial aspect of the process is to ensure they’re aware of what not to do. There are a number of common pitfalls to be aware of that can damage their credibility or even the case as a whole.
Overstatement
A significant issue that comes up with numerous witnesses is overconfidence. Having them overstate a fact within a witness statement can lead to major loopholes for the other side to exploit. A person who has not been involved in the case directly can misremember small details, leading to inconsistencies that are easy to exploit in court.
Over-exaggerated as it is, injuries from an accident are often the defining characteristic of a case. If the victim overstates the severity of their injuries in their statement, it opens them up to serious issues in court. Grouping several injuries together is another common mistake to make; this makes it more difficult for the opposing counsel’s expert witness to properly assess the severity of each injury.
Evasiveness
Another issue that comes up with some witnesses is an obvious desire to give as little information as possible. While a witness should stick to the facts, they still have to answer questions directly. If they continually answer questions with "I don’t know" or "without looking at the evidence," it will hurt their credibility in the eyes of the judge and jury .
Hedging their bets and avoiding any sort of commitment on the case generally makes their testimony (and thus the entirety of the case) come off as weak. Many witnesses believe that doing this shelters them from direct contradiction, but in reality, it makes them seem even less credible.
Incomplete statements
In a similar vein, some witnesses provide information that comes off as lacking but don’t seem evasive at first blush. Someone who gives a lot of information, but who suddenly simply stops being able to remember certain details can come across as suspicious.
In these instances, the witness likely does not believe they’re providing inaccurate information. Their memory is simply failing them when asked to recall figures, giving dates, or talking about how a specific event took place. It’s not entirely their fault; the brain simply doesn’t store memories by past events, but instead as a narrative.
What this means is that their recollection of the events may be missing important information that could make or break the case. In general, it’s better for the witness to admit that they don’t recollect a small detail than to try and cover it up by stating "I don’t remember." This can be more damaging for the case than simply providing less information on such a small point.

Example of an Effective Witness Statement

Below is an example of a professionally written and well-structured witness statement:
Witness Statement of Barry Smith in support of the Claimant’s Particulars of Claim
I, Barry Smith of 16 Baker Street, London, NW1 5EW state as follows:
Background

I am the Operations Manager of Highfield Brewery Ltd. I have worked for Highfield Brewery Ltd for almost two years.
In this role, I am responsible for all brewery operations, including production capacity, quality and customer service. I ensure that adequate staffing levels are maintained and I am responsible for the administration of 300 employees.
I have relevant experience in production and operations management, having previously worked for ABC Brewery for five years as a Volumetric Production Coordinator.
As part of my role, once every year I am required to conduct employee interviews and performance reviews with all employees.
As part of this process, on 12 January 2016, I interviewed and reviewed Barthez’s performance.

Interview with Barthez

In this particular interview, Barthez complained that he had lost his chance to attend a training course.
I explained to Barthez that there had been no opportunity for him to attend the training course until that point, but that there would be further opportunities in the near future.
I explained to Barthez that unfortunately the internal promotion for which he had applied, and denied, had been delayed. I explained again that he could not attend the training course at that time, but that there would be other opportunities in the near future. I emphasised to Barthez that the delay in the promotion was not his fault in any way.
I reminded Barthez that he had performed well and that he was held in high regard at Highfield Brewery Ltd.
Barthez appeared upset by the news and said "I am going to have to find another job." I told Barthez that he should not be so negative and that it might be best to consider things overnight.
The meeting ended amicably and Barthez said goodbye when he left.

Subsequent Events

Barthez has since said that I did not allow him to apply for the training course and that I always have it in for him.
I did not say that to Barthez. I explained frankly to him that there had been no opportunity for him to attend the training course until that point and that he would be able to do so once the promotion delay had been resolved.
I have hereby provided my statement to the Court and made it available to any party who applies for it.
I believe that the facts stated in this witness statement are true.

Final Checks and Legal Advice

Final review and legal considerations: once the witness statement has been drafted, it should be read over a number of times and crucially checked for accuracy. It will cover information that may be subject to legal privilege or commercial sensitivity relating to the company and should therefore be reviewed with an eye on the potential disclosure burden to follow. For example, there may be information pertaining to other employees or third parties. Equally there may be references to financial information, which whilst not subject to legal privilege or commercially sensitive in themselves may give rise to disclosure of larger figures and data (in other litigation for example).
Whilst it is important to make all necessary amendments and have an accurate account of events for the witness statement, there are potentially legal ramifications to the above. Once the witness statement is before a court or tribunal it may be disclosed to third parties in other litigation or investigations , sometimes without the party seeking disclosure of the witness statement being made aware that the court has agreed. For example, in the context of a civil proceeding, this could mean that other potential claimants or defendants to the same event have sight of the witness statement. In addition, a letter of request may require a court to use its powers to prevent disclosure of a witness statement made in international litigation which is requested in other proceedings (as we have seen in the ongoing investigation into the Libor-rigging scandal and in the context of the Patomy case).
In this context, a company may wish to consider having a solicitor review the witness statement for legal privilege and commercial sensitivity with the following caveats:
Following the above, it may be necessary to review the witness statement with a view to applying legal privilege to certain clauses or redacting any information which is commercially sensitive, prior to submission of the witness statement.