Role as witness

• Your duties to the court remain the same whether you are physically present in court or not: you must tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth; and, if you are an expert, you should give evidence to assist the court on matters within your expertise.

Preparation

• The key to giving good evidence is preparation.
• Practise being online on some neutral subject with a colleague or friend, the lawyer who is calling you, or during a training programme* before the hearing itself.
• Familiarise yourself with the process and the equipment. There is nothing worse than doing this for the first time at the actual hearing.
• Check the time of the appearance. Put this in your diary.
• Set everything up a good 30 minutes before the time.
• Find out the names of the counsel who will put questions to you.
• Prepare your own evidence as if you were going to the courtroom itself.
• Have all the evidence to hand whether physical or digital.

The bundle of evidence

• Clarify with your lawyer calling you that the bundle is being provided digitally as the courts require.
• Look through your evidence before the hearing and make yourself familiar with it as you would in a physical trial.
• Check how documents will be shown to you for your comment: will they be shared by the questioner or will you be able to call them up yourself?

Your space

• Create a special working space from which you will give your evidence.
• Make the space look professional and without a distracting background. Think courtroom!
• It’s probably best to have a desk to sit behind and make sure everything is stable to avoid wobbly images.
• It doesn’t have to be a whole room but an area that has all you need to work effectively.
• Have a Keep Out sign if you use a particular room and agree some ground rules with the people you live with.

Interruptions

• Have all the things you need available: paper, pens, computer, phone, glass of water, charger, calculator etc.
• Ensure that there will be none for the duration of the time that you are giving evidence.
• You may want to have someone else nearby, to take any calls or answer the door.
• Put your mobile phone on silent.
• Go to the loo before your session starts.

Equipment

• There will be a camera and microphone built into your laptop or PC and these should be sufficient for the job. However, you may wish to invest in a separate webcam, headset and speakers to improve quality.
• Test the equipment: you may have already used them for conference calls, Skype calls etc; if not, try them out by calling friends, family or colleagues, before the trial date. Can they hear you clearly? Can they see you clearly?
• Check your broadband speed. Current guidance requires a minimum bandwidth of 1.5MBPS.
• Again, practise using the kit.

Set up

• Dress as if you were going to court.
• Have the camera at eye level, as you sit down at your desk.
• Don’t set the camera so that you are looking down at the camera or have the camera looking up at you.
• Have yourself in the middle of the camera shot, showing you from desk level to the top of your head.
• Don’t get so close to the camera that your image is distorted.
• Remember that as in a physical hearing, recording is prohibited without the permission of the judge. If you want to see the way you look while giving evidence, record a practice session.
• Also remember you cannot practise on the issues of the actual case in mock cross examination with someone else.

Background to video image

• Make sure that whatever is in the background is clear, uncluttered and not distracting.
• Clear walls are better than walls with pictures, photos, ornaments etc.
• Do not have a window in the background, as you will appear on screen as a silhouette.
• Have a light source in front of you, but behind and above the camera, so your face is clearly seen.

Eye contact

• Look at the lens of the camera.
• If you look at the image of the speaker on your screen, then you will appear to be looking down on the viewer’s screen image of you.
• Don’t look constantly at the lens as it appears unnatural.

Giving evidence

• Remember you are now in court so all the normal rules apply.
• Speak clearly and at a steady pace so that everyone can follow what you are saying.
• Refer to your report where helpful and necessary. If you can call up and share that document, that will make it easier for you.
• At the end of your evidence, make sure you log off to avoid any embarrassing comments going out live!

After the hearing

• If the evidence is recorded, expert and professional witnesses should take the opportunity to review the event, make a note of what worked and didn’t work, and change as appropriate for the next time.

Mark Solon is a solicitor and founder of Bond Solon, a provider of witness familiarisation and expert witness training programmes in the UK. Nikki Pender is a New Zealand barrister and founder of Legal Empowerment.