10/12/2016
Barrister Huma Price of England posted on her site following note. Finding this practice now taking place in British Judicial System, as highlighted by the learned Barrister, one wonders whether the judicial system in Britain too is degenerating with new generation coming in field in search of easy going.
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PREPARING BUNDLES FOR COURT FOR HEARINGS
The most important thing in the bundle are the witness statements from the Appellant and Sponsors. All too often these statements are cut and pasted from previous cases and sometimes make no sense because they have no relevance to the case at hand.
The worst nightmare is when statements from 3 or 4 different witnesses are identical with minor changes. And very often these will be a cut and paste from the Grounds of Appeal. It is embarrassing for us barristers to present cases on such statements.
Each witness statement should tell the story of that particular person with details of their unique relationship with the Appellant. It should be emotional and practical. It should be detailed as sometimes the most important information is missing from them.
Some solicitors have become like doctors in that they spend minimum time on each case so they don't bother to do proper statements for each client. What is worst is that sometimes they cut and paste an old statement and just get the new client to sign it.
That means even if there are mistakes in those statements, as soon as a witness puts their signature on it, they are deemed to know and accept everything in that statement. Witnesses get cross examined in court on their statements so they are crucial.
If you have a case coming up in court I highly recommend that instead of relying on your lawyer to do your statement, you do your own statement so at least it is the correct version of events, and get your lawyer to look at it and correct it if necessary.
If you are not literate in English, it is still better to ask a friend to help you do your statement rather than leaving it to overworked lawyers. Your case is most important to you and so you should take care in how it is prepared.
All of this has to be done long before your Hearing and the bundles are sent to court beforehand for the Judges to read and the other side to know your case. We barristers have nothing to do with how bundles are prepared as all that is done by solicitors. Often even we receive our bundle at the last minute.
Good luck with your cases!
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