Tips for passing your Cross-Examination Assessment first time!!

*Not written in order of importance*

1. Organise your questions

i. What evidence are you trying to elicit from the witness?

ii. Why is it important that this witness is questioned?

Decide the questions you wish to put to the witness – to help with this you can ask yourself “What answers do I want the witness to give me?” and “what type of question can I ask to get the answer I want?”

2. Ask closed questions

· This will allow you to make the most of your allocated time for the assessment

· The witness will have restricted ability to avoid the question, put forward a different version of events and waste your allocated time

· The less complicated your question the better – the witness, jury and judge can understand what you are asking and where you’re going with your questions

3. Stay in control of the cross-examination

· Do not allow your witness to control the cross-examination – this will reduce the trust the jury has in you, waste your allocated time, and you will not put to the witness the questions you have prepared.

· Deal with any inconsistencies appropriately

4. Be courteous

· Introduce yourself so that the jury and witnesses know who you are and the role you are playing in the hearing

· Acknowledge the jury

· Make eye contact with the jury and the judge

· Speak in an appropriate tone and volume even where you feel the pressure

· Do not interrupt the witness – even where they are going off on a tangent

· Remember the correct forms of address

5. Be organised!

When preparing your questions, make sure that you have done this in a way in which you can easily navigate to the witness statements, police interview or any other document used. This will help you greatly in that where a witness gives an inconsistent statement, you can easily refer to the document they made previously and complete your memory refreshing. You must avoid flipping through documents and going back and forth when cross-examining.

Create a chronology of events from the facts. This is one of the best ways for your to familiarise yourself with the facts.

6. Practice, practice, practice!

Record yourself going through your examination in chief, even if you think you look silly talking to yourself. This way, you see how you will look in front of the judge and jury and be able to correct yourself appropriately. The more you practice, the better you will remember your cross-examination questions and references of documents.

Good luck!

Sharon Shumbambiri

Follow me on Instagram: @SharonAtTheBar