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The pen: mightier than the word?

08 November 2018 / John A. Kimbell KC
Issue: 7817 / Categories: Features , Procedure & practice
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John A. Kimbell QC considers a new review of the rules on witness evidence in the Business & Property Courts

  • While the primacy of live oral evidence has remained unchallenged in criminal trials, in civil proceedings oral evidence has to a large extent been replaced by written witness statements. Is this about to change in the Business and Property Courts?
  • With witness statements routinely bearing little or no resemblance to what the witness would actually say in person, and the advent of cost budgeting shedding new light on the high cost of preparing witness statements, a review has been called for seeking possible improvements.

Last month saw the launch of a survey on how factual witness evidence is handled in the Business and Property Courts. The survey is part of a review being carried out by a working party, led by Mr Justice Popplewell. The working party contains representatives from industry, the judiciary, the arbitration community and the legal professions. The aim of the review is gather the

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NEWS
The landmark Supreme Court’s decision in Johnson v FirstRand Bank Ltd—along with Rukhadze v Recovery Partners—redefine fiduciary duties in commercial fraud. Writing in NLJ this week, Mary Young of Kingsley Napley analyses the implications of the rulings
Barristers Ben Keith of 5 St Andrew’s Hill and Rhys Davies of Temple Garden Chambers use the arrest of Simon Leviev—the so-called Tinder Swindler—to explore the realities of Interpol red notices, in this week's NLJ
Mazur v Charles Russell Speechlys [2025] has upended assumptions about who may conduct litigation, warn Kevin Latham and Fraser Barnstaple of Kings Chambers in this week's NLJ. But is it as catastrophic as first feared?
Lord Sales has been appointed to become the Deputy President of the Supreme Court after Lord Hodge retires at the end of the year
Limited liability partnerships (LLPs) are reportedly in the firing line in Chancellor Rachel Reeves upcoming Autumn budget
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