The mock trial provided insights on how expert witnesses were being examined in court. It was an intense and stressful atmosphere with barristers all geared up, ready to shoot questions. Some of the issued I noted during the mock trial was that some student experts only focused on the sections assigned to them and did not grasp a good understanding of the entire case. It was obvious who was well-prepared and who was not. It gave the barrister the opportunity to pressurise the student experts and drill them with questions when they demonstrated signs of lack of preparedness, thereby making them lose their credibility when they panic and could not answer the questions posed by the barrister. Another issue I observed was student experts provided too much information when being questioned or when they did not understand the questions but still tried to answer without trying to clarify before responding. This allowed the barrister to discover loopholes in their answers with the risk of their credibility at stake. Student experts also tend to use opinion words such as “think”, “assume”, “feel”, “suppose” which goes against the basis rule that evidence provided should be based on facts and not opinions (ALRC, n.d.).
Apart from having extensive knowledge and memorising details of own expert report, I recommend expert witnesses to remain impartial and calm in future court appearance, bearing in mind that it is not their role to make an accusation but only to assist the court in understanding the issues of the case and thereby reaching a sound decision based on hard evidences found during the investigation they conducted (Crumbley & Russell, 2004). From what I had learnt during the mock trial, the barristers will always attempt to make you doubt your own material. Thus, it is important to have confidence and trust that the facts in your own report was done correctly and most importantly, only bring in issues relevant to the case. It is a critical because illustrated in the case of Storey v Dorset Community NHS Trust, the expert raised irrelevant issues in the report which instead, had his report disregarded as the report failed to provide an objective unbiased evidence to aid the court in decision making.
Additionally, some tips given by Paul Vincent during the mock trial was to always keep your hands visible and not hide it under the witness stand as it will make you look less confident. He also suggested that students should only answer with simple concise answer, straight to the point so that we do not veer off topic.
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Useful link
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Video
References
ALRC. (n.d.). The Opinion Rule and its Exceptions. Retrieved from Australian Law Reform Commission: http://www.alrc.gov.au/publications/9.%20The%20Opinion%20Rule%20and%20its%20Exceptions/opinions-based-specialised-knowledge
Crumbley, D. L., & Russell, A. K. (2004). So You Want to Be an Expert Witness. Retrieved from Journal of Accountancy: http://www.journalofaccountancy.com/issues/2004/oct/soyouwanttobeanexpertwitness.html
Family Court of Australia. (n.d.). The Changing Face of The Expert Witness. Retrieved from Family Court of Australia: http://www.familycourt.gov.au/wps/wcm/connect/b81f88e5-d1a9-4d11-a093-b6795a2b9ae3/expertwitness.pdf?MOD=AJPERES&CONVERT_TO=url&CACHEID=ROOTWORKSPACE-b81f88e5-d1a9-4d11-a093-b6795a2b9ae3-lh-paRJ
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