Witness preparation assistance is designed to assess, and then improve, a witness’s communication skills in front of the trier of fact.
Used to help fact witnesses and expert witnesses.
Witness preparation assistance is typically undertaken in multiple sessions spaced several days to a few weeks apart.
Some witnesses are very trainable and improve quickly, while others find testifying quite challenging and require repeated sessions to make progress.
Most working class individuals have no experience being a sworn witness and become at least a bit intimidated at the prospect. This normal and understandable reaction then leads them toward engaging in some predictable and counterproductive behaviors while testifying; the majority of which can typically be moderated through witness prep training.
At the other end of the scale, highly successful and accomplished people are accustomed to being in control during their personal interactions. They are therefore often prone to adopt an entirely different set of equally predictable and counterproductive behaviors. As long as the witness can accept that the communication ground rules are entirely different in the isolated settings of the courtroom or deposition, then these behaviors can also be largely moderated.
No matter which consultant you ultimately retain, it is important to assess the personality of the witness (or witnesses) and to retain a consultant whose style and methods seem most compatible.