Since Toby Landau QC first gave the Kaplan Lecture on the Fallacy of Witness Evidence in 2010 (and since his speech to the ICC Commission in 2015 on Unreliable Recollections), there has been increasing awareness about the malleability and dynamic nature of human memory and how the process of preparing for and attending a hearing can taint and even distort the evidence of a witness and thereby undermine, rather than assist in eliciting the ‘truth’. This session will look in depth at how some of those issues arise, from the drafting of witness statements to the preparation of witnesses for a hearing as well as some of the approaches to (and rules governing) the preparation of witnesses for a hearing in different jurisdictions, exploring whether that gives rise to an unlevel playing field in international arbitration.

Moderator: Kate Davies QC, Allen & Overy LLP, London

Panelists:

• Prof. Kimberley Wade, University of Warwick, Coventry

• Prof. Dr. Maxi Scherer, WilmerHale, London

• Ed Williams QC, Cloisters, London