Richard Butler
Solicitor, Professor of Dispute Resolution, Chartered Arbitrator and Commercial Mediator
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Richard Butler is a High Court Advocate (Civil) as well as Visiting Professor of Dispute Resolution at Nottingham Law School and a freelance trainer and training consultant. With many years of trial experience in the High Court and also witness examination in arbitrations, Richard has guided many witnesses through the demanding process of giving evidence.
The English judiciary requires that witness familiarisation is carried out in such a way that the evidence given remains that of the witness. Richard ensures scrupulous adherence to the Bar Council Code of Conduct, the Solicitors' Code of Conduct 2007, professional guidance and to relevant judicial pronouncements on witness familiarisation. The general objective is to help each witness to give their own uninfluenced evidence as clearly as possible, for the benefit of the tribunal. The familiarisation process must be conducted in such a way that the witness could confidently describe it to the tribunal in full while giving evidence with no concern that the tribunal would regard the evidence as in any way tainted.
This is best achieved if Richard knows nothing about the actual case and if no-one with knowledge of the case other than the witness is present during the familiarisation. It is a condition of Richard taking on familiarisation that the witness is told that he must know nothing about the case.
Sessions can be arranged to suit the witness or witnesses concerned. If wanted, a general briefing about the process and the practices of the relevant forum (typically taking about 75 minutes) can be given in a class room environment with several witnesses at once. Here it is especially important that there is no discussion about the actual case. Mock cross-examinations are normally conducted, with video feedback and opportunities to have another go. These are always done one-on-one. For the mock cross examinations, Richard will supply a simple case study. Assuming the solicitor confirms that the actual case does not concern a road traffic accident, the case study is normally an RTA for witnesses of fact. Expert witnesses receive another simple case study in a relevant discipline but again factually different to the real case. Neither takes much time to read. A judicial concern in England is that case studies used for witness familiarisation should not resemble the fact pattern of the actual case before the court, both to avoid coaching in the evidence to be given and confusion in the witness's mind.
Click witness familiarisation programme for more information.
Richard can accompany witneseses on court visits and interpret what the witness sees. For witnesses giving evidence before arbitrators, Richard can arrange a viewing of a DVD depicting a realistic mock arbitration before 3 international arbitrators, including witness examination.
It is often convenient (and economical) for the instructing solicitors to make available a room and to supply or hire the equipment necessary for the mock examinations, namely:
If this is not possible, Richard can organise a venue and equipment at additional cost.
Richard charges £225 an hour plus travel expenses (standard rail fare to London, first class rail fare out of London, economy air fare in Europe and business class air fare out of Europe) and international call charges plus any venue costs plus VAT. A written report, including copies of all documents used, will be provided within the price. When it comes to time spent travelling, particularly foreign travel, Richard can provide a quotation once he knows what is involved.