How much do you know?

[GordonB]

My father once witnessed a fatal accident and was asked to give a yes/no answer to a very misleading question in court. He tried to explain that it was the wrong question, but was repeatedly told to answer yes or no and was warned that he would be held in contempt of court if he refused. In the end he was forced to give an answer which led to the driver who caused the fatality getting away with it.

That's a favourite trick of barristers to trap the unwary, but in fact they cannot insist you answer yes or no. Only the court (magistrate or judge) can do that. The standard response to this sort of bollix is to say to the barrister "I have a a question for you, answer yes or no only, have you stopped beating your wife?" Barristers and solictors are only there to ask questions on behalf of the court, they cannot insist that any question be answered in a certain way. I was taught to only take directions or instructions from the court officials, which does not include the legal representation. Dig your heels in and the clerk of the court will eventually come to your rescue.

Flying Monkey mentioned not getting into arguments with barristers - I go one step further, I don't even talk directly to them. When I'm asked a question I look them in the eye while they're asking it, usually take a few seconds to consider my answer (this narks barristers something rotten and puts them off their stride), then I quite deliberately turn to look at the magistrates, judge or planning inspector and give my answer to them. I had one barrister who snapped "look at me when you are answering!" Quick as a flash the clerk of the court told him to belt up and me to continue. "No further questions yer honour....."

Court appearances can be interesting but are generally exceptionally stressful, if a client expects me to give evidence they can expect a mega bill!

Gordon