“Please believe me”

"The best approach for a Judge to adopt in the trial of a commercial case is, in my view, to place little if any reliance at all on witnesses' recollections of what was said in meetings and conversations”. So said Leggatt J in Gestmin v Credit Suisse [2013] EWCA 3560 (Comm). But later cases say that this is not a general principle for the assessment of evidence. How do trial judges assess the oral testimony of witnesses of fact? And what can solicitors and barristers properly do to prepare witnesses to give evidence? 

Mr Justice Fancourt and Stephen Jourdan KC will discuss these issues and provide some practical guidance.