The witness statement problem in international arbitration
28 February 2025
Writing in the New York Law Journal, Seladore’s Laurence Shore, Liang-Ying Tan, and Matt Robertson examine the growing concerns around written witness statements in international arbitration.
While written witness statements are intended to present a witness’s recollection, they are typically drafted by counsel and thus shaped to align with case strategy. This can leave tribunals with a polished document that may not fully reflect how a witness would naturally recall events, with the tribunal’s first direct exposure to the witness coming only under cross-examination.
The authors explore whether video-recorded evidence in chief could provide a more effective alternative. They argue that structured, recorded testimony – delivered in a direct question-and-answer format – would give tribunals a better opportunity to assess credibility, reduce reliance on overly lawyered written accounts, and prevent cross-examinations from being dominated by disputes over wording rather than substance.
Their article considers the practicalities of this approach and how it could improve the arbitration process.