The EWI held its annual Study Day on 15 October at Stewarts Law in London. This full day event brings together seasoned professionals for interactive group discussions, legal panels, and practical seminars. The theme for 2026 was ‘Mastering the Witness Box’.
We would like to thank Sam Makkan, Victoria Williams, Dr Karen Addy and Colin Holburn for making this year’s Study Day memorable and very useful. We would like to give special thanks to Stewarts Law for allowing us to hold the event at their offices, and to our event sponsor Expert Genie Pro.
Opening Session: The Psychology of the Witness Box
The Study Day opened with an interactive panel session on the psychology of the witness box. Chaired by Barrister Sam Makkan, the panel included Victoria Williams, Partner, Medical Negligence at Stewarts Law and Dr Karen Addy, Consultant Neuropsychologist and Clinical Psychologist.
The panel and the attendees discussed the fears they have of appearing in the witness box, the impact of body language, and the human perspective. The panel talked about the importance of preparation, confidence and good manner and demeanour and how to deal with performance anxiety and to avoid making assumptions about how we are being perceived. A fascinating discussion of non-verbal communication/body language followed, including eye contact, how to develop a connection with the barrister and the judge, and the benefits of answering to the judge or jury rather than the questioner. The panel also discussed how to ensure that any reasonable adjustments the expert needs are raised at the case management hearing.
Guided Tour of the Royal Courts of Justice
After the morning break, the group walked the short distance to the Royal Courts of Justice for an enjoyable and enlightening tour led by Tim Wood, a journalist and accomplished raconteur, who worked for many years covering cases in the Royal Courts. Opened in 1882 by Queen Victoria the Royal Courts host many of the country’s most important courts and deal with every aspect of justice in England and Wales. From floating pillars to bear gardens, exhibitions, the transcript of Guy Fawkes’ trial, and the courts of the country’s most senior judges, the tour walked through the history of both English law and a fascinating building, before ending at nearby Lincoln’s Inn.
Practical Workshop – Cross-examination
The afternoon session was a practical workshop on cross-examination led by Sam Makkan and Colin Holburne. Sam introduced the session with an explanation of what barristers are trying to achieve during cross-examination, drawing out inconsistencies, gaps and weakness in the evidence, and taking control of the narrative, including using leading yes/no questions to influence the direction of the evidence.
Sam’s introduction was followed by six short clips of Colin during a mock cross-examination based on an actual case, where he deliberately made a range of different mistakes, such as being underprepared, being too argumentative, being too agreeable, and becoming an advocate. After each clip, the attendees discussed in small groups what went wrong and answered specific questions, before reporting back to the group. This generated a lot of interesting debate on how to avoid these types of mistakes
Legal update: Recent cases and policy updates
EWI CEO, Simon Berney-Edwards, and Policy Manager, Sean Mosby discussed policy developments in expert regulation, AI, and guidance for experts, before turning to recent cases including a case where the experts allowed their nerves to get the better of them in the witness box, and an expert in gas detection who uploaded an image of a gas mask to chat-GPT with the query “what am I looking at?”
Mastering the Witness Box: Final Reflections
In the final session, Sam provided his reflections on the day and the key learning points for attendees to take away from each of the sessions.