The topic of the Lunch DIScussions on 11 April was 'Persuasion and the Psychology of Witness Evidence'. The event explored the complex interplay between the psychology of witnesses and arbitrators and the perceived persuasiveness of witness evidence.
The international panel included Frederik Kromann Jespersen (Skau Reipurth), Stephanie Farrimond (Bond Solon), and János Vajda (Szecskay Attorneys), and was moderated by Roland Kläger (Haver & Mailänder). The panellists combined the practice and experience in international arbitrations with the science of legal psychology and discussed the topic from the different perspectives of an arbitration practitioner, a witness trainer, and a legal psychologist.
Backed by psychological studies and the personal experience of the participants, the discussion revealed the ambivalent nature of witness evidence, the deficiencies of human memory, and the susceptibility of human decision-making processes to cognitive biases. On that basis, the panellists discussed the different forms of witness preparation as a means to increase the credibility and value of witness evidence, but also a possible source of undue influence on the witness’s memory and testimony. Further, the discussion addressed the differences of adversarial vs. inquisitorial ways of questioning witnesses and sought to formulate best practices for preparing and conducting the taking of witness evidence.
Roland Kläger