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As a professional investigation firm, , primary function is to gather facts. One of our primary forms of fact-gathering is the witness statement.
Statements, of course, take many forms. Affidavits, handwritten statements by witnesses, statements written by investigators and signed by witnesses, and digital recorded statements are all widely used.
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| However, regardless of the form of the statement, the primary purpose of obtaining a statement from a witness is to ascertain an understanding of an incident or event from the perspective of a unbiased third party. Witness statements can be useful in developing the "whole picture", when |
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otherwise multiply versions emerge from the parties. Determining a factual picture on the onset, allows our clients the opportunely to settle when desired efficiently potential negligent actions prior to litigation.
Statements also serve as a recorded recollection of a witness whose memory might fade legitimately with the passage of time. Recorded statements also document testimony and provide a reliable standard against which a potentially hostile witness might later be held with regard to testimony from the witness stand.
One of the most difficult situations presented to an investigator is that of dealing with an uncooperative or hostile witness who may be critical in terms of testimony to the outcome of a case. In this type of statement taking, excels at walking the thin line between the investigation role of statement taking and the documentary function it serves. because if a statement cannot be potentially used in court, it is essentially of no value. Therefore the taking of statements to a great extent and both "investigate" a case and simultaneously preserve the work product for use at trial later on.
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