Free tools, checklists and guides for trial preparation: for students getting ready for the Moot Court & Mock Trial Competition, and for litigators getting a matter ready for trial. Use them online or print them.
The common objections, how to make them on your feet, and how to answer them.
| Objection | When it arises | How to make it | How to answer it |
|---|
Stand, address the court, state the ground in a few words, and sit while the court rules. Never argue the objection in front of the witness if the court asks the witness to step out.
Read the witness statement. Write your cross, one question per line. The drill flags open questions, compound questions and questions that run too long.
Also in the bundle: the supervisor’s email to HR, written before the audit, describing “a team-wide overtime problem I have been managing informally.”
List your documents in order. Get a paginated index with tab numbers, ready to print as the front of the bundle.
A structure for each, with a model on a practice problem.
My Lord, this case is about a timesheet signed before it was written.
Ms Serwaa worked for the defendant for six years with a clean record. She was dismissed for falsifying overtime on timesheets she signed, but did not complete.
You will hear from Ms Serwaa that her supervisor asked the team to sign blank timesheets, which he filled in later. You will see his own email, written before the audit, describing “a team-wide overtime problem I have been managing informally.” And you will hear that at her disciplinary hearing she was never shown the gate logs relied on against her.
At the close of the evidence, we will invite the court to find that the dismissal was wrongful and to award her the damages that follow.
My Lord, we said this case was about a timesheet signed before it was written. The evidence has borne that out.
First, who completed the timesheets. The supervisor denied asking anyone to sign blank forms, but his own email to HR speaks of a problem he was “managing informally”. He could not explain it.
Second, the hearing. It is not disputed that Ms Serwaa never saw the gate logs.
On the balance of probabilities, the defendant has not shown gross misconduct, and the process was unfair. We pray for a declaration that the dismissal was wrongful, and damages.
Practice problems use fictional parties.
Printable sheets for running practice rounds at your faculty or chambers.
Short lessons on the craft of standing up in court.
High Court civil track, from close of pleadings to trial. Tick as you go; your ticks stay in this browser.
Time limits shown are from the High Court (Civil Procedure) Rules, 2004 (C.I. 47). Court-directed steps depend on the orders made in your matter. Always check the current rules and any practice directions.
Before the bundle goes to court and to the other side.
The principles you reach for on your feet, from the Evidence Act, 1975 (NRCD 323).
A summary of general principles for study and practice, not legal advice. Check the Act and the authorities before relying on any point.
Enter the dates you know. Get the deadlines that follow, and add them to your calendar.
Enter at least one date.
Tell it what happened on WhatsApp. It works out what’s due and puts it in your calendar.
Simple day-counting for a defendant served in Ghana, from the verified rules. It does not adjust for court vacations, public holidays, the rules on computing time, or orders extending or abridging time. Check before you rely on a date.
One card per witness: what they must prove, what they introduce, and what the other side will attack. Saved in this browser.