This is the text of a speech the author gave in March 2011 at Vienna Arbitration Days. The author delivered it to an audience of mostly civil law lawyers prone to be skeptical about the legitimacy of witness preparation and the value of witness testimony in international arbitration. The speech aimed to clarify the ethical basis for witness preparation, as well as its practical importance in light of the fallibility of human memory. The author also sought to demonstrate the power and value of witness testimony as a form of storytelling, principally by recounting stories from her own life. The speech prompted an outpouring of reaction, with people finding it "inspirational" and sharing related experiences from their own lives. It is this response that has led the author to publish the speech here to share it with the international arbitration community more broadly.
Journal of International Arbitration