Day 132 - 07 Jun 95 - Page 53
1 through the case and I do not see any good ground for
2 doubting that, is to avoid losing two days every now and
3 again which are not specifically allocated for preparation
4 of some kind or another.
5
6 MS. STEEL: We were not going object to a witness being called
7 next week, but the thing is that in terms of the legal
8 applications there are a lot of things that we need to go
9 through, check, do we really need to bring this up, if we
10 do, get advice on it which we were hoping actually to spend
11 sometime tomorrow getting legal advice. It is not just the
12 witnesses. We have done some preparation for them, that is
13 not complete, but also having to do the legal preparation,
14 preparing a list and that, there is that as well. It would
15 be useful for us to have one of the days next week.
16
17 MR. JUSTICE BELL: How long do you think Mr. Fairgrieve would
18 be? Let us look at each of the three witnesses that
19 Mr. Rampton has mentioned.
20
21 MS. STEEL: I think Mr. Brown we thought might be able to be
22 fairly short.
23
24 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Have you got at hand the reference to
25 Mr. Brown's statement, because I have left my summary of
26 the employment witnesses in my room?
27
28 MR. RAMPTON: He is number 16 in volume X, my Lord. It is very
29 short. If I was only going to call him I would call
30 somebody else as well. I am not disposed to waste any more
31 time, shall we say, in aid of the Defendants' preparation
32 time than I possibly have to. I will tell your Lordship
33 why in a moment, if I may.
34
35 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Where is Mr. Jardina?
36
37 MR. RAMPTON: Mr. Jardina is number 18 in section D. I would
38 either call Mr. Fairgrieve, if he is available and it would
39 suit your Lordship, or else I would call, if I can,
40 Mr. Jardina and Mr. Newton brown.
41
42 MR. JUSTICE BELL: What it seems to me would be reasonable, and
43 in fact what I think Mr. Rampton has just proposed, is that
44 we have either Mr. Fairgrieve warned for Thursday morning
45 or we have Mr. Brown and Mr. Jardina warned. What I would
46 suggest is that you be told which of those options
47 Mr. Rampton wishes to adopt by Friday morning so that you
48 know what you have to focus on. For all I know, you may
49 get a bit of Wednesday and, for all I know, if either one
50 or other of those courses is taken you may get a bit of
51 Friday as well. One does have to press on. If I may
52 repeat what I said before, I think you have to try to relax
53 a bit about the amount of detail. I know it is easier for
54 a professional advocate who has done literally hundreds of
55 trials to say, well, if I miss a few points experience
56 tells me it is unlikely to make any difference at the end
57 of the day. But you really have to try to adopt that
58 attitude yourself and accept my assurance, having been
59 involved in thousands of trials myself, that is just the
60 practicality of litigation.
