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.

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