12 Magistrates’ Court Trial Problems & How to Handle Them

Introduction

You know what it is like, you have fully prepared for trial and yet something happens on the day whereby you have to decide how you are going to deal with it.

This short webinar will deal with 12 scenarios that you may have to deal with when prosecuting or defending a trial in the Magistrates’ Court.

What You Will Learn

This webinar will consider the following 12 scenarios:

• You are prosecuting and your complainant does not turn up for trial
• You are defending and your client does not turn up for trial
• You are prosecuting and the defendant starts attacking the character of a prosecution witness during the trial
• You are defending and your client starts giving a false impression of his character during the trial
• You are prosecuting and your complainant goes into the witness box and is mute
• You are defending and your client keeps interrupting the proceedings during the trial by shouting at the witnesses
• You are prosecuting and your complainant is giving evidence but it is clear that the witness is reluctant and is giving evidence at variance to that contained in the statement that was made to the police
• You are defending and your client is struggling in examination-in-chief. You do have a proof of evidence - how can you assist?
• You are prosecuting and your expert would like to be called as a witness before any of the other witnesses
• You are defending and your witness, who has been there since 10am, informs you that they have to leave and pick up their children from school and therefore cannot wait around to give evidence for the defence
• You are prosecuting and it seems to you that the entirety of your evidence consists of hearsay - a 999 call and body cam footage
• You are defending and wish to make a point in your closing speech that you did not deal with by way of cross-examination during the trial itself - the point has only just really occurred to you

This pre-recorded webinar will be available to view from Monday 7th December 2026

Alternatively, you can gain access to this webinar and 2,400+ others via the MBL Webinar Subscription. Please email webinarsubscription@mblseminars.com for more details.