Want More Witnesses to Say Yes to Being Interviewed? Start With This

Getting shut down by a witness is frustrating, costly, and potential problematic for maximizing your case outcome.

When the witness says no to being interviewed, it forces your firm to make a difficult decision: Do you spend the money and time necessary to subpoena and depose him, without knowing what he’ll say (risky). Or do you just drop it (potentially missing out on valuable information). 

In this piece we’ll discuss using your initial contact with a witness to increase your interview success rate.

So how do you increase the chances of getting to yes?

I’ve previously covered the main objections that witnesses offer to being interviewed, and how to address them. Make sure to review that information here. 

Overcoming those objections can help increase the likelihood of a witness consenting to be interviewed. But, there’s a simpler way to get to yes (in most situations).

The Importance of Your Initial Contact 

Witnesses decide whether to be interviewed or not within the first 10 seconds of being contacted. How that initial contact is made can make the difference between conducting a needed interview and getting shutdown.

At some point you’ll get a no from a witness. We all do. I did, more than once, during my 30+ years of conducting witness interviews for civil plaintiff and criminal defense cases. But not as often as you might think.

From 1988-2019, I conducted roughly 12,000 witness interviews. My success rate in getting witnesses to say yes to the interview was about 98%. 

Deciding the Manner of Contact

One of the first decisions that your firm needs to make is how to initially contact the witness. Sometimes outside factors, such as geographic distance, number of witnesses, and the need for speed, can dictate this process.

There are three approaches:

•  In person cold call (showing up unannounced). 
•  Calling and setting an appointment for an in person (or over Zoom) interview. 
•  Conducting the interview over the phone when you make the initial call (unannounced).

In my experience, an in person cold call makes for the best chance to conduct an interview with a witness. 

People are conditioned to respond well to a person that shows up at their front door. For this reason, a cold call is the best approach to take should the subject matter of your case be sensitive in nature, you are unsure if the witness will talk with you, or if the witness may be hostile to your client’s case. (Make sure to have a safety plan, such as sending two people, in place before you go).

Setting an appointment by phone is best in cases like an auto accident or where the witness is believed to be supportive of your client’s case, or at the very least neutral.

Conducting a phone interview is the most challenging since you may have to get through caller ID, voicemail, or a relative in order to explain why you’re calling and try to get the interview started right then and there. This is best used if geography, budget, or speed of contact are concerns.

Getting the Introduction Right

Whether you do an in person cold call, or make initial contact by phone, a good introduction will move you along to yes.

If you are going in person have your business card in hand. Write the name of your client on the back of the card.

Me: “Hi, I’m Mike Corwin. I’m an investigator (attorney, legal assistant, paralegal etc) who represents _________. I’m trying to get in touch with_________.”

Witness: “That’s me”.

Me: “Have I caught you at a good time?” (See my piece on objections to see how to respond to a time objection).

Witness: “I’ve got a few minutes.”

Me: “Great. I’d like to have you take me through a few things regarding______.”  

Witness: “Ok”.

There’s are different ways to say the same thing. What you say should reflect how you speak.

What’s critical here is that you ID yourself, and your client, right up front. And that you ask if you’ve caught the witness at a good time. It’s critical that you show respect for the witness's time instead of just launching into questions. 

This interaction, whether in person or on the phone, is how you start the rapport building process.

And finally, it’s critical that you not use the word interview. You can say chat, run past, or other informal terms, but never use interview. Never.

If you are doing an in person cold call or a phone interview cold call start with your first question. If you are setting an appointment, ask the witness if you can meet at a time that’s convenient, and then let them tell you when. Try not to let them push the time frame out past about three days.

You may still get a no from a witness, but implementing this approach will help you get to yes more often.

If you like what you learned here and you’d like to learn more about conducting effective witness interviews to help maximize your case results, download my free guide on the 6 steps to conducting an effective witness interview. You can also watch the free on-demand workshop that goes into even more detail on the 6 steps to conducting more effective witness interview.