Witness testimony now dominates most arbitration hearings. Its preparation and presentation has become a lengthy and expensive exercise, with often extensive and heavily lawyered witness statements that require correspondingly extensive cross-examination in order to assess and (frequently) unpack the evidence being adduced. 

International arbitral tribunals have become increasingly sceptical about the value of this process.  In many cases, the exercise comprises substantial redundancy, and has little impact on the resolution of the case. Further, as highlighted by a recent ICC Task Force as well as a Practice Direction issued by the English Business & Property Courts, witness recollections are frequently compiled without any regard to the science and workings of human memory, such that the evidence is of little value in any event.