Drafting a Timeline (General)

Overview

Drafting a proper timeline of events is the most important thing you can do to be successful before a court or tribunal. The process of giving evidence through testimony is the process of walking a judge or adjudicator through a timeline of events.

Elements of a Timeline

• Date(s)
• Time(s)
• People
• Places
• Facts

Points in Time

A timeline is structured much like a PowerPoint presentation. The timeline is designed to walk the reader through a sequence of events in a logical way showing the reader how a given situation unfolded. Think of those moves where the opening scene shows the main character lying in a pool of blood on the floor, the screen goes black then reads "36 hours earler" then the movie starts. The movie is a series of scenes bring the viewer up to the point in time where the movie started. A well drafted timeline will never require the reader to ask, "but how did that happen?", the timeline should be able to explain each sequence of events that brings to reader to any given point time time.