This is a very long post, but I think even very experienced litigators will enjoy it. Most of it is below the fold so you can click "continue reading..." as you have time to take it in, or come back to it before you take your next deposition. Vicki Pynchon has been sharing tips for less experienced lawyers on Settle It Now Negotiation Blog. Of depositions she writes that they are a stimulating, character-building, multi-dimensional board game with real stakes. You never master it. That's the good of it. There's always a challenge. Her lessons from the school of hard knocks are insightful for all of us. While the series is not finished, there is just too much already available not to share. Her Funnel Technique is an easy road map for any depo.
Some quotes from Advice For Young Lawyers - On The Job Deposition Training:
You don't have to rephrase a question in response to an objection.
I did this dozens of times in a two-hour period. At lunch, one of the grizzled old Sacramento P.I. defense attorneys grabbed me around the shoulders so hard I felt like I might break.
"Just wait for the answer," he whispered in my ear. "You don't need to re-phrase the question. If the witness doesn't answer, ask the court reporter to read it back. Say, "do you have the question in mind? Yes? Would you answer it please?'"
I fell all over myself thanking this kind man who growled in response, "I just wanna get outta here before Christmas."
The court reporter doesn't really "strike" anything from the record.
This is someone else's painful story. I was defending a deposition that was obviously the examiner's first time. Every time he rephrased a question mid-phrase, he'd turn to the court reporter and say, "strike that."
Then he waited for her to do something. When she didn't, a confused look would cross his face and he'd return to his questioning. He must have done this a dozen times during the first hour.
Each time, the reporter just smiled that inscrutable court reporter smile, benevolent, knowing and, as I thought during most of my first year of practice, thinking, "what an idiot!"
After several of these lengthy pauses, the reporter took pity on the poor attorney, put her hand gently on his arm and whispered, sotto voce, "I'll explain at the break."
There is no usual stipulation.
At the end of the many depositions I'd seen before I first took my own, I watched attorneys look across the conference table and ask, "the usual stipulations?"
So that's what I did in my first deposition.
"The usual stipulations counsel?"
Defense counsel eyed me with the admixture of pity and contempt seasoned lawyers reserve for new
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