The Trial Practice Tips Weblog

Deposition Checklists and Strategies, Fifth Revision

The fifth revision to my book, Deposition Checklists and Strategies, has been published by James Publishing.

The new revision contains a number of new practice tips, a section listing practice tips by type and category, a long appendix featuring real-life deposition transcripts for study, and much more.

Here's a testimonial about the book from Ross Mann, an attorney whom I don't know, yet who was kind enough to email me last month about my book--

Your deposition book was INSTRUMENTAL in my first deposition. I proceeded to take my first adverse dep without ever having seen a dep in my life--and I had full confidence because I thoroughly studied your book. Thanks so much for the work!

You can view and print a detailed brochure about Deposition Checklists and Strategies at this link (pdf).

Telling Stories at Trial

"[E]excessive strategizing about trial advocacy is counterproductive," writes Max Kennerly of the Litigation & Trial blog in this paragraph--

All of which leads me to believe that excessive strategizing about trial advocacy is counterproductive, a product of our intuition leading us astray with psychological illusions like confirmation bias. Facts win cases. The minimum performance required for a trial lawyer to be considered competent is quite high (and there are many incompetent trial lawyers), and there are differences in style and performance that separate the great trial lawyers from the competent ones, but no one reasonable decision at trial ever sways the case one way or another.

The quote is pulled from the end of a long post about trial styles and story-telling: "Trial Lawyers As Storytellers, The Narratives Versus The Numbers." It's a useful read if you've been thinking about how to organize trial facts into a compelling narrative, and how much this matters to the outcome of your case.

Thinking About Going Solo?

From Keith Lee's Associate's Mind, "Review: Solo by Choice"--

[F]rom what I’ve read around the web, the general consensus for the best place for advice regarding going solo is Carolyn Elefant’s book, Solo By Choice (and her accompanying website, myshingle.com). With that in mind, I purchased a copy to see for myself.

The remainder of Lee's long post is a comprehesive review of Solo By Choice, which concludes "it's a fantastic book." (My own review of Solo By Choice, which has a similar conclusion, is here.)