In conjunction with a project I'm doing about preparing plaintiffs for deposition, I pointed out that in many types of cases, it's possible to predict with great accuracy what your client will be asked.
This is because in common types of personal injury cases, e.g., many mass torts, defense lawyers often follow a common outline in deposing plaintiffs that can be reverse-engineered simply by lifting the questions or topics from previous depositions.
Often, such deposition outlines are easy to find--and are certainly a great help in preparing a client for a deposition.
Below the fold: A reverse-engineered deposition outline from the long-concluded fen-phen litigation.
[I]n the process of our drill seargant/paranoid recitation of all these "rules," we can inadvertantly turn our clients into robots at their deposition. We've wrung all the humor and charm right out of them. They come off flat, worried, walking on eggshells for fear of making one of those dreaded "mistakes" we warned them about over and over. And, occasionally, we have the audacity to wonder why our clients' pre- deposition charm and endearing qualities did not come through at their deposition.
For more, plus the complete pancake comparison, read the full post.
This article, which first appeared in The Maryland Bar Journal, describes twelve nefarious ploys that lawyers often use to gain an unfair advantage at depositions.
Examples: Intentionally trying to anger the witness in an attempt to get him to forget his pre-deposition preparation, asking convoluted questions loaded with unstated and damaging assumptions, and acting bored as a way of distracting the questioning lawyer.
After describing each trick, the author proposes an "antidote" for dealing with the situation.
Trial lawyers are in the business of spotting liars, but I'm not sure whether this new approach, as described in Psychology Today, will have any practical applications in depositions or at trial. But here's the link all the same:"If You Want to Catch a Liar, Make Him Draw." You can judge for yourself.
My publisher, James Publishing, is offering a free chapter about auto accidents from my book, Deposition Checklists and Strategies. It includes a summary of the substantive law, sample depositions, and practice tips.
To get the chapter, follow the link and provide a few pieces of required information, such as your name. Even without providing the information, the first part of the chapter is already online at the link.
A post at Paul Luvera's Plaintiff Trial Lawyer Tips titled "Attacking the Expert for Bias" is "a simple check list of reminders" of bias-related topics to ask at the expert's deposition.
These topics include--
Advertising for Work
Experience as an Expert
Fees Charges
Income from Expert Work
Tort Reform Activity
Witness Consultant
Definitions Used in Arriving at Opinions
Though written by a plaintiffs' lawyer, the post might also be of interest to defense lawyers.
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