Depositions

I've read before that the deposition is the first place where a baby lawyer first really feels like a "lawyer." I did my first deposition yesterday, and I can say that I did feel lawyerly. I was fortunate that it was not a knock-down, drag out deposition, rather it was a minor character in the case and the opposing counsel (though a partner at a major firm) was not mentally or emotionally invested in the case. The deposition went fairly well; I have lots of room for improvement, but a lot of that just has to come with experience.

The toughest part about depositions, in my opinion, is not knowing when to object; you'll pretty much know the big objection areas. The toughest part is figuring out what you're going to ask on Cross-examination. We did not notice this deposition, so I was on cross. Basically, there are two things you want to cover - you want to get the witness to give you as much of the information you want as he will give you, and you want to rebut the other counsel's points. The first part of that is not too hard, if you have a good outline drawn up. The second part is where the art of deposing comes in, and can really only come with experience. You need to figure out what opposing counsel is trying to get out (you can kind of anticipate this beforehand if you know the matter of the case and how the witness fits in to the picture) and you need to figure out how to rebut what they say. This is something that can seem somewhat obvious when reading depositions, but while you're on the Court Reporter's time, this is a bit more daunting. You have to be able to think on your feet, change approaches when one thing doesn't work the way you'd like, and be able to corner the witness into an answer, if necessary.

I did all right; it was my first deposition. I made mistakes, and I will learn from them. While I don't relish the idea of trial law myself, it's part of the job and I need to do it as best I can.