Winning Trial Advocacy Tips has an excellent post on how to improve the reading of depositions at trial. An excerpt: 4. Tab the appropriate pages. Just like on the radio, you want to prevent the courtroom from filling with “dead air.” When your witness is flipping through pages of the transcript,…
All lawyers know that judges don’t like discovery disputes, and some lawyers take advantage of that by violating the rules at depositions. United States Magistrate Peggy A. Leen entered this Order when confronted with lawyers who ignored the rules. An excerpt: The exchanges related in excruciating, repetitive detail in the…
The March 8, 2010 edition of the Daily Recorder reports that a divided California appellate court has ruled that witness statements recorded or taken in writing by attorneys or their representatives aren’t privileged work product and, therefore, are open to discovery. The dissenter ruled that the statements were qualified work…
One of the battles in the preparation of scheduling orders is the deadlines for disclosure of expert witnesses. The defense always wants the plaintiff to go first, and wants an additional 30 or 60 or even 90 days to disclose its experts. Sometimes, the defense wants to depose the plaintiff’s experts before…
What is your opponent going to do to prepare for your expert’s deposition? This article, "The Opponent’s Expert: Preparing for the Most Important Deposition in the Case," 59 Fed’n Def. & Corp. Couns. Q.145 (2008), answers that question.
Evan Schaeffer at The Trial Practice Tips Weblog tracked down an article titled "Preparing A Witness for a Successful Deposition" written by Matt Keenan, a defense lawyer with Shook, Hardy and Bacon in Kansas City. An excerpt: In my 20-some years of working with company witnesses as part of the discovery process, I’ve…
Yesterday I mentioned that James Publishing Company’s website includes excerpts of certain of its books. I thought that the excerpt I referred to yesterday was so valuable that it was worth another post, so here is an excerpt from Section 439 of "How to Prepare for, Take and Use a Deposition" by Daniel…
James Publishing Company’s website includes excerpts of certain of its books. Here is an excerpt from Section 433 of "How to Prepare for, Take and Use a Deposition" by Daniel P. Dain. §433 Using a Checklist for Witness Preparation Some lawyers prefer to go through an extensive checklist of points for discussion…
I brought a couple posts from the Lean and Mean Litigation Blog to your attention back in December. These posts discussed the need of formulating a discovery plan before taking depositions. Here is a related article titled "Mastering the Blind Cross-Examination" written by Mark A. Nuebauer. This article questions the…
The Tennessee General Assembly has passed resolutions approving the rule changes proposed by the Tennessee Supreme Court. The rule changes will be effective July 1, 2009. Here is a brief summary: Civil Procedure: There are changes to 11 different rules or comments on rules – Rule 1, 8, 12, 23, 34,…