Civil Litigation
Feb. 21, 2023
Common and brutal mistakes in taking depositions
Challenging the deponent: You want a deponent to loosen up, like or trust you, and talk freely, even beyond the scope of your question. Let his or her own attorney caution him not to go beyond the scope of the question. Loose lips really do sink ships.
Garth M. Drozin
Law Offices of John C. YePhone: (213) 427-2826
Email: gdrozin@johnyelaw.com
Southwestern University SOL; Los Angeles CA
Many attorneys, especially those without the benefit of seeing how their discovery efforts play out in trial, make some glaring mistakes in taking civil depositions. The cardinal sin is attempting to impeach or challenge the adverse witness in deposition, often by asking leading questions. This is almost never a good idea.
Bright but relatively inexperienced attorneys frequently mistake the deposition process for ...
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