At a time when more cases settle than go to trial, the deposition has become of utmost significance. Our guest Carl Chamberlin draws upon his experience taking and defending depositions in private practice as well as teaching deposition skills for 30 years. As the new author of The Effective Deposition, the topic is top of mind lately for Carl, so he joins us to talk about how to kick off a truly effective deposition with introductory matters and preliminary and substantive questioning techniques—and he even asks a few questions of his own. 

Topics

3:22   The purpose of depositions

6:20   Difference between gathering information and obtaining information

10:38 Why depositions are important

12:30 Physical settings for remote depositions

14:15 The “usual stipulations”

17:20 Getting commitments

21:27 Commitments in remote depositions

24:42 Preliminary questions

29:51 Structure of substantive questioning

33:30 First demo

36:57 Key phrases for asking open-ended questions

38:25 And ones to avoid

43:01 Drilling down into a substantive topic

44:18 Second demo

1:04:19 Paying attention and listening

1:06:40 Using exhibits

1:10:15 Dealing with interruptions

1:13:56 Carl’s early depositions

1:16:53 The Effective Deposition

1:21:36 Signoff questions

Quote

“We want to make our questions clear and concise. Simple. The clearer the question, the better the answer. The fewer the objections, the more powerful it is.” Carl Chamberlin

Resources

Carl Chamberlin (LinkedIn)

NITA Publications (book)