I find myself using the very same term—“unsophisticated”—when describing my former client, a term I criticize below. But I use it not because my client lacked intelligence. It’s because I know she would’ve been railroaded if she’d showed up to the deposition alone.
But I was there for her.
And drilled into me during the experience was this: all I had to do was show up. That was it. Just show up, and most of the work of representing my client effectively was already done.
In my youth, I spent hours in front of the television playing video games. From Atari to Xbox, I loved every minute of every system. Although I’m older, I haven’t quite kicked the video game habit, and don’t plan on it. Luckily, video games aren’t a total waste of time for me. They are a good rainy day activity for me and my girlfriend, who plays Diablo II while I play Skyrim. And, more importantly, video games taught me several things I can apply to my law practice.
A few years ago, Sam provoked the ire of court reporters everywhere by reporting on a 10th Circuit decision that transcripts of public proceedings are not copyrighted. Despite some sensible comments from Aaron, court reporters regularly stop by to call Sam names. What do you think about court reporters’ prices?
Read Court Reporter Transcripts Are Not Copyrighted: Get Them However You Can in the Archives.
A recent news story about the DIAL-LAWYERS bankruptcy underscored the staggering power of one the most insidious and underestimated forces in the practice of law: human emotion. The skill, experience and training of attorneys will always remain vulnerable to emotional situations. While this can’t be avoided, attorneys–like everyone else–can better arm themselves by increasing their understanding of and adaptability to the emotional situations.
Make sure you are ready to handle objections. And make sure you know which objections are proper and which are improper. Once you are armed with that information, you can keep the deposition proceeding smoothly.
“I’m a doctor of law. I’m not here to teach you. You come to my university, you pay for it.”
View the rest of the Clients Gone Wild! series on Lawyerist. New York, California, and Minnesota attorneys receive ethics credit for watching the full version of the series on ShowCourse.com. Use coupon code LAWYERIST for 10% off the registration cost.
There are ample resources out there to give you an idea of how to handle a deposition—what objections to make questions to ask, how to get the most of the deponent, how best to prepare, etc. That is all helpful if everything goes according to plan. It’s not too helpful when things go wrong. When things go terribly wrong, you’re pretty much on your own.
There was a case not too long ago that caught my eye because of the magnitude of its wrongness. In GMAC Bank v. HTFC Corp., an attorney and his client were fined nearly $30,000 for conduct in a deposition. Over the course of 12 hours and 2 days, the deponent dropped the F bomb over 70 times, evaded questions, mocked the deposing attorney and walked out a number of times.
“I am the only person in your life that is f*cking up your world, and I enjoy it.”
Watch the rest of the Clients Gone Wild series.
New York, California, and Minnesota attorneys receive CLE ethics credit for watching the full version of Clients Gone Wild on ShowCourse.com. Use coupon code LAWYERIST for 10% off the registration cost.
“You Don’t Speak for Anyone Here Except Yourself, F*ckface.”
New York, California, and Minnesota attorneys receive CLE ethics credit for watching the full version of Clients Gone Wild on ShowCourse.com. Use coupon code LAWYERIST for 10% off the registration cost.
Bitter Lawyer is launching a new deposition video series shortly and, in celebration, we’ve collected five of the most heinous video depo excerpts on YouTube. While we’re omitting one classic one, which we’ll highlight later in our series, here are the five we’ve curated so far. Consider this a great resource in how not to take or conduct a deposition. Or in how to be an asshat.
Read Five Godawful YouTube Video Depositions on Bitter Lawyer.
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