Disputes often arise in the middle of a deposition—such as how to allocate the time available for deposing a third-party witness, the scope of a 30(b)(6) deposition, or simply the permissibility of a line of questioning or an objection.  Although these are opportune times to call the judge for an immediate and timely ruling, parties often are reluctant to do this. Courts would obviously prefer that parties resolve discovery disputes without the court’s intervention.  Calling the judge’s chambers in the middle ...

A previous post addressed the situation where individuals other than the deponent, court reporter, and counsel attend a deposition at the invitation of one party and without notice to the other side. In short, while the best practice is to provide advance notice to opposing counsel, there are no clear prohibitions. But that situation assumed that those invited to the deposition would be physically present, and thus their attendance known. With the increasing use of live-stream technology ...

At the end of a deposition, pursuant to Washington Civil Rule 30(e), the court reporter typically asks the deponent’s attorney whether she would like to reserve signature on the deposition until the deponent is able to review the transcript and make appropriate corrections.  Most attorneys view this as the right of deponent and, as a matter of course, almost always reserve the deponent’s signature.  They then work with their clients to conduct a careful review of the transcript and submit ...

Generally speaking, when preparing a witness to be examined at deposition, the trial lawyer’s focus is on (i) the witness’ factual knowledge and how that fits within the legal framework and the case narrative, and (ii) helping the witness communicate his or her knowledge effectively so that the testimony will be perceived as credible and persuasive.  In short, the drivers of the process are substance and the audience’s perception of that substance. But what comes out and how it lands depend ...