This book is a comprehensive guide for those getting started in deposition practice, but also contains a wealth of useful legal, strategic, and practical advice for more experienced practitioners. For the beginners, there are clear instructions on the nuts and bolts often overlooked in other guides-- from noticing and arranging a deposition, using subpoenas, and preparing yourself, to getting started at the deposition and using video and other technology. There are numerous example Q&As, practice tips, strategies, and procedural matters. How to lay foundations, how to impeach, how to use documents, and how to get admissions are among the techniques taught with examples and guidelines. The legal rules are discussed, with caselaw on fine points such as restrictions on the who, what, when, where, and how of depositions that make this the bible for resolving often-disputed deposition issues. The strategies and tactics, distilled from forty years of experience, are instructive to even veteran deposition takers. And the crucial guidelines for successful federal court and other time-limited depositions are laid out. Many sample outlines (downloadable for use as templates at www.Martiniak.com), complete with the deposition objectives and time budgets, are provided.
Similarly, the crucial skills needed to defend a deposition are detailed, with a set of preparation slides to simplify matters for witnesses--even those for whom English is a second language. There is legal discussion of, for example, the twenty-one common objections, twenty-two types of privilege that can be asserted, reasons a witness need not answer a question other than privilege, and much more. There is legal and ethical consideration of what is and is not permitted in preparing witnesses for, and counseling the witness at, the deposition, as well as cautions about the ways you can inadvertently waive privilege.
The unique considerations applicable to third-party and expert depositions are explored and explained in separate chapters. And follow-up to the deposition has its own chapter, covering corrections to the transcript, further discovery, motions, and how to use deposition testimony at other depositions, in support of motions, and at trial.
