How to Take a Deposition - Execution

AuthorKenneth P. Nolan
Pages49-60
How to Take a
Deposition—Execution
49
Don’t try to impress me. It won’t work. Sure you’re brilliant
and know all about the Federal Rules and the really important cases,
probably even their citations. So what? So you’re smarter than me
and better-looking, too. Join the club. That’s no big deal.
But this is a deposition. Just take it and shut up. If you’re look-
ing to impress, drag an unconscious kid from a burning building or
join the Marines and kill terrorists. But if you’re looking to build
street cred, a deposition is not the place.
A deposition is the accumulation of information, not a trial. It
works slowly, akin to a boxing match—jab, jab, jab, your left to his
right eye. After a dep or two, a few land, most miss. Another dep
and there’s redness, slight swelling. Finally, after a few more, a small
cut appears and eventually blood begins to trickle. He’s weakened,
can’t see that well, tries to protect. You depose a few more wit-
nesses, then the blood flows and you know you have him.
I’ve never seen a knockout at a deposition. Not even a TKO.
Not even when Larry Goldhirsch asked the dentist who, in one sit-
ting, yanked out 12 teeth of some poor woman:
“Doctor, are you a good dentist?”
“I’m the best dentist in the world,” was the reply from a guy
whose patient lapsed into a diabetic coma immediately af-
ter treatment.

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