Posted on May 30th, 2019
Find below a complete transcript of this video.
What’s going on fellow entrepreneurs? It’s John Fagerholm again from Metal Law Group.
Today I decided to do a video on depositions and it’s not my usual video where I rant about how bad California law is, but I was just looking over some documents, my client’s coming in, so I can prepare him for a depo that’s happening later and it just got me thinking that I bet most people don’t even realize what a depo is, or how it is conducted, or what it’s even used for.
So it just seemed like a good teaching moment.
So depositions are basically one of the main tools that we use in discovery to find information, both our side and their side.
So the deposition that’s going to happen in a few days, we want to prep the client because depositions are very stressful. There’s usually a camera in the corner recording. You’re sworn it.
There’s some lady clacking away at some keys recording everything you’re saying and then there’s an attorney asking you questions that you don’t really answer and then your attorney is objecting and then they’re yelling at each other back and forth.
So it can get quite hectic and that’s why we do the depo preparation because we want to prepare the client for what’s about to happen.
So, the interesting thing about depos is that if you don’t understand how to conduct a depo, I’m sorry, if you don’t understand what it’s like to be in a depo, you tend to get nervous and just try to give away, answer all of these questions that end up hurting you.
What I tell my clients, the first thing I tell them is, listen, think, speak. There’s no timer anywhere. There’s nothing that requires you to blurt out anything, so you have to listen to the question.
You have to think about what they’re trying to get at, and you normally know that from the complaint. So if they say this guy never pays overtime, then you know that’s where the questions are that they’re trying to elicit from you.
You listen to the question. You think about what it is they’re asking and why they’re asking it and you think about your answer and then you speak.
So, there is no time requirement, again, like I said. You’re only requirement is to give your very best answer. “I don’t know,” could be your best answer if you don’t know. “I don’t remember,” could be your very best answer if you don’t remember but the thing that hurts people the most and I’ve even deposed attorneys and they fall for this same trick is when you’re asking them these softball questions, they start getting comfortable with you and they start answering more than they should.
So, if I ask a yes or no question, then answer a yes or no question don’t over explain. Don’t volunteer information that you don’t need to volunteer.
Don’t feel like you have to defend yourself because a deposition is just a record so at trial, if you give a different answer, they can bring that in and say, “Wait a minute. Six months ago this is the answer that the guy gave, so you must be lying.”
With depositions, there’s different types of styles. My style when I’m taking a deposition is to be very cordial, be very friendly to get them to relax so they’ll over explain.
Some people are really aggressive. Some people throw out trick questions. That’s not what I do. I just don’t find it to be that useful so, anyway, that’s the gist of depositions and they usually last four to eight hours and they can go on several days.
So hopefully you’ll never be caught in a deposition, but if you are, listen, think, speak.
Thanks everybody. Talk to you soon.
