Does this change render deposition practice obsolete? Quite the opposite—depositions are more important than ever. The book recognizes a modern reality, an alternative to the traditional view of deposition practice: that instead of a battle between attorneys who reveal only information asked about by the opponent (i.e., the traditional view), depositions are viewed by many practitioners as the place to put your best case forward, establish your case theories, explore the strengths and weaknesses of your case, and prepare your disposition strategy, be it a motion for summary judgment, a settlement offer, or mediation.
Taking effective depositions in this changed environment involves a new paradigm, a whole new way of thinking about the discovery process. This book will guide you through that process, from interviewing and preparing your client through theory building and expert testimony. It also deals with concrete issues like creating a clean, understandable deposition record that will benefit your case throughout the litigation process. With its Q&A format and its many examples, The Deposition Tutorial will become the book you want on your desk for quick reference.
Advance Praise for The Deposition Tutorial
The Deposition Tutorial is a superb, innovative, and much-needed contribution to the library of materials available to those teaching and learning the vital skills of deposition-taking and defending. Its particular strengths that distinguish it from all other primers on the topic include:
- The authors recognize, and adapt their tutorial methods to, the reality that almost no civil cases are taken to trial. Litigation is now “trial by deposition,” which significantly affects the skills, methods, and strategies the modern deposition-taker must master.
- By use of a representative fictional case file threaded through the book, with a variety of illustrative examples of transcript excerpts, the tutorial takes the reader through an actual deposition. The result places the reader in a “real life” deposition setting.
- The format is equally useful as a self-taught tutorial for newer lawyers / refresher for experienced litigators as for a more traditional training program where instructors lead participants through exercises using the case file.
- The book is short and to the point—eminently as usable as a quick reference tool as for a complete deposition course of study.
Thomas Jay Leach & Cary A. Bricker
Pacific McGeorge School of Law
Depositions aren’t what they used to be, as the very nature of litigation has been transformed in the age of the “vanishing trial.” Bocchino and Sonenshein have perfectly captured the ways that deposition practice must be adapted for the new environment, making The Deposition Tutorial a must-read for every twenty-first century lawyer.
Steven Lubet
Williams Memorial Professor
Director, Bartlit Center for Trial Advocacy
Northwestern Pritzker School of Law
The modern deposition is not one destined for use at trial; the odds are it will be the tool for summary judgment or some form of alternative dispute resolution process. Lawyers must rethink deposition practice to accommodate this reality. In The Deposition Tutorial, David Sonenshein and Tony Bocchino—masters of the law of Evidence, of Civil Procedure, of civil litigation, and of trial advocacy—teach the art and skill of the modern deposition, supplementing insight and analysis with examples derived from a model case file. What at first seems counterintuitive—e.g., disclosing your case when you “defend” a deposition—is just one of the invaluable insights this text offers.
Professor Jules Epstein
Director of Advocacy Programs
Temple Beasley School of Law
Tony Bocchino and David Sonenshein have written a wonderfully accessible book. It’s perfect for a law school class, in-house training, or a lawyer wanting to learn to take depositions as they should be taken in a world where almost every case resolves before trial. I will be recommending it to every early career litigator I know—and to more than a few older ones.
Donald Beskind
Professor of Law
Duke University