How to Prepare for a Deposition

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Please rise. Court is now in session.

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All rise.

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All rise.

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I strenuously object. A legal podcast brought to you by the Pittsburgh law from a Flaherty Fardo

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is now in session.

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All those seeking information about the law and legal matters affecting the people of Pittsburgh

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and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, half-baked opinions and a dose of self-indulgence

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are invited to attend and participate.

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I want the truth! You can't handle the truth!

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I object, your honor.

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Your honor, I object.

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You would!

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Listen, we don't know you. We don't know who you are. We don't know what you do.

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So please do not rely on anything we say as legal advice.

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I'm Noah Fardo, presiding. My wingman, attorney Bill Rugell.

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And all we're trying to do is bring a little irreverence.

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That's just what this stubby company needs! A little irreverence!

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Well, let's start the insanity.

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Call the first witness.

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Hello!

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Hello!

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Hello! How are you, Bill?

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I'm great this morning, Noah. It's good to be back with you here. How are you?

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I'm back, baby.

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I'm back, baby!

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Although I can't pull a Frank Costanza as well as anybody,

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but that is to Seinfeld's pretty early on.

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Do you think anyone noticed we've been away for about six weeks?

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I hope some people have noticed.

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I can't pretend to be optimistic enough to say for sure anyone noticed.

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Well, we're back.

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And today we're going to be specific because our producer, Mike.

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Hello, Mike. How are you today?

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I'm doing good. So far so good, guys.

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He said we need to be specific.

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We need to help people answer specific questions.

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So today, and I strenuously object, how to prepare for your deposition.

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Now, that's not very sexy,

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but if somebody is trying to understand how to prepare for a deposition,

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once again, I think this will be the greatest podcast ever recorded on this specific issue.

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You agree?

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This is going to be the banger of all bangers.

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Well, good. From a roadmap perspective today, we've got a great guest.

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We've got our founding partner, Sean. Sean Flaherty.

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He's been practicing civil litigation for over 30 years,

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knows more about depositions than most attorneys,

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and certainly can help provide some insight today.

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But we're also going to end with the best advice that we will ever give

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to a party or a witness on what you need to know about your deposition.

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But before we get to Sean, before we get to really trying to help the people,

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how many people out of 10, Bill, do you think actually know what a deposition is?

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Yeah, this is one of these words that everyone's heard, right?

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If you if you kind of consume the news or you watch legal television, programming or movies,

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we've all heard of a deposition.

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I'm going to guess something in the neighborhood of 30 percent

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actually know what a deposition is.

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And the other 70 maybe have kind of a ballpark idea.

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All right. Let me ask producer Mike, you know what a deposition is?

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To be honest, I don't.

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And I don't even know why I would be deposed.

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Why would that even happen to me?

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That's a good angle, right?

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Listen, a deposition is under oath testimony.

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If you're in a civil lawsuit between parties, there is an odd that if you're a party to that

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lawsuit or you're a witness in that lawsuit, that they're going to take your deposition.

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And there is not a lot of material out there about how people prepare for that deposition.

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Would you agree?

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I would agree.

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Now, I know that the outset, there might be some good reasons for that.

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The first thing you should do to prepare for your deposition,

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assuming hypothetically you're already represented by counsel,

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is, you know, talk to your attorney and listen to what they say.

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But, you know, as an alternative approach, you know, we're happy to talk today about what exactly

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it is that a witness kind of staring down the barrel of a deposition needs to know to perform

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their best and to, well, not lose their case.

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There are a couple different kinds of deposition, and I'll circle back to that at the end of this

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description.

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But just so we're talking about the same thing in broad strokes, a deposition is a question and

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answer session.

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It's testimony under oath that is in some form or fashion recorded.

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It is like the testimony that you would see or that you would give in court in the sense that the

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attorney asks questions and the witness, who is sometimes called a deponent in a deposition,

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answers those questions.

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The witness is under oath.

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The witness is required to answer the questions accurately and honestly, and a record is created

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of the proceedings.

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At minimum, there's a court reporter there, or, you know, sometimes you'll hear them called a

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stenographer.

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And they will take down everything that's said to create a written record.

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Now, sometimes we videotape depositions as well.

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That kind of changes the approach a little bit.

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So one of the things you'll want to keep your eye on if you're giving a deposition is, hey, is this

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thing being video recorded or are we just creating a written transcript?

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Because that can change things both in terms of your appearance and the way you handle silences

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during the course of your questioning.

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But anyway, depositions are different than trial testimony or testimony in court in front of a

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judge or a jury in that the whole purpose is to create this record.

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Most depositions are taken during the discovery phase of a case.

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The rules of evidence are broader, and there's nobody there to rule on evidentiary objections

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anyway.

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You'll hear objections made during the course of the deposition, and they're filling up the

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record so we can fight about them later.

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But generally, you're going to have to answer even objectionable questions during the course of a

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deposition.

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Let me give you a specific example, right?

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Most people have at least heard of a hearsay objection, right?

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The objection hearsay is, you know, kind of seeped into the popular culture.

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Objected to on the grounds that the question calls for hearsay testimony, that it calls for a

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conclusion of the witness, that it is not the best evidence, and furthermore, it is incompetent,

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irrelevant, and immature.

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Sustained.

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This is all speculation and hearsay.

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At trial, I can't ask a witness, you know, hey, what did Bob say to you, you know, about what

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happened in that accident?

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Can't ask it.

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It's specifically calling for hearsay.

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In a discovery deposition, you can and will be asked to talk about what Bob said to you, right?

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You will be asked to testify to hearsay.

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And the reason is, one of the purposes of the deposition is to figure out whether or not we

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need to get the testimony of Bob.

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And so, because it's a discovery deposition, the scope of what's being talked about is much

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broader than what you're going to see at trial.

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So, yeah, I mean, certainly the highlights of what you said there is a deposition is a

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under oath testimony that is very different than trial testimony.

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But anybody who's listening to this likely is going to be deposed and is looking for some

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advice.

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So that's where I want to go to next.

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And I want to bring in attorney Sean Flaherty.

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You and I have worked with Sean for over 22 years.

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You've been with us 15, 16 years.

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Is that correct?

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Trying to do the math in my head.

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I think I'm in year 16 now.

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Yeah.

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So, I mean, we've had a great run.

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We've always gotten along and I don't think we've ever even fought over that time period,

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which is pretty amazing.

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But Sean is the man.

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Sean.

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Hello.

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Hello.

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Good morning, everybody.

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How are you doing, Sean?

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I'm doing well.

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I'm doing well.

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Having a little bit of coffee and enjoying the listening to you guys chat about depositions.

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There was a great deposition story.

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Well, let's strike that.

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We'll end with the great deposition story after we give the best advice ever.

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So, Sean, what's your thoughts so far?

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Depositions are usually scary because nobody's ever done them before.

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It's not like they do them every day.

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When I say they, I mean, the deponent, the attorneys are pretty skilled at it.

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One of the first things I think is if I represent a client who is going into a deposition,

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this is the opportunity where the opposing attorney has an opportunity to take a look

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and size up your client and your case.

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So, one of the first things I'm concerned about is the appearance of my client when

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they go into the deposition.

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I want them to know that they're going to be dressed accordingly, that they're going

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to be judged.

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When they go into a deposition, the first thing I think that the person has to do when

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that person walks in the room, the attorney on the other side is judging you.

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The opposing attorney is looking at you, whether there's one attorney, two attorneys, sometimes

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there's several attorneys in the case.

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They're all judging you.

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What are your looks?

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What's your appearance?

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Are you confident?

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Do you appear to be sketchy?

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Do you appear to be diverting eye contact?

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Can you say hello?

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And I want them to say hello to the attorneys on the other side.

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Hello!

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This is not a fighting situation.

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This is just a, we're just talking about a situation which brought up this lawsuit.

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Why can't we be friends?

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Why can't we be friends?

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Yeah, you know, it's funny.

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I always use, it's a first date.

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It's a job interview.

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Okay, you have to make a good impression.

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And Bill, you and I, Bill's always real good about this.

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Cover your tattoos.

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I don't want to see obvious piercings.

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You know, if there's scarring that was a cause of the accident, maybe we do want that visible.

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Don't cover that.

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So, like Sean said, there's all these just general first impressions.

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And then you break it down.

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Bill, what's your insight on appearance?

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Because that is the number one thing that we're trying to teach people today.

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Your appearance, your first impression matters.

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Bill, your intake?

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Yeah, it's a fair ways and greens situation, right?

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First date is an interesting and good analogy, I think.

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You don't want to pretend to be somebody that you're not, but you want to put your best foot forward.

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You want to understand that you don't want to give the opposing attorney something they can seize on

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or a reason to think, well, this person's going to be a bad witness or people aren't going to like them.

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You know, if you show up with, you know, obvious tattoos and piercings, or if you show up underdressed,

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you know, maybe 10 out of 12 jurors don't care or think that's fine.

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You know, everyone isn't, you know, your stodgiest grandparent.

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Oh, my stars.

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But some people are your stodgiest grandparent and you want to dress to please them.

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Yeah, I don't think you're allowed to say it anymore, but it's going to church.

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I don't know if you're allowed to say church, but you're going to church.

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So dress appropriately.

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Number two, one simple number two is the approach to questions.

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And Bill, I'll let you take the lead on this.

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But a deposition, you know, is a question and answer session, but you need to listen to the question.

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The kind of ballpark, like important key rule here to remember is you cannot win your case in a deposition.

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You can lose it.

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You can't win.

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You will lose.

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And so because you can't win, you want to be careful, smart, measured.

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Don't give them more words than you have to listen to the question that's asked.

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Answer specifically and only the question that's asked if they ask you, are you employed?

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Answer yes.

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And then stop.

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Don't tell them where you're employed.

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The lawyer will ask that follow up question, but kind of just as a way of getting used to the habit of answering specifically and only what's answered.

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Don't anticipate what you think the attorney is going to ask next and start answering it.

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Answer specifically and only what is asked of you because you can't really help yourself.

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All you're really trying to do is avoid major pitfalls, right?

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Avoid major pitfalls in your appearance.

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Avoid major pitfalls in your answers.

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Avoid major pitfalls in terms of coming in too nervous.

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That's your goal here.

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Yes, Sean, what's your take?

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You know, I think that Bill's absolutely right.

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You try to coach your witness into answering just the question.

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However, we as attorneys are skilled in going beyond that.

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And I always advise my clients that, look, the attorney on the other side wants to get into a conversation with you.

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This is not a conversation.

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And people invariably want to talk and have a conversation and they want to put on their side of the story.

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And it's very hard to coach them.

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And attorneys are skilled.

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And this is I try to impress this that attorneys on the other side, when they're asking questions, are very skilled at wearing you down.

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They will ask a half hour of question and answer that you've already prepped them on, which are easy.

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Do you have a job?

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Yes.

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Where is your job?

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I work at XYZ Corporation.

242
00:12:46,640 --> 00:12:48,080
How many years have you been there?

243
00:12:48,080 --> 00:12:48,800
Where do you live?

244
00:12:48,800 --> 00:12:49,920
How many children do you have?

245
00:12:49,920 --> 00:12:51,200
Where did you go to school?

246
00:12:51,200 --> 00:12:52,800
They're able to get through all of that.

247
00:12:52,800 --> 00:13:00,640
But after about a half an hour of that, and that's what happens is it's kind of a boxing situation.

248
00:13:00,640 --> 00:13:06,480
Well, then the attorney starts to get into the more conversational questions, which is really the meat and potatoes.

249
00:13:06,480 --> 00:13:11,600
And you have to remind your client that they are just answering the questions.

250
00:13:11,600 --> 00:13:18,960
And sometimes if they get too chatty, I'll throw an objection in just to slow it down.

251
00:13:18,960 --> 00:13:19,360
Yep.

252
00:13:19,360 --> 00:13:22,400
So look, when people get nervous, they talk.

253
00:13:22,400 --> 00:13:24,240
I mean, that's just that's human nature.

254
00:13:24,240 --> 00:13:27,040
And good attorneys will let it be silent.

255
00:13:27,040 --> 00:13:31,360
So if I'm taking the deposition of Mike, I'll just look at you and you'll feel the need to talk.

256
00:13:31,360 --> 00:13:32,560
And you can't be into that.

257
00:13:32,560 --> 00:13:33,920
And we talked about a first date.

258
00:13:35,360 --> 00:13:41,200
Bill, you and I were preparing somebody recently and I told them not only are you on a first date, but you're out of viewing.

259
00:13:41,200 --> 00:13:43,280
OK, it's a very sad viewing.

260
00:13:43,280 --> 00:13:46,400
And this girl's next to you and she's asking you a question.

261
00:13:46,400 --> 00:13:47,600
How would you answer?

262
00:13:47,600 --> 00:13:49,120
You'd answer very few words.

263
00:13:50,240 --> 00:13:53,680
Very simple, very quiet, because I don't want you talking.

264
00:13:53,680 --> 00:13:58,240
And if you're at a viewing where nobody's talking, it's one way to look at it.

265
00:13:58,880 --> 00:14:02,160
You follow the the Aaron Burr advice, right?

266
00:14:02,160 --> 00:14:03,600
Talk less, smile more.

267
00:14:04,160 --> 00:14:08,240
You want your physical comportment to look like you're not nervous.

268
00:14:08,240 --> 00:14:14,880
You want to look like you're being open and honest with them, but you want to say the fewest number of words possible.

269
00:14:14,880 --> 00:14:16,400
So got to look good.

270
00:14:16,400 --> 00:14:17,440
First impressions matter.

271
00:14:17,440 --> 00:14:18,880
Only answer the question asked.

272
00:14:18,880 --> 00:14:21,600
Your approach to questions less is more.

273
00:14:22,160 --> 00:14:23,120
Let it be silent.

274
00:14:23,680 --> 00:14:31,280
The other thing, too, is and I have a hard fast rule about this after about 45 to 50 minutes.

275
00:14:31,760 --> 00:14:33,600
That's about all I can take sitting down.

276
00:14:33,600 --> 00:14:34,800
My back starts to hurt.

277
00:14:34,800 --> 00:14:38,240
I have to go to the bathroom.

278
00:14:38,240 --> 00:14:40,400
This from the man who put old in old school.

279
00:14:49,120 --> 00:14:59,920
But but you know, you want to reach out, recharge and what attorneys attorneys can go ahead and they can ask questions for two hours straight without getting up.

280
00:14:59,920 --> 00:15:04,880
And the witness has never done this in their lives before.

281
00:15:04,880 --> 00:15:14,240
So it's not uncommon for me to say at this point after I'll watch the clock and after 45 or 50 minutes, I will make a request to excuse myself and go to the restroom.

282
00:15:14,240 --> 00:15:21,360
I do like my plan if they're they're male, but if it's a female, you know, we regroup outside.

283
00:15:21,360 --> 00:15:29,360
If we have anything to chat about going back in that needs to be expounded or further put into the record.

284
00:15:29,360 --> 00:15:30,320
You can mention that.

285
00:15:31,680 --> 00:15:34,560
But you obviously have the opportunity to go back and ask questions later.

286
00:15:34,560 --> 00:15:36,080
But it's always a good time.

287
00:15:36,080 --> 00:15:40,480
Every 45 minutes to an hour, I never let the deposition go over an hour.

288
00:15:40,480 --> 00:15:43,760
I can't sit for over an hour myself without losing my train of thought.

289
00:15:43,760 --> 00:15:48,720
And it's not it's and you're allowed to take a rest as as as often as you want.

290
00:15:48,720 --> 00:15:53,040
And you encourage the witness to note that we're going to take breaks.

291
00:15:53,040 --> 00:15:56,960
And I always tell them every 45 minutes to an hour, that's the most we're going to go.

292
00:15:56,960 --> 00:16:00,960
Even if you want to continue to go on, I'm going to slow it down that process.

293
00:16:00,960 --> 00:16:01,920
Yeah, makes sense.

294
00:16:01,920 --> 00:16:03,200
Hey, let's wrap this up.

295
00:16:03,200 --> 00:16:07,200
The final thing we're going to talk about, and this is the best advice and it seems the most obvious,

296
00:16:07,200 --> 00:16:10,960
but it's not and we'll expand upon it, is you have to be honest.

297
00:16:11,840 --> 00:16:13,680
And Bill, that includes no exaggerating.

298
00:16:14,560 --> 00:16:20,320
There is a natural desire that people have to either overplay or underplay,

299
00:16:20,320 --> 00:16:26,160
depending on the circumstances and the nature of questions, the emotional elements of the case.

300
00:16:26,160 --> 00:16:26,880
Right.

301
00:16:26,880 --> 00:16:33,360
Don't overstate how fast the car was going because to you, you want to emphasize that it was a hard impact.

302
00:16:33,360 --> 00:16:35,040
William, let me chime in on that.

303
00:16:35,040 --> 00:16:39,760
You said overstate, and that's really one of the biggest mistakes that people make is

304
00:16:40,400 --> 00:16:43,120
they try to overstate it or embellish it.

305
00:16:43,120 --> 00:16:47,520
There are certain words you need to keep out of your testimony.

306
00:16:47,520 --> 00:16:54,240
Phrases such as honestly before you answer a question or to tell you the truth or to be honest with you.

307
00:16:54,240 --> 00:16:58,240
These are things that people want to naturally say to enhance their own credibility,

308
00:16:58,240 --> 00:17:00,480
but you're already under oath.

309
00:17:00,480 --> 00:17:03,200
They use the word clearly in front of something.

310
00:17:03,200 --> 00:17:05,600
He was clearly driving too fast.

311
00:17:05,600 --> 00:17:10,960
All of that embellishment or exaggeration actually is counterproductive in a deposition.

312
00:17:10,960 --> 00:17:15,360
You should never have to say honestly or to tell you the truth because you're already under oath.

313
00:17:15,360 --> 00:17:16,800
We don't need those words.

314
00:17:16,800 --> 00:17:22,880
No, and people have kind of two different dispositions towards, well, I guess three.

315
00:17:22,880 --> 00:17:25,200
One, people try to out argue the lawyer.

316
00:17:25,200 --> 00:17:28,960
They want to go in there and win their argument and convince the lawyer that they're right.

317
00:17:28,960 --> 00:17:34,080
That leads you to exaggerations, and that leads to you having an engagement on someone else's home turf.

318
00:17:34,080 --> 00:17:37,600
Right. The lawyer has done a bunch of depositions in their life.

319
00:17:37,600 --> 00:17:38,560
You have not.

320
00:17:38,560 --> 00:17:41,280
This is not the place where you want to have these conversations.

321
00:17:41,840 --> 00:17:48,960
And then there are some people who want to exaggerate to kind of justify themselves,

322
00:17:48,960 --> 00:17:51,440
to justify to themselves why they're here in a lawsuit.

323
00:17:51,440 --> 00:17:52,560
I want you to be honest.

324
00:17:52,560 --> 00:17:55,280
I don't want you to sugarcoat it, but I don't want you to overstate it either.

325
00:17:57,120 --> 00:17:59,280
But there are people who go in the other direction who

326
00:18:00,800 --> 00:18:05,120
a lot of people have kind of cultural drives to tell someone else they're OK.

327
00:18:05,120 --> 00:18:10,640
It's impolite to tell other people what your injuries are or what problems you're going through.

328
00:18:10,640 --> 00:18:13,680
Or like people don't like to talk about emotions to strangers.

329
00:18:13,680 --> 00:18:14,480
How are you today?

330
00:18:14,480 --> 00:18:14,960
I'm fine.

331
00:18:15,680 --> 00:18:18,560
How many times do we say that in our lives when we're not really fine?

332
00:18:18,560 --> 00:18:21,200
That instinct is also a problem in depositions.

333
00:18:21,200 --> 00:18:24,000
It's kind of the the counter side of the exaggeration coin.

334
00:18:25,200 --> 00:18:26,800
You're already in this situation.

335
00:18:26,800 --> 00:18:28,000
Right. You have to be honest.

336
00:18:28,000 --> 00:18:31,600
And that includes being willing to talk about uncomfortable things sometimes.

337
00:18:31,600 --> 00:18:34,720
Because if you don't, if you go in there and say you're doing fine,

338
00:18:34,720 --> 00:18:38,240
if the lawyer asks you whether or not you've healed and you say, oh, yeah,

339
00:18:38,240 --> 00:18:41,760
and you don't bother to tell them that you can't look over your left shoulder anymore.

340
00:18:41,760 --> 00:18:42,240
Well, that's it.

341
00:18:42,240 --> 00:18:44,400
You're never going to be able to bring that claim back.

342
00:18:44,400 --> 00:18:45,360
Yeah. Let me ask Sean.

343
00:18:45,360 --> 00:18:49,920
Sean, I mean, I think Bill yelled that up a little bit, but it's real simple.

344
00:18:49,920 --> 00:18:55,120
You can't you have to be honest and you cannot exaggerate any detail.

345
00:18:55,120 --> 00:18:58,000
Any exaggeration against you will be twisted into a lie.

346
00:18:58,000 --> 00:18:58,560
Your thoughts?

347
00:18:59,840 --> 00:19:03,680
Sometimes it's embellishment, which is natural.

348
00:19:03,680 --> 00:19:04,880
We want to do it.

349
00:19:04,880 --> 00:19:08,560
But again, you've got to go back to keep it short.

350
00:19:08,560 --> 00:19:09,040
Stupid.

351
00:19:09,600 --> 00:19:11,360
I mean, you have to remind your client.

352
00:19:11,360 --> 00:19:15,760
That's what I do when I go out to the restroom after every 45 minutes.

353
00:19:15,760 --> 00:19:16,960
I remind them.

354
00:19:16,960 --> 00:19:19,280
The one thing I remind them is keep it simple.

355
00:19:19,280 --> 00:19:19,680
Stupid.

356
00:19:19,680 --> 00:19:22,880
I said, you're getting a little conversational in here.

357
00:19:22,880 --> 00:19:26,960
Just listen to the questions and it turns invariably.

358
00:19:26,960 --> 00:19:30,800
It's at the end of the deposition where for the take it from the other side.

359
00:19:30,800 --> 00:19:34,560
When I've been taking a deposition where you really get to the meat and the potatoes

360
00:19:34,560 --> 00:19:40,480
is after the deponent is worn down at the end of the deposition and they start really chatting.

361
00:19:40,480 --> 00:19:42,400
And now we've got a real conversation going.

362
00:19:42,400 --> 00:19:47,680
It might take me two, three hours to get there and nobody's been in a conversation like that.

363
00:19:47,680 --> 00:19:50,000
And so now they're just going.

364
00:19:51,120 --> 00:19:54,560
The time of a deposition, Sean, and you've hit it over and over today.

365
00:19:54,560 --> 00:19:55,440
It could be one hour.

366
00:19:55,440 --> 00:19:56,320
It could be three hours.

367
00:19:56,320 --> 00:19:57,360
It could be six hours.

368
00:19:57,360 --> 00:20:03,040
And you and I have both over the years just worn people down waiting for that one question

369
00:20:03,040 --> 00:20:08,240
and answer that we can then cherry pick out of the transcript, throw on a big screen in court,

370
00:20:08,240 --> 00:20:09,200
and say, we gotcha.

371
00:20:09,200 --> 00:20:10,720
And that's all they're trying to do.

372
00:20:10,720 --> 00:20:15,280
So if you think you're trying to talk like Bill said and win the case, it's not the right strategy.

373
00:20:15,280 --> 00:20:19,120
That's why it's so important to come out every 45 minutes to an hour,

374
00:20:19,120 --> 00:20:22,480
recharge the batteries, re-remind the deponent.

375
00:20:22,480 --> 00:20:24,240
Look, keep it short.

376
00:20:24,240 --> 00:20:24,880
You're not listening.

377
00:20:24,880 --> 00:20:25,760
You're starting to get.

378
00:20:25,760 --> 00:20:26,880
I've told them many times.

379
00:20:26,880 --> 00:20:29,840
You're starting to get too chatty and not listening to the question.

380
00:20:29,840 --> 00:20:32,320
Just keep it short and you re-remind them every time.

381
00:20:32,320 --> 00:20:33,040
And it does help.

382
00:20:33,600 --> 00:20:34,720
Shut up, Meg.

383
00:20:34,720 --> 00:20:37,600
So how do you prepare for your deposition in Pennsylvania?

384
00:20:37,600 --> 00:20:38,080
It's simple.

385
00:20:38,080 --> 00:20:39,440
Number one, your appearance.

386
00:20:39,440 --> 00:20:40,880
First impressions matter.

387
00:20:40,880 --> 00:20:42,720
Number two, your approach to questions.

388
00:20:42,720 --> 00:20:44,800
Please only answer the question asked.

389
00:20:44,800 --> 00:20:47,200
And number three, be honest.

390
00:20:47,200 --> 00:20:48,960
No exaggerating at all.

391
00:20:50,320 --> 00:20:51,680
You know, bringing this home.

392
00:20:51,680 --> 00:20:54,000
We promised our listeners two things today.

393
00:20:54,000 --> 00:20:57,360
We promised them the best advice on how to prepare for your deposition.

394
00:20:57,360 --> 00:20:57,920
And that's simple.

395
00:20:57,920 --> 00:20:58,480
Be honest.

396
00:20:58,480 --> 00:20:59,360
Don't exaggerate.

397
00:20:59,360 --> 00:21:02,800
But we also promised them a good deposition story.

398
00:21:02,800 --> 00:21:08,800
And the best deposition scene I've seen in a movie comes from Alec Baldwin in the classic

399
00:21:08,800 --> 00:21:16,240
Malice where he is a doctor who was accused of committing malpractice and is being deposed.

400
00:21:16,880 --> 00:21:23,040
And one of the things we could not emphasize enough today is that if you are asked a yes

401
00:21:23,040 --> 00:21:29,840
or no question, you don't just go into a monologue explaining or answering anything else.

402
00:21:29,840 --> 00:21:32,240
You say yes or no and you let it be silent.

403
00:21:32,240 --> 00:21:34,400
But let's hear what Alec Baldwin did.

404
00:21:34,400 --> 00:21:37,520
The question is, do I have a God complex?

405
00:21:37,520 --> 00:21:39,280
I have an M.D. from Harvard.

406
00:21:39,280 --> 00:21:43,280
I am board certified in cardiothoracic medicine and trauma surgery.

407
00:21:44,240 --> 00:21:48,240
I have been awarded citations from seven different medical boards in New England.

408
00:21:48,240 --> 00:21:52,960
So I ask you, when someone goes into that chapel and they fall on their knees and they

409
00:21:52,960 --> 00:21:58,000
pray to God that their wife doesn't miscarry or that their daughter doesn't bleed to death

410
00:21:58,000 --> 00:22:02,560
or that their mother doesn't suffer acute neural trauma from postoperative shock,

411
00:22:03,600 --> 00:22:05,680
who do you think they're praying to?

412
00:22:05,680 --> 00:22:12,480
Now, you go ahead and read your Bible, Dennis, and you go to your church and with any luck,

413
00:22:12,480 --> 00:22:14,000
you might win the annual raffle.

414
00:22:14,000 --> 00:22:20,640
But if you're looking for God, he was in operating room number two on November 17th and he doesn't

415
00:22:20,640 --> 00:22:22,240
like to be second guessed.

416
00:22:22,960 --> 00:22:24,960
You ask me if I have a God complex?

417
00:22:25,360 --> 00:22:26,400
Let me tell you something.

418
00:22:27,440 --> 00:22:28,480
I am God.

419
00:22:29,280 --> 00:22:30,800
Bill, what did you think of that answer?

420
00:22:30,800 --> 00:22:38,160
So what you're saying is I shouldn't do that. If I'm being deposed, I shouldn't because

421
00:22:39,120 --> 00:22:41,040
I'm getting contradictory signals here.

422
00:22:41,040 --> 00:22:44,480
You're telling me that if asked a question like that, I should just answer yes or no.

423
00:22:45,040 --> 00:22:46,000
And maybe that's true.

424
00:22:46,000 --> 00:22:50,320
But on the other hand, I'm pretty sure Winston Zedmore told me that if somebody asked me

425
00:22:50,320 --> 00:22:52,080
if I am a God, I say yes.

426
00:22:52,800 --> 00:22:57,680
Ray, when someone asks you if you're a God, you say yes.

427
00:22:57,680 --> 00:22:58,960
Well, that's not the question.

428
00:22:58,960 --> 00:23:02,080
See, yes. Well, that's not the lesson for today.

429
00:23:02,080 --> 00:23:07,200
And that episode there pretty much summarizes he did everything wrong.

430
00:23:07,200 --> 00:23:07,760
All right.

431
00:23:07,760 --> 00:23:09,920
He he decided to talk.

432
00:23:09,920 --> 00:23:11,920
He was trying to win his case.

433
00:23:11,920 --> 00:23:13,120
He wasn't answering the question.

434
00:23:13,120 --> 00:23:14,640
He was trying to win his case.

435
00:23:14,640 --> 00:23:19,840
The other lawyer just let him talk because the more he talks, the more the lawyers can

436
00:23:19,840 --> 00:23:21,680
pick out something he says.

437
00:23:21,680 --> 00:23:27,280
But if you're asked a yes or no question, you simply answer yes or no.

438
00:23:27,280 --> 00:23:29,920
And you do not go into any type of dialogue.

439
00:23:30,640 --> 00:23:32,560
And I don't I don't think it's necessary.

440
00:23:32,560 --> 00:23:32,880
Mike.

441
00:23:33,840 --> 00:23:38,640
Yeah. In the context of the movie, did that end up hurting his case?

442
00:23:38,640 --> 00:23:39,760
I've never saw the movie.

443
00:23:39,760 --> 00:23:41,200
Oh, you know what?

444
00:23:41,200 --> 00:23:43,040
I can't believe we didn't bring that up.

445
00:23:43,040 --> 00:23:50,320
But after that happened, the defense lawyers realized that they cannot go to trial with

446
00:23:50,320 --> 00:23:52,880
a witness with this type of ego.

447
00:23:52,880 --> 00:23:55,120
And it settled for whatever they wanted.

448
00:23:55,120 --> 00:23:56,480
That killed the case.

449
00:23:56,480 --> 00:23:59,920
So like Bill said before, you can never win your case.

450
00:23:59,920 --> 00:24:01,200
You can lose your case.

451
00:24:01,200 --> 00:24:04,640
And in the instances of Allen's Alec Baldwin and malice, that's exactly what happened.

452
00:24:05,200 --> 00:24:05,600
Yes.

453
00:24:05,600 --> 00:24:13,600
Proclaiming one's divinity does seem like a pretty good way to abandon your case and

454
00:24:13,600 --> 00:24:15,840
convince your lawyers that we need to settle now.

455
00:24:15,840 --> 00:24:16,480
Yeah.

456
00:24:16,480 --> 00:24:18,560
Humility is a good thing in your deposition.

457
00:24:19,760 --> 00:24:23,680
Certainly, the crazy things can happen at depositions.

458
00:24:23,680 --> 00:24:25,120
You get lawyers that are fighting.

459
00:24:25,120 --> 00:24:28,160
You get clients that get upset, clients that get emotional.

460
00:24:28,880 --> 00:24:34,160
Sean's advice of keep it both short and simple is perfect and sound advice.

461
00:24:34,160 --> 00:24:36,240
Anything you guys want to wrap up here?

462
00:24:36,240 --> 00:24:40,320
Do you think we've helped people on how to prepare for their deposition in Pennsylvania?

463
00:24:40,320 --> 00:24:41,200
Bill, you want to go first?

464
00:24:41,760 --> 00:24:42,240
I can.

465
00:24:42,880 --> 00:24:43,120
Yeah.

466
00:24:43,120 --> 00:24:45,600
I mean, I think these are the key features.

467
00:24:45,600 --> 00:24:50,400
And again, some of the details are going to depend case by case and situation by situation.

468
00:24:50,400 --> 00:24:59,520
But you're never going to go wrong by listen to the question, pause, go slow, think of your answer,

469
00:24:59,520 --> 00:25:03,600
make sure it's an answer to the question and not to some other related question,

470
00:25:03,600 --> 00:25:05,520
and then give it in as few words as possible.

471
00:25:07,120 --> 00:25:07,520
Sean?

472
00:25:07,520 --> 00:25:12,880
If the question can be answered with yes or no, answer it with yes or no.

473
00:25:14,000 --> 00:25:14,400
Yeah.

474
00:25:14,400 --> 00:25:19,040
If there's anything that I don't think we hit enough is the importance of going slow.

475
00:25:19,040 --> 00:25:20,400
But hey, thank you, Sean.

476
00:25:20,400 --> 00:25:21,680
How was your first experience?

477
00:25:21,680 --> 00:25:22,400
Did you enjoy it?

478
00:25:23,040 --> 00:25:23,760
I did enjoy it.

479
00:25:23,760 --> 00:25:24,320
It's very fun.

480
00:25:24,320 --> 00:25:25,280
Let's do it again soon.

481
00:25:26,000 --> 00:25:31,360
Hopefully we've told you all you need to know to go in there and crush your deposition unless,

482
00:25:31,360 --> 00:25:33,120
of course, we're the ones deposing you.

483
00:25:34,080 --> 00:25:37,680
So that should do it for this episode of I strenuously object.

484
00:25:38,240 --> 00:25:42,480
After your deposition, please come back, subscribe, rate and review us.

485
00:25:42,480 --> 00:25:47,120
Tell your friends about our podcast and how we help you prepare for your deposition.

486
00:25:47,120 --> 00:25:51,360
If you have any questions for our mailing it in segment or other feedback for the podcast,

487
00:25:51,360 --> 00:25:56,320
you can email us directly at iobject at pgh firm.com.

488
00:25:57,120 --> 00:26:01,600
For more information about your deposition, how to prepare for your deposition or personal injury

489
00:26:01,600 --> 00:26:07,520
or medical malpractice information in general, visit our website pgh firm.com.

490
00:26:07,520 --> 00:26:09,760
Until next time, some parting advice.

491
00:26:09,760 --> 00:26:15,680
Jerry, just remember, it's not a lie if you believe it.

492
00:26:15,680 --> 00:26:16,960
Noah, are we adjourned?

493
00:26:16,960 --> 00:26:46,880
We are adjourned.

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