Legal Research

"Depositions: Un-Weenie Yourselves. Do Some Actual Work First. Stop Wasting Time and Money."

This post was written by Dan Hull: "Trials are always about people.

Even high-stakes corporate business v. business cases before federal trial courts or arbitrations panels abroad will lead your staff to an American Legion hall, a local official, a fire chief, or a beat reporter for a small newspaper.

"Un-weenie" yourselves. Roll up your sleeves in corporate litigation and do some common sense things.

Before you schedule a deposition, do some informal investigation. Next time a new case begins, resist rushing into written discovery and depositions. Step back from the discovery routine--you'll get into that bubble soon enough--and learn a few things on your own.

Twenty years ago, James McElhaney, a gifted lawyer, writer and teacher of trial tactics, and the ABA Litigation Section, first published McElhaney's Trial Notebook, now in its fourth edition.

Discovery, McElhaney noted, is a good way to learn what a witness will say, or to bind a party or witness to a particular version of the facts. But it is also "a very inefficient way to get information."

Let us add to that:..."

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Source: What About Clients? 15 September 2010. © 2005-2010 John Daniel Hull, reproduced with permission of the author.

Full post as published by Stark County Law Library Blawg on September 21, 2010 (boomark / email).