Most business cases settle prior to trial. For this reason, the near exclusive opportunity to examine witnesses occurs during pretrial depositions. This is a procedure whereby witnesses who may testify at trial can be required beforehand to answer questions under oath. Previously these were held in a law firm conference room; often now they occur as a videoconference. No judge or jury is present
I think when a pretrial deposition is the only available opportunity to examine witnesses for most lawyers, the process is overused. Too many depositions are taken. Too many questions are asked. Too many documents introduced.
There are just a few key objectives in pretrial depositions: 1) find out the witnesses’ answers to the toughest questions, where those answers cannot be known in advance; 2) elicit admissions that can be used in a pretrial motion or as a soundbite at trial; and 3) authenticate how the witness communicated, including emails, text, electronic messages, and social media. read more