Best Deposition Example Questions Lawyers Actually Use

Studying a deposition example is a great way to understand how to put together a deposition, which can be a daunting task. Witness transcripts can end up being hundreds of pages long, and it is the responsibility of the lawyer and his or her team to summarize all that information. Sometimes, there is just not enough time to do this.

To help, however, in making summarization easier, the questioning attorney should focus on pertinent questions that will make aggregating relevant information for a case or trial less tedious.

What is an example of a deposition?

A legal deposition testimony or a deposition transcript is a summary of a longer transcript of a witness’s testimony. Testimony is gathered by the plaintiff’s attorney and the defendant’s attorney, and a court reporter is also present to write down what was said. This testimony is later summarized for easier information sharing later on down the line.

Depositions come in many forms, including chronological summaries and page-line summaries. A deposition example of a page-line summary would consist of listing numbered lines of important information for each page.

Example:

P23, L4 Patient had three large uterine fibroids; significant health impacts.
P23, L7 Witness has successfully treated similar symptoms without a hysterectomy.
P23, L9 The Physician intimidated the patient by implying that the fibroids were cancerous.
P23, L14 The Physician created a false sense of urgency to rush the patient into surgery.

Notice how information from various lines on page 23 is listed and summarized. This makes it easier to find the original testimony for legal research, review by a judge, direct examination, and cross-examination by opposing counsel.

Asking deposition questions

When starting deposition questioning, begin with questions that obtain background information and make the witness feel comfortable. The questioning will be done at either your law firm if the person being questioned is the opposing counsel’s witness, or the opposing law firm if your witness is being questioned. Either way, the witness will still be under oath, which can be intimidating.

Common questions such as

What is your name? What is your address? Are you married? What do you do for work?

can be easy enough to answer and possibly lower a witness’s stress level. It is helpful if attorneys walk witnesses through the process and give them space to answer without additional pressure. Inform witnesses of when deposition questioning will become more challenging.

Getting to the testimony

Once basic questions have been asked, it is time for the attorney to move into more thorough questioning. Obtain the Who, What, Where, When, Why, and How?

For example, if the case is regarding an accident that led to an injury, ask questions like

Were you working the day after the accident? Were you working the day before the accident? What were you doing on the day of the accident? When and where did the accident happen? Can you describe what happened? Who else was with you when the accident happened? Have you ever been through a deposition before?

Get as much of a full picture, within legal standards, as possible to support your case and your client.

Verifying third-party information

As expected, attorneys gather a lot of information from a lot of different resources. You may have to summarize multiple deposition transcripts.

When examining your client during a deposition, avoid saying where you obtained information. For example, you would ask:

On the night of March 21st, at your workplace, did you punch Robert? Did you get angry at all? What would you say happened that night?

as opposed to:

Robert said you started yelling at him and punched him. Is this accurate?

The last thing you want to do is violate confidentiality and cause more problems between Robert and your client.

Ask about supporting documentation

Ask your client if there are any documents that they might have to corroborate their testimony. If this evidence is available, look at the documentation and ask questions for clarity, such as what certain codes, abbreviations, numbers, and phrases mean.

If the documents contain record-keeping, ask the client how they keep and determine their records. Ask about any journals or calendar entries that can support relevant timeframes of the incident in question.

Establish when documents were created or given to your client, and why the client has them. Ask if the client agrees with the content or statements made in the documents.

Ask your client if they know of anyone else who may also have supportive and timely documents.

Establishing perception

It is also important to ask questions related to your client’s or witness’s ability to remember events.

Questions related to health

Do you have any mental or physical conditions that could make it hard for you to observe or remember events? (This would be a good time to ask about medical records.)

or questions related to the weather

Was it raining that day? Was it dark?

can establish any witness limitations or biases.

Wrapping Up

Toward the end of the deposition, ask the client if there is anything else that they would like to add, anything else that they think is important. This allows the opportunity for you, the attorney, to gather information that you probably did not think about. This open-ended questioning also allows you to continue learning about your client and their state of mind.

Example deposition transcripts

For more practice, seek out deposition resources that will provide you with deposition examples. Try information databases made specifically for legal professionals. These usually come with a monetary cost, but are worth it with the plethora of summaries they provide.

Also, seek out court record databases that contain summaries as well as good old-fashioned books where the principles for creating an effective summary stay current.