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Taking a Deposition Toolkit (Federal)
Practical Law Toolkit 3-532-3606 (Approx. 14 pages)
Taking a Deposition Toolkit (Federal)
by Practical Law Litigation
| Maintained • USA (National/Federal) |
Resources to assist counsel with several key aspects of taking oral depositions in federal civil litigation. Specifically, this Toolkit links to resources for deposing counsel related to noticing, preparing for, and taking depositions of parties, nonparties, and experts.
Depositions are valuable discovery tools that can significantly influence the outcome of a case. For example, parties may use deposition testimony as evidence in support of (or in opposition to) a dispositive pre-trial motion or as leverage during settlement negotiations. Therefore, at the outset of discovery, the attorneys for both sides should carefully consider who to depose and the useful deposition testimony they may elicit from each witness.
Among other things, depositions offer the parties an opportunity to:
- Gather previously unknown facts.
- Receive unrehearsed responses to broad questions.
- Explore the other party's theory of the case.
- Nail down an expert's opinions and establish the scope of his testimony.
- Assess the deponent's credibility and effectiveness as a witness.
Given the high stakes for both sides and the diminishing number of cases that reach trial, attorneys must be thoroughly prepared to take depositions. For the deposing attorney, deposition preparation includes:
- Researching the relevant procedural rules and applicable law.
- Understanding the generally-recognized rules of deposition etiquette.
- Properly noticing the deposition.
- Drafting the deposition outline.
- Anticipating objections and privilege issues.