The Practical Guide to Better Deposition: Examples and Commentary - Couverture souple

McCurdy, Mark D; Wideman, Suellen

Couverture souple

ISBN 10 : 1734680296 ISBN 13 : 9781734680294

Editeur : Border Press Books, 2026

Synopsis

The genesis of this Guide is found in our Anatomy of a Deposition Program. Recently, a participating attorney expressed a desire for a source to consult beforehand and as an ongoing resource after the program. This Guide evolved into a stand-alone resource. Broadly speaking, it covers four areas: (1) how to control the record; (2) learning everything the witness knows; (3) locking it all in; and (4) making and dealing with objections. Each part reflects best-practice principles - not in academia - but in our years of practical experience. Each is a strong example of how to accomplish the goals set out at the start. The accompanying commentary memorably explains the thinking behind the questions. Understanding the "why" behind the example empowers you to improve your style and better your depositions. The Guide takes on ten unnecessarily problematic areas where lawyers often struggle. The first two of these are at the very start of the deposition. There is tension between an initial set of terse, quasi-leading questions that yield an unequivocal record for later use in motions and trials and a more conversational style used to learn information, our primary deposition goal. The two examples show how to maintain balance on this tightrope. The Guide also covers information-gathering skills necessary for learning at any deposition. One example illustrates our view that strong follow-up skills are at the heart of the deposition process. Other examples apply the general skill set to two specific areas that commonly arise in deposition practice: how to ask questions about a conversation and how to provide organizing principles for authenticating documents and asking questions about them. All of these examples are brought home, where the key tools for translating learning into admissions are detailed. The contrasting vignettes illustrate the hazards that stem from failure to embrace the example demonstrated in the transcript. These vignettes are designed to be realistic, but bad. A review of their defects becomes a compelling argument for the use of the example language. Please note that one example is actually a continuation of the first, separated for analysis and discussion. Similarly, several later examples are related: the example about a conversation uncovers a document that is authenticated in the next, becomes the subject of questioning in the following, and is used as the basis of the admissions thereafter. Two other examples are stand-alone, as are the final two examples.

A propos du livre

À propos des auteurs

Mark D. McCurdy is an award-winning attorney and advocacy teacher who has taught advocacy skills since 1992 and lectures across the United States on persuasion and communication for lawyers and law students. A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of Maryland, College Park, he earned his J.D. with honors from the University of Maryland Law School.McCurdy spent nearly 23 years in the Maryland Attorney General's Office, including a long tenure in its elite Civil Litigation division, building a substantial trial and appellate litigation background. He later served as General Counsel of the Maryland Automobile Insurance Fund (MAIF) for more than three years, overseeing its legal representation in the Maryland courts and working with the Maryland General Assembly.In 2015, he became Chief Executive Officer of MAIF, a \$200-million-plus insurance entity, and led a financial turnaround that positioned the organization for the next generation of Marylanders before retiring in 2021. He is also a proud father of Nathan and Tyler and has been cited by a national advocacy skills provider for his "dedication to the art of advocacy."As a writer and educator, McCurdy authored "Obtaining Admissions in Depositions," published in the Temple Law Review (Volume 74:1, Spring 2001) as part of Temple's Advocacy 2000 Symposium, drawing on his extensive deposition experience in high-profile matters. He co-authored State v. Graves, a telemarketing fraud prosecution case file used by the National Association of Attorneys General for advocacy training, and in 2021 co-wrote Steal or No-Steal: Lessons for Litigators from February's Impeachment Proceedings.

Suellen Wideman is an experienced trial and appellate attorney, a former Senior Assistant Attorney General in Maryland, and a nationally active teacher of advocacy skills. For more than 25 years, she worked with Maryland regulatory agencies on health care issues, giving daily input that helped shape Maryland's evolving health care system and expand access to quality care for all state residents. Wideman successfully led Maryland's first prosecution for "unprofessional conduct in the practice of medicine" against an obstetrician/gynecologist who engaged in "consensual" sexual relationships with patients, and she played key roles in defending Maryland's physician-discipline regulatory framework and the state's expansion of cardiac surgery services. Her public-interest commitment was recognized with the Jennifer Lauterbach Robbins Award for "her zealous advocacy in the public interest and for her willingness to litigate any issue with intensity, creativity, and perseverance." She sharpened her teaching skills as a public defender in Nashville, Tennessee, and now lectures extensively on a wide range of lawyering topics, including fact investigation, negotiations, depositions, motions practice, supervisory skills, and trial advocacy. Wideman co-authored State v. Graves, a telemarketing fraud prosecution case file used by the National Association of Attorneys General for nationwide advocacy training, and she has led well over 100 advocacy skills programs for a national legal skills training provider. A native of Georgia, Wideman currently lives in Sewanee, Tennessee. She holds an LL.M. from Yale Law School and a J.D. from the University of Tennessee College of Law.

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: Border Press Books
• Date d'édition: 2026
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN 10: 1734680296
• ISBN 13: 9781734680294
• Reliure: Broché
• Nombre de pages: 102
• Coordonnées du fabricant: non disponible
• Personne responsable: GPSR Kontakt; gpsr@libri.de; ; Europaallee 1; Bad Hersfeld; 36244; Allemagne