How to Conduct a Deposition – An Interactive Program 2025

COURSE DETAILS

The pre-trial deposition stage is a critical point in any litigation. Indeed, many personal injury and commercial cases are either won or lost during the deposition phase.

Our panel of experts provides practical guidance, while teaching basic deposition skills, techniques for handling commonly encountered problems, how to use depositions at trial, how to seek rulings from a trial judge, and virtual depositions.

Demonstrations of how to conduct depositions in commercial and personal injury cases are also reenacted.

Some of the specific issues addressed include:

• How to control a witness.
• Dealing with evasive witnesses.
• How to discover and authenticate documents for trial.
• What objections can be raised.
• When to prevent a witness from answering.
• What to do when your witness volunteers information.
• How to cut your losses in light of unexpectedly damaging testimony.
• How to use depositions at trial to impeach witnesses, introduce testimony of absentee witnesses and more.
• Virtual depositions.
• Whether to conduct a virtual deposition … or insist on a live deposition.

FACULTY

Program Chair: Ronald Burke, Kelner & Kelner

Faculty: John Halebian, Lowell, Stewart, Halebian, LLP; Douglas Halstrom, L’Abbate, Balkan, Colavita & Contini LLP; Jay Safer, Dunnington, Bartholow & Miller LLP