The Jury Is Out

The best deposition work happens when you listen closely, close the door on walk-backs, and never lose sight of the jury who may watch it later. In this episode, Tim Cronin, John Simon, and Erich Veith continue their list of deposition tips with how to read a witness, nail down a devastating answer, and build a record that works at trial.

Hosts Tim Cronin, John Simon, and Erich Veith cover how to read the witness, stay in control of the room, and shut down speaking objections. John opens with warm-up questions and shows a little interest in who the witness is. Tim tries to get an early laugh. Erich's rule: don't burn hours on the CV unless it matters, and he shares a story about a deposition where opposing counsel went back to an expert's high school grades.

What does real prep look like? Hosts John Simon, Tim Cronin and Erich Veith discuss re-reading the pleadings (even when you think you remember them), pre-running exhibits with the video tech, using your experts, and why AI can draft your outline but can't do your thinking. Plus: the "just damages" lesson John Simon learned the hard way in year one.

Co-hosts John Simon and Tim Cronin move from style and brainstorming into the concrete goals attorneys should have walking into any deposition. As John puts it, if a deposition isn't accomplishing one of these goals, it may be worth asking why you're taking it at all. John and Tim break down the list of tips, from establishing the elements of your case and eliminating claims and defenses, to boxing witnesses into fixed answers, flipping expert opinions before they're given, and establishing safety rules the other side has to agree apply. Along the way, they share detailed trial stories: a trucking case built around the true purpose of a trailer's rear guard, a corporate representative deposition that quietly eliminated every defense in a wheel failure case, and a five-minute deposition that ended a case before it truly began. The episode also digs into the discovery side of depositions most attorneys underuse.

Hosts John Simon and Tim Cronin dig into how to read a witness in the first 15 minutes, when to be deferential versus direct, and why walking in with a rigid game plan can cost you if you're not willing to throw it out in the first of a new multi-part series on deposition strategy. They break down what separates attorneys who simply gather information from those who use every deposition to actively build their case and share real war stories from decades of practice. The episode covers five tips on style and approach and four tips on brainstorming before you even build an outline, laying the groundwork for the deeper series ahead: deposition goals, thorough preparation, in-the-room tactics, and cross-examination strategy. As John and Tim put it, the case goes as the deposition goes and this episode explains why.