In our second interview on The Effective Deposition, Program Director and author Carl Chamberlin returns to the podcast to talk about witness preparation. Joining him is NITA Trustee and Program Director Whitney Untiedt, and together they share tips and perspectives on witness prep sessions and how to ready your witness for the procedural and substantive aspects of being deposed. Carl and Whitney also talk about the ethics obligations of counsel and the ramifications of the recent ABA Formal Opinion 508. 

7:20   Timing and length of prep sessions
12:52 Tips to optimize prep
21:09 Procedure and process of being deposed
23:07 One concept and three rules
28:37 How witnesses should answer
34:15 Answering after an objection
36:21 Handling opposing counsels’ tactics
45:42 Goal of substantive preparation
49:54 Reluctance to disclose
55:57 Ethics obligations
58:28 Demo|
1:02:20   Implications of ABA Formal Op. 508
1:08:03   Signoff questions

 Quote
“We as lawyer operate on ‘our’ time. Our time is valuable, and our time is calculated in six-minute increments, and our time is scheduled to within an inch of our lives, but when we sit down with our witness for a depo prep session, it’s no longer our time. It’s our witness’s time. This is their time to shine.” Whitney Untiedt

Resources
Carl Chamberlin (LinkedIn)
Whitney Untiedt (LinkedIn)
The Effective Deposition: Techniques and Strategies that Work (book)
Beginning the Effective Deposition, with Carl Chamberlin (podcast)
Whitney Untiedt Puts the “Pro” in Pro Bono (podcast)
Deposition Skills: Florida (course)
ABA Formal Op. 508 (opinion)