Comments from Birmingham area attorneys who attended "Great! Adverse Depositions: Principles and Principal Techniques" and/or "The 25 Credibility Arguments for Deposition and Trial"
"Great! Adverse Depositions: Principles and Principal Techniques"
The best I have attended. Informing, entertaining, effective. Musante's rules are far more effective. I think it will make the quality of my depositions significantly better.
Steven Benefield, 19-yr atty, Christian & Small
Great seminar ... substantially better than others. Musante is fantastic.
Sara Ford, 19-yr atty, 80 depos, Lightfoot, Franklin & White
Very practical information. This set of depo rules are superior to mine; will vastly improve the quality of my depositions.
Steven C. R. Brown, 16-yr atty, 10 depos, Birmingham
Excellent food for thought. Musante has captured many concepts that years of trial and error teach and some new ones. Entertaining and engaging seminar...informative without being tiresome.
John M. Johnson,22-yr atty, 400+ depos, Lightfoot, Franklin & White
Excellent and innovative. Drastically new outlook on depos/trial and when to go for the golden nugget of testimony. Very helpful!
Michael Gregory, 5-yr atty, 60 depos, Sadler - Sullivan
A very informative seminar. Musante is very knowledgeable and very energetic. This seminar's rules are much more in depth than the rules I have employed.
Ronald Canty, 1 1/2-yr atty, 7 depos, Beasley, Allen, Crow, et al.
Will dramatically improve my depositions. Musante is very knowledgeable on the subject and does a good job of conveying the various aspects.
Thomas L. Carmichael, 4 1/2-yr atty, 10 depos, Carmichael & Duncan
Excellent practical content. Excellent instructor. Much better than other full-day seminars; makes much more sense. Tremendously helpful.
Susan Bennett, 19-yr atty, 5 depos, Anniston Army Depot
Very good; easily keeps your attention. Much more detailed on specifics of cross-examination. In addition, the illustrations given make the principles easily understood. If practiced correctly, this will improve the quality of my depositions.
Frederick Gilmore, 4-yr atty, 30 depos, Gilmore Law Office
Excellent seminar; more relevant than others.
Stewart Burns, 13-yr atty, 150+ depos, Burns Law Firm
Very thought-provoking. More comprehensive than other seminars. Will make me analyze and prepare more.
Linda W. H. Henderson, 19-yr atty, 20-30 depos, Tuskegee
Excellent practical content; great instructor. Very helpful. It will change the way I perform depositions.
4-yr atty, 10 depos
Extremely useful. Great instructor. Musante's rules are superior to those I've been using.
Scott Hetrick, 9-yr atty, 5 adverse depos, Adams & Reese, Mobile
Excellent instructor; very good practical content. Has given me a better deposition game plan.
Michael Hickman, 5-yr atty, 20 adverse depos, Taylor, Martino & Hedge, Mobile
Excellent seminar; superior to most others. Musante is an excellent communicator and educator ... excellent examples. Very valuable, practical, commonsense, but often overlooked advice. My depos will be immensely better because I will not settle for interviewing witnesses, but instead will realize the importance of locking the witness into his/her testimony.
Sheila D. Isbell, Gadsden
Excellent practical content. Musante knows his stuff and explains it well. I will have to rethink the rules I've previously employed.
Matt Lamere, 16-yr atty, 25+ adverse depos, Dothan
Excellent practical content; excellent instructor. Superior to other full-day litigation seminars.
21-yr atty, 200+ adverse depos, Wooten, Thornton, Carpenter & O'Brien, Talladega
Extremely valuable. Musante was interesting and thought-provoking.
Rebecca Patty, 13-yr atty, 50 adverse depos, AL Dept. of Environmental Management
Best seminar I've been to. Very useful. Held my attention and answered questions I was considering. Will improve the quality of my depos to a great extent.
Jonathan Raulston, 1-yr atty, 5 adverse depos, Engel, Hairston & Johanson, Birmingham
A very useful seminar, more so than most others. Put on quite professionally. Will provide me a game plan to assist me in depo preparation.
Mike Skotnicki, 10-yr atty, 30 adverse depos, Haskell, Slaughter, Young & Redicker, Birmingham
Invaluable. One of the best. Excellent practical content; excellent instructor.
William G. Stevens, 20-yr atty, Prattville
Head and shoulders above any other seminar I've ever been to. Turns what I knew, or what I thought I knew, on its head.
Robert J. Varley, 25-yr atty, 100s of adverse depos, Varley & Messer, Montgomery
Excellent. Better than others. Will have a substantial impact on the way I will approach depositions in the future.
9-yr atty, 30 adverse depos, Birmingham
Best I've been to. A great combination of academics and practicality! Good use of multimedia, good delivery, excellent use of real world examples.
George Worman, 20-yr atty, 10 adverse depos, Anniston Army Depot, Anniston
Excellent practical content; excellent instructor. Much better than average. Should greatly improve the quality of my depositions.
Dent Morton, 15-yr atty, 300 depos, Burr & Forman, Birmingham
More directly related to nuts & bolts of important part of practice. Excellent practical content.
18-yr atty, Burr & Forman, Birmingham
Very practical/useful. Musante is excellent. Will improve my depositions immensely.
Tom Borton, 2-yr atty, Burr & Forman, Birmingham
Great seminar. Will be a great asset in the future to my litigation practice. After it was over, I wanted to take a deposition immediately.
Mitch Mudano, 2-yr atty, 20 depos, Burr & Forman, Birmingham
Excellent practical content. Much more practical to everyday practice than others. I practiced the opposite of all the rules Musante claimed were appropriate ... I will certainly be more attentive to deponent's responses from now on.
Michael Clemmer, 5-yr atty, 150 depos, Burr & Forman, Birmingham
Good practical topic that is not studied enough. Musante is great, very engaging.
5-yr atty, 30-40 depos, Burr & Forman, Birmingham
Excellent practical content; excellent instructor. Crystallizes and reinforces where I've begun to evolve over the years, i.e., I've come to realize that during discovery I must proactively impose my argument of the case using the strongest, most descriptive and concise language that I can obtain.
Paul Cavender, 19-yr atty, 500 depos, Burr & Forman, Birmingham
Excellent seminar. Has given me a better organizational approach to adverse depositions. I will now focus more on trial in both taking and preparing for depositions.
3-yr atty, 10 depos, Burr & Forman, Birmingham
Better than most. Reaffirms what I'm doing right, provides an alternative approach to other areas, and some new and interesting ideas.
Joe Letzer, 28-yr atty, 100+ depos, Burr & Forman, Birmingham
Extremely helpful and informative. It's really a course on listening as much as on questioning, which is different than most depo seminars. Musante is excellent. I will be listening more closely from now on, and going for the jugular more often.
Martin E. Burke, 5-yr atty, 50 depos, Burr & Forman, Birmingham
An entertaining, informative and worthwhile seminar! Musante definitely caused me to rethink what I've done in my limited deposition experience and realize the many ways in which I can make my depositions more effective. The skills learned in this seminar will certainly help me take much more effective depositions.
Cathy Moore, 5-yr atty, 3 depos, Burr & Forman, Birmingham
Excellent practical content. Musante is very articulate. I will certainly ask more leading questions from here on, and cut down on the "what happened next?" questions.
Gary London, 24-yr atty, Burr & Forman, Birmingham
Excellent - I look forward to working on these techniques. Musante is very energetic and passionate about the subject, which held my interest. He emphasized the importance of listening to deponent's answers and cutting out the crap.
2-yr atty, 1 depo, Burr & Forman, Birmingham
Best seminar yet. Excellent instructor; very good practical content. I now have an increased awareness to ask leading questions, rather than asking open-ended questions.
Greg Burgess, 8-yr atty, 60 depos, Fees & Burgess
Excellent practical content. Excellent instructor.
Marty Marler, 10-yr atty, 15 adverse depos
A great practical advocate skills seminar. My awareness has been ceveloped with regard to deposition and trial relationship. Musante is excellent, very committed.
John Barnett, 1-yr atty, 5 adverse depos
Far more interesting than other full-day litigation seminars. Good practical content; excellent instructor.
Pat Clotfelter, 24-yr atty, hundreds of adverse depos
The best! Excellent practical content. Excellent instructor.
Duncan Y. Manley, 38-yr atty, 100s of adverse depos
This is the most practical, useful seminar I have attended.
Steve Rowe, 7-yr atty
Best I have attended. Excellent practical content; superb instructor. Will help me to pin down deposnents and obtain more clarity and specificity in my answers.
Joseph T. Simonetti, Jr., 21-yr atty, 100 adverse depos
Very insightful. Great instructor. Will make my depositions more of a discipline.
Rose Marie Allenstein, 3-yr atty, 20 adverse depos
Excellent practical content. I now feel prepared to deal with "crap."
Russell Gache, 5-yr atty
This has been as interesting and thought-provoking as any CLE seminar I have attended over the past 12 years. I thoroughly enjoyed Mr. Musante; his enthusiasm is truly contagious. The seminar taught specific ways to ask important questions and avoid common mistakes.
Angie Denton
Top notch! It opened my eyes to a whole new approach. Musante is compelling, holds interest and attention. More thought-provoking than other full-day litigation seminars.
Stan Davis, 4-yr atty, 5 adverse depos
Excellent practical content; eye-opening. Musante is a gifted speaker, engaging, fast-paced and entertaining. Much more practical applicability than other seminars. Will be a radical change to my "battleship" technique.
Joan-Marie Kettell, 15-yr atty, 150-200 adverse depos
Good! Now my work starts. Will improve the quality of my adverse depositions without a doubt.
Harry O. Yates, 4-yr atty, 3 adverse depos
Excellent practical content; excellent instructor; excellent compared to other full-day litigation seminars. Will greatly improve my adverse depositions.
JB Clarke, 19-yr atty, 100s of adverse depos
Very useful. Musante is engaging and competent. Superior compared to other seminars. I believe it will help enormously.
Anonymous, 9-yr atty
Much better than most. Enlightening content. Musante is superb. I will now place much more importance on proper preparation and examination.
Anonymous, 23-yr atty, 250+ adverse depos
Fantastic! Top 1% of full-day litigation seminars.
Anonymous, 4-yr atty, 60+ adverse depos
Excellent presentation; better than most I have attended. I better understand what I need to do and how to do it.
Anonymous, 27-yr atty
This seminar has changed my perception of depositions. It has given me direction to "coach" outside counsel representing my firm in matters in which I'm involved.