THE ANATOMY OF A "SUPERSTAR" DEPOSITION
DAVID BOIES VS. BILL GATES IN U.S. VS. MICROSOFT
(presentations of 4 to 6 hours of teaching time)
8:30 - 10:00 a.m. (the 6-hour agenda)
- The country's highest-rated civil litigator introduced
- The Grand Unified Theory, part #1
- "Great" adverse depositions: the most important, teachable aspect of civil litigation
- Background and core case facts (including key emails)
- Video excerpts (first of many throughout the seminar):
- a competent deposer vs. a formidable witness
- the "superstar deposer" vs. a formidable witness
10:00 - 10:10 a.m. Break
10:10 - 11:20 a.m.
- Battleships
- The G. U. T. of civil litigation, part #2
- Cross-examiner's laboratory: 7 advantages
- The rule re saving "stuff" for surprise at trial
- the rationale
- pre-trial considerations
- at trial considerations
- the exceptions
- Establishing rapport with adverse deponent
11:20 - 11:30 a.m. Break
11:30 - 12:30 p.m
- The rule re leading questions at deposition
- the potential exceptions
- A deposition Holy Grail: the provable lie
- Encouraging a damaging truth
- The rhetorication rule and intensifying arguments
- Noun-epithets and refrains
12:30 - 1:30 p.m. Lunch
1:30 - 2:50 p.m.
- Noun-epithets and refrains
- Nearly every deposition-taker's most significant failing
- Evidentiary depositions vs. discovery depositions
- Definition of a truly "great" adverse deposition
- Nearly every deposition-taker's most significant failing
- Firewalling
- interrogatory-like questions
- wall-to-wall, ceiling-to-floor terms
- enumeration
- looping
2:50 - 3:00 p.m. Break
3:00 - 4:00 p.m.
- Whack! ... the difference between a mere booklet of Q&A and a trial tran-script
- Define the uncertain in deponent's answer
- Make the implied in deponent's answer express
- Specify the limits of deponent's answer
- Adverse deponent's universe of escapes from "Deceiver!!"