Effective Deposition Techniques: Controlling Conversations and Difficult Witnesses

In Effective Deposition Techniques: Controlling Conversations and Difficult Witnesses, we will cover strategies for handling various types of challenging witnesses. We will discuss techniques for dealing with forgetful, confused, or evasive witnesses by turning their lack of recollection into a credibility issue and using their evasiveness to the attorney’s advantage. For witnesses who provide vague answers, we will suggest establishing the attorney as a credible source of information and using documents to counter vague responses. We will also address handling lying witnesses by using the looping technique to reinforce their statements and impeach them with prior inconsistent statements.

Additionally, we will cover tactics for dealing with witnesses who talk too much, such as interrupting them to maintain control and using body language to stop them. Finally, we will provide strategies for managing uncooperative witnesses, including making them feel comfortable and using strategic sympathy to handle emotional responses. By the end of this presentation, you will have several new tools to employ to effectively handle difficult witnesses.

Key topics to be discussed:

• Forgetful, Confused, Evasive Witnesses and Deponents who Respond with Vague Answers
• The Liar and Tactical Approaches to Inconsistent Statements
• Uncooperative, Hostile and Arguing Witnesses
• Deponents with Mental Health Conditions or Diminished Capacity and Child Witnesses

Closed-captioning available