Page 19 - FDCC Deposition Drills

Deposition Drills How to Teach Deposition Skills
Developing Themes
Your objective in any case is to win, and to win, you need to develop a theme for that case, a theme which runs a throughline - an invisible thread – through your case. This theme is developed through your case investigation, your written discovery, your interviews and your depositions. Teaching deposition skills requires, by extension, teaching how to spot, grow and develop themes. Themes keep us and the fact finder focused on why we win. Define your theme, embrace it and use it.
EXPLANATION
This exercise teaches how to brainstorm and develop case themes.
EXERCISE
Choose two or three types of cases your firm or practice group handles. Ask the participants to brainstorm themes for those cases. Lead a discussion about possible themes and how to develop them in depositions. Have a list of case themes you have used and discuss their birth, development and use in depositions and at trial.
LESSONS LEARNED
This exercise teaches the importance of themes, how to conceive them and how to develop and use them.
A FEW QUESTIONS TO DISCUSS
Why are case themes important?
Where else do we see themes used? How are they used? Discuss themes in literature and cinema and their power and impact.
What are the sources of potential themes?
Where can you find themes during the course of your day? How does one give birth to a theme?
How can you develop a theme?
How can you incorporate a theme in your depositions?
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SECTION 01 PREPARATIONS