Page 24 - FDCC Deposition Drills

A FEW QUESTIONS TO DISCUSS
What types of witnesses and categories of witnesses come to mind?
Howdoyouquestionareticentwitness?Aquarrelsomewitness?Alying witness?A biased witness? A witness who is hiding something?
How do you go about defining the type of witness with which you’re dealing? How do you size up a witness?
What due diligence do you conduct to determine the type of witness with which you are dealing?
Deposition Drills How to Teach Deposition Skills
How to Ask Questions
There are three crucial skills when taking any deposition. We’ve covered the first two – what questions to ask and what order to ask them. The third skill is how to ask your questions. What toneshouldyouuse?Whatcadence? Howshouldyoubehave?Whatshouldbeyourapproach? Your attitude? How fast should you ask them? How loud should you ask them? What rapport are you trying to develop? Remember, you’re trying to get the witness to tell you what you want, what helps your case and what bolsters your theme. How you ask questions goes a long way in determining whether you secure the answers you want.
EXPLANATION
The participants will learn to identify the “type” of witness they’re deposing and how best to question them.
EXERCISE
Identify different types of deponents – young versus old, educated versus uneducated, biased versus unbiased, family or friend versus independent witness, truthful versus lying, expert versus lay, interested in outcome versus uninterested, etc, and develop a style of questioning for each witness. Run through as many types of witnesses you can think of and discuss with the participants the best way to question them.
LESSONS LEARNED
This exercise teaches participants to categorize deponents into types of witness and how best to interact with different categories and types of witnesses.
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SECTION 01 PREPARATIONS