Page 29 - FDCC Deposition Drills

Deposition Drills How to Teach Deposition Skills
Using E-mails
We all use e-mails and more and more, they’re becoming ubiquitous in cases. In many cases, especially in employment and commercial matters, e-mails play an important role. They contain an admission, a fact or provide notice that is central to the matter. Learning how to use them in depositions is an important skill to develop.
EXPLANATION
Participants learn how to use e-mails in a deposition.
EXERCISE
Copy several e-mails used as exhibits in your depositions, and have participants question you about them. You want participants to make them part of the record, properly identify them (sender, recipient, those copied, date, re: line, etc.), put them in context and learn about other e-mails in the chain or other relevant e-mails that preceded it or followed it. Have participants pin you down on what the e-mail says, means and its context. It’s hard to argue with something written down, in black and white. Show participants how they can secure information and admissions with e-mails.
LESSONS LEARNED
E-mails can be critical in pinning down a witness with his own words or by showing he was a recipient of an e-mail (and thus placing him on notice of the e-mails contents). The purpose of this exercise is becoming familiar with how to use e-mails effectively to get witnesses to say what you want.
A FEW QUESTIONS TO DISCUSS
How can an e-mail bolster your case? Undermine it?
What does a given e-mail say? What doesn’t it say?
How do you use e-mails to communicate? How do you think juries view e-mails?
In terms of evidence, how much weight do you give to the content of an e-mail? How much weight do you think a jury attributes to it?
What are some effective ways to use an e-mail in a deposition? What are ineffective ways?
©2021 Federation of Defense & Corporate Counsel
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SECTION 03 USING EXHIBITS