Questions
Please give example how deposition testimony can be rendered useless. A lawyer who has no knowledge of my case can ask useless questions.
Answers:
With all due respect to you, it is generally not a good idea because you are not a trained attorney. There are procedural rules that need to be followed or you run the risk of having certain questions or perhaps the entire deposition being inadmissible. It can be done, but I can not think of an attorney who would recommend this course of action.
While you may know the facts of your case, unless you are an experienced attorney, you probably would not know how to properly frame a question so that it is not objectionable. If you persist in asking objectionable questions, it is possible that the deponent will walk out of the deposition.
Moreover, the main purpose of spending your money to take a deposition is so that you can use it at the time of trial for purposes of impeachment during your cross-examination. Even less experienced attorneys often do not know how to use a deposition transcript at the time of trial.
You have already received four responses that all agree that a non-lawyer may well render the deposition useless.
Your assumption is that some attorney would step into the deposition cold without knowing the facts of your case. That is not what is being proposed by anyone. Anyone who is going to take a deposition has to know the facts of the case, how the players all fit together, and the documents available. It takes time to prepare for a deposition, and whomever would would hire would need to be given time to get up to speed.
You ask about how a non-lawyer could render a depo useless. I will provide a few.
1. By asking questions that are of improper form, the testimony may be deemed to be objectionable at the time of trial or in a motion for summary judgment. Objectionable questions essentially render meaningless any answers given thereto.
2. Opposing counsel can relentlessly yet legally object and obstruct the proceedings which will, whether you believe it or not, place you on the defense and rattle you, thereby rendering your efforts far less effective.
3. Failing to properly set up an important question before it is asked can result in the ultimate answer being rejected at the time of trial or an MSJ because you did not lay a legally acceptable foundation for the answer.
4. By failing to properly instruct the witness at the commencement of the deposition, you may render a really good answer unuseful because you gave the witness the ability to wiggle out of it at trial.
5. By not having years of experience in asking questions, your questions may well be too obvious about where you are going and therefore lose the opportunity to get the information you need in the deposition. Even young, inexperienced attorneys with three years of law school and a year in the firm have problems with this.
6. By not being a trained listener, you may will not see the small changes in voice inflection, change in body posture, or the use of specific words that indicate you are in a good area. For instance, I have read perhaps 15 books on human dynamics related to prevarication, body language and communication as part of building my craft. A non-lawyer will not have the same sixth sense that an experienced attorney will have.
7. The best deposition testimony usually comes from the art of misdirection. You get a witness to think you are going in one direction when in fact you are going in another. This is a skill developed over a long time taking depositions. While have just described this to you, it is a very hard thing to put into practice without knowing how it works.
There are perhaps a dozen other reasons why it simply makes sense to have an experienced attorney perform a deposition. Perhaps my answer has given you an idea of the complexity of the deposition process. If you are going to spend over $1K for a day of deposition in court reporter fees alone, you should not be penny-wise but pound-foolish.
You can always consult with an attorney and pay for a couple of hours of his or her time to give you guidance about the general procedure for depositions. You will still be at a disadvantage but this might help if you insist on proceeding pro se ipso. Good luck to you.
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