Taking depositions by phone or Zoom invites abuse. In one 2018 deposition, the defense lawyer texted advice to the witness and was caught. The witness was an insurance adjuster who was testifying about a worker’s compensation case. Derek Vashon James, a Florida lawyer, represented the employer. The court reporter refused to swear in the adjuster,
In civil lawsuits, we do these things known as “depositions.” We depose a witness with no judge present. The depositions usually occur in lawyer’s offices, but they can take place anywhere. The two warring sides meet up and the only brake on poor behavior are social norms. In a deposition in Las Vegas, a lawyer
In law school, we learn how to read legal terminology. Learning to "read the law" may be the most important skill lawyers develop. But, learning to read it does not mean we should actually use that mumbo-jumbo. Personally, I diligently avoid words like "therein" and "herein," but am not offended if other lawyers prefer "legalese."
In employment cases, the employer will always depose the plaintiff employee. The defense lawyer will ask a wide variety of questions, not necessarily directly related to whether discrimination occurred or not. They may ask for driver’s license numbers, acquaintances at work, out of work. In one disability case, the defense lawyer even asked a few questions
Another example of lawyers behaving badly at depositions. A Florida lawyer, Robert J. Ratiner was sanctioned for his conduct at a deposition. See ABA Journal report. His latest sanction is that he 
cannot attend a deposition alone for the next two years unless the deposition is video taped. As reminder, depositions is the event
My friend Gene Lee wrote a good post about how long discrimination lawsuits can take. He refers to statistics showing that from start to finish, the average lawsuit will take 22 months. That sounds about right for the San Antonio area, also. Here in South Texas, we can file the typical discrimination lawsuit in state
We do this thing in litigation we call "depositions." One side can ask questions of a key witness. The testimony is recorded by a court reporter. Depositions can be very dull. They an also be very tense. After all, if the parties got along, there would be no lawsuit. Every client I have ever had