Financial Expert Witness Communication: A Practical Guide to Reporting and Testimony

CHAPTER 12 Discovery Using Deposition

WHAT IS A DEPOSITION?

It has been said that a financial expert witness cannot win a case in deposition. But, he or she can sure lose one. Depositions are generally recognized as one of the most challenging tasks the financial expert witness will undertake in a career. They are designed to be fishing expeditions performed by intelligent, trained, educated, and highly motivated adversarial attorneys. There are scores of stories about atypical behavior, unusual questioning techniques, and ambush tactics employed by opposing legal counsel conducting depositions. As such, the financial expert witness must be well-prepared and practiced in the art of the successful deposition.

Deposition is a discovery tool for opposing counsel. Discovery is designed to allow the disputing parties to attempt to find relevant evidence from an opposing party to prove, or disprove, disputed facts and issues. These efforts may narrow the disputed facts and issues, uncover evidence not otherwise available to the disputing parties, and expose legal issues to be decided by the court. A deposition is sworn pretrial testimony given by the financial expert witness in response to questions posed by opposing legal counsel. Inquiries made by opposing legal counsel during deposition are designed to discover what the financial expert witness may say in trial.

There is no judge ...