MCLE's two-day Taking Depositions Workshop is a unique opportunity for attorneys with little or no experience in handling depositions to learn how to prepare for, take, and defend depositions and to use deposition testimony at trial.

Throughout two days of "on your feet" participation, you play the role of counsel and witness in mock exercises. During the exercises, you take a portion of the deposition of the opposing party's witness, defend your own witness, and take the deposition of experts. Your performance is immediately critiqued by faculty in small groups. In addition, the faculty participate in panel discussions and demonstrate effective techniques for explaining the process of a deposition to the witness, taking a deposition, introducing deposition testimony at trial, and using prior inconsistent deposition testimony for impeachment.

Special workshop materials and preparation

You receive workshop materials, including simulation exercises, approximately one week prior to the workshop so that you may prepare. Pre-workshop preparation ensures that you maximize the learning experience for yourself and for other registrants. In addition, attendees receive two excellent resources to use when preparing and conducting depositions. Each registrant receives Effective Deposition Strategies and Techniques, a portable reference guide to assist you in preparing an outline, asking questions, and responding to objections, as well as defending a deposition. The second resource, Selected Cases on Deposition Sanctions, is a compilation of judicial rulings on improper deposition conduct which attorneys can refer to when dealing with an obstreperous opponent.

Tips and pointers for every step

Expert faculty

The Taking Depositions Workshop features an opportunity for you to work directly with over two dozen highly skilled trial lawyers from around the Commonwealth. In order to ensure that students maximize their participation, MCLE has carefully selected an enthusiastic faculty of expert litigators who are qualified to teach and critique deposition skills.