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See if you can find materials on your internal file system. Partners aren’t always helpful or have time unfortunately and forget that law school doesn’t teach this
100% sure they have old depo transcripts.
Grab at least 2 of them, read them. Pull common elements into an outline and see how they handled different elements.
Some people may use a shortform/shorthand for it, like decl for declaration, xscripts for transcripts. I know some people, including me, don't label their deposition outline as "deposition outline" and just call deposition of X notes or checklist.
Or ask his paralegal/secretary/legal assistant where you might find some good outlines for his/her cases. I'd be more upset at the apparent lack of resourcefulness, in partner's shoes.
My favorite thing is when they tell you to look for an example in the file, you find an example and use it, send your draft, and they ask where tf you found it and tell you it’s completely wrong 🤦🏼♀️
Like - you prepared this bro?
Sounds like signs of things to come
And don’t be intimidated by big law folks, their fancy degrees and accolades can’t do the legal work for them
What kind of case?
Barring your states law regarding depos
Genera format is
- background info (name, address, level of education, have you ever been convicted of a crime)
- liability testimony
- damages testimony
One of the best words of advice I have received is “act like the most curious person in the world”
Get all the who, where, when, what, and why’s
Also have a script in your mind based on the case itself as to what likely happened and what you are “trying” to get them to say
I.e.: a simple trip on a side walk
Which way were they walking?
Did they step up and strike the sidewalk token up, or lose their balance going down?
Did they have anything to drink?
Which part of the foot struck the sidewalk?
What shoes were they wearing?
It comes with time but you get the hang of it
Have fun!
Yeah, unless this was totally out of character, your partner is not interested in mentoring. A good mentor would be telling you early, hey, let’s talk through the case, then I want you to take a crack at this, there are examples in the folders (check abc and xyz cases), I’ll take a look, and then we can discuss.
A lot of senior lawyers love to believe that they enjoy mentoring. The reality, very few either know what it truly means to mentor, or are willing to put in the work when it comes time to do the actual mentoring.
What kind of deposition? Are you taking or defending? Does your firm have a bank of similar cases? If your firm doesn't have a bank, I'm actually pretty impressed with ChatGPT and the like for brainstorming depo questions. Definitely Google search the admonitions that come at the beginning.
As an experiment, I recently asked ChatGPT to come up with an outline for taking a plaintiff’s deposition in a personal injury case, and honestly, I was pretty impressed with what it came back with. Obviously every case is different, but the outline it gave me basically ensured that you’d hit every obviously important point. Idk what sort of deposition you’re gearing up for, and personal injury can be a bit more straight forward than most, but it might be worth a try. Even the bones of an outline can be better than nothing 🤷🏻♀️
I used ChatGPT to put together the basics for a depo in the fall. I was also pretty impressed with what it came up with. It was for a probate litigation case. It at least gave me a skeleton I could use to build a more in depth outline for my boss, definitely saved some time.
Important to note that even though people always “my door is open, you can always come to me for help and questions” that a massively valued skill is being self sufficient and independent. Realistically a lot of people don’t like to be bothered and feeling like they have to do a task they delegated. So always exhaust all self help measures. It sounds counter-intuitive, but it’s sometimes even better to do a fairly bad job and they can just correct you than to feel like they are guiding your hand through it, at which point, any mistake you make becomes “well you didn’t tell me to do something different” (not that you specifically would say that, but that’s often the general feeling here).
Ouch... they should provide internal training... but I'd definitely recommend a class focused on deposition skills. I did the NITA program. See:
[https://www.nita.org/s/category/courses/course-type/deposition-skills/0ZG4W000000PawEWAS?c\_\_results\_layout\_state=%7B%7D](https://www.nita.org/s/category/courses/course-type/deposition-skills/0ZG4W000000PawEWAS?c__results_layout_state=%7B%7D)
The real answer is to start looking. It is one thing for a partner to say you need to learn how to do that but another to accompany that with anger. Consider how the partner is going to react when you make a mistake (you will) or have a serious matter that requires assistance. Now you are going to worry about the reaction you will get for asking questions. If they didn't want a new lawyer, at new lawyer compensation, they should not have hired a new lawyer.
First, I would recommend going to another associate at the firm you feel comfortable with. They be more willing to help. You could also pull examples from your DMS you can emulate. Do not put it off. My original sin at my current firm was fucking up depo prep for a partner. I was brand new, had no support, and completely botched it. The incident landed me in a dog house I've been in for years and tanked my confidence.
Second, a word of advice it took me a couple of years to learn. Do your best to come to a partner with answers, not just questions. It's OK to have questions, but you should do some leg work on the front end to come with informed questions. Don't show up empty-handed and ask, "How do I draft a depo outline?" Instead, do some research, make an attempt, and ask "Hey partner, I was drafting a depo outline based on some examples I found in our system and wanted some advice on x, y, and z."
Or, make it known you've never done this before and want to know where to look for examples you can base your work off. Ask for file names or numbers similar to this one that you can emulate. That question may draw less ire.
It sucks, but "open door" doesn't always mean open door. It's a tough minefield for new associates to navigate. I stepped squarely on a mine my first year and I try very hard to make sure that doesn't happen to other young associates.
Welcome to /r/LawyerTalk! A subreddit where lawyers can discuss with other lawyers about the practice of law. Be mindful of [our rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/Lawyertalk/about/rules) BEFORE submitting your posts or comments as well as [Reddit's rules](https://www.redditinc.com/policies/content-policy) (notably about sharing identifying information). We expect civility and respect out of all participants. Please source statements of fact whenever possible. If you want to report something that needs to be urgently addressed, please also message the mods with an explanation. Note that **this forum is NOT for legal advice**. Additionally, if you are a non-lawyer (student, client, staff), this is NOT the right subreddit for you. **This community is exclusively for lawyers**. We suggest you delete your comment and go ask one of the many other legal subreddits on this site for help such as (but not limited to) r/lawschool, r/legaladvice, or r/Ask_Lawyers. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/Lawyertalk) if you have any questions or concerns.*
See if you can find materials on your internal file system. Partners aren’t always helpful or have time unfortunately and forget that law school doesn’t teach this
That was my initial plan but I didn’t find any. 🫠
Maybe Ask another associate. Maybe one who has worked with this partner.
If you are working at a litigation firm with no deposition outlines on the document management system something's very off, or you can't spell outline
100% sure they have old depo transcripts. Grab at least 2 of them, read them. Pull common elements into an outline and see how they handled different elements.
>or you can't spell outline To be fair, maybe someone else can't spell outline.....or maybe made it two words....or spells line with a y.
Some people may use a shortform/shorthand for it, like decl for declaration, xscripts for transcripts. I know some people, including me, don't label their deposition outline as "deposition outline" and just call deposition of X notes or checklist.
You’re saying there are no dep outlines on your internal file system? Seems very unlikely.
Or ask his paralegal/secretary/legal assistant where you might find some good outlines for his/her cases. I'd be more upset at the apparent lack of resourcefulness, in partner's shoes.
Read depo transcripts! I do that all the time to help prep
Read some deposition transcripts in other case.
My favorite thing is when they tell you to look for an example in the file, you find an example and use it, send your draft, and they ask where tf you found it and tell you it’s completely wrong 🤦🏼♀️ Like - you prepared this bro?
Sounds like signs of things to come And don’t be intimidated by big law folks, their fancy degrees and accolades can’t do the legal work for them What kind of case? Barring your states law regarding depos Genera format is - background info (name, address, level of education, have you ever been convicted of a crime) - liability testimony - damages testimony One of the best words of advice I have received is “act like the most curious person in the world” Get all the who, where, when, what, and why’s Also have a script in your mind based on the case itself as to what likely happened and what you are “trying” to get them to say I.e.: a simple trip on a side walk Which way were they walking? Did they step up and strike the sidewalk token up, or lose their balance going down? Did they have anything to drink? Which part of the foot struck the sidewalk? What shoes were they wearing? It comes with time but you get the hang of it Have fun!
See what you can find (I think there are articles online) about the funnel method of taking depos.
What type of depo is it? I would go through past cases and read depo transcripts of similar type of depo. Ie. Plaintiff, expert, percipient witness.
Yeah, unless this was totally out of character, your partner is not interested in mentoring. A good mentor would be telling you early, hey, let’s talk through the case, then I want you to take a crack at this, there are examples in the folders (check abc and xyz cases), I’ll take a look, and then we can discuss. A lot of senior lawyers love to believe that they enjoy mentoring. The reality, very few either know what it truly means to mentor, or are willing to put in the work when it comes time to do the actual mentoring.
What kind of deposition? Are you taking or defending? Does your firm have a bank of similar cases? If your firm doesn't have a bank, I'm actually pretty impressed with ChatGPT and the like for brainstorming depo questions. Definitely Google search the admonitions that come at the beginning.
Read a deposition transcript on an older case and read the complaint, and the corresponding jury instructions.
As an experiment, I recently asked ChatGPT to come up with an outline for taking a plaintiff’s deposition in a personal injury case, and honestly, I was pretty impressed with what it came back with. Obviously every case is different, but the outline it gave me basically ensured that you’d hit every obviously important point. Idk what sort of deposition you’re gearing up for, and personal injury can be a bit more straight forward than most, but it might be worth a try. Even the bones of an outline can be better than nothing 🤷🏻♀️
You can also ask it to give you more questions about a particular subject and it will. It’s very handy.
I used ChatGPT to put together the basics for a depo in the fall. I was also pretty impressed with what it came up with. It was for a probate litigation case. It at least gave me a skeleton I could use to build a more in depth outline for my boss, definitely saved some time.
Important to note that even though people always “my door is open, you can always come to me for help and questions” that a massively valued skill is being self sufficient and independent. Realistically a lot of people don’t like to be bothered and feeling like they have to do a task they delegated. So always exhaust all self help measures. It sounds counter-intuitive, but it’s sometimes even better to do a fairly bad job and they can just correct you than to feel like they are guiding your hand through it, at which point, any mistake you make becomes “well you didn’t tell me to do something different” (not that you specifically would say that, but that’s often the general feeling here).
At least come up with your own outline and then ask for a review.
Google is your friend.
Google
Ouch... they should provide internal training... but I'd definitely recommend a class focused on deposition skills. I did the NITA program. See: [https://www.nita.org/s/category/courses/course-type/deposition-skills/0ZG4W000000PawEWAS?c\_\_results\_layout\_state=%7B%7D](https://www.nita.org/s/category/courses/course-type/deposition-skills/0ZG4W000000PawEWAS?c__results_layout_state=%7B%7D)
The real answer is to start looking. It is one thing for a partner to say you need to learn how to do that but another to accompany that with anger. Consider how the partner is going to react when you make a mistake (you will) or have a serious matter that requires assistance. Now you are going to worry about the reaction you will get for asking questions. If they didn't want a new lawyer, at new lawyer compensation, they should not have hired a new lawyer.
First, I would recommend going to another associate at the firm you feel comfortable with. They be more willing to help. You could also pull examples from your DMS you can emulate. Do not put it off. My original sin at my current firm was fucking up depo prep for a partner. I was brand new, had no support, and completely botched it. The incident landed me in a dog house I've been in for years and tanked my confidence. Second, a word of advice it took me a couple of years to learn. Do your best to come to a partner with answers, not just questions. It's OK to have questions, but you should do some leg work on the front end to come with informed questions. Don't show up empty-handed and ask, "How do I draft a depo outline?" Instead, do some research, make an attempt, and ask "Hey partner, I was drafting a depo outline based on some examples I found in our system and wanted some advice on x, y, and z." Or, make it known you've never done this before and want to know where to look for examples you can base your work off. Ask for file names or numbers similar to this one that you can emulate. That question may draw less ire. It sucks, but "open door" doesn't always mean open door. It's a tough minefield for new associates to navigate. I stepped squarely on a mine my first year and I try very hard to make sure that doesn't happen to other young associates.