Two sides to every deposition

A lot of work goes into the deposition of the Plaintiff in a given personal injury case. When I am doing defense work, I spend a lot of time (usually after I’ve left the office) doing work in preparation for the Plaintiff’s deposition because there is a chance that I can make or break the opponent’s case with this deposition.

Also, I’ve got to get billable hours somehow. And I suppose the insurance company wants a competent attorney to guard their money.

So as Defense counsel, when I have a Plaintiff’s deposition to prepare for as a lot goes into it, such as:

(1) Review and analyze pleadings, Plaintiff’s Answer’s to Interrogatories, Plaintiff’s produced documents, Plaintiff’s statement to the insurance company, 18 inches of Plaintiff’s medical records in their glorious illegibility, the claim’s handler’s file, the client statement, the incident report, the private investigator’s report.
(2) Discuss strategic plan with Partner
(3) Outline my deposition strategy.
(4) Re-review key documents once more.
(5) Show up at deposition

Then I fuss, fidget, review, toy with and just go over it again until the time is present for the deposition.

However, when I have a Plaintiff’s deposition to go, as Plaintiff’s counsel, the preparation and strategy is a lot different:

(1) Show up*

*Sobriety preferred, but not required.

There are advantages to both sides. I’ll let you decide which one is for you.