Don’t Say More Than You Should at a Deposition

When you are sitting for your deposition in your personal injury lawsuit, you may be wary of the defense counsel trying to trick you into saying more than you should. Your Irvine personal injury attorney should be able to recognize these tricks and head them off. Here is some basic information on how lawyers get you to say more than you should.

Open-ended questions are an easy way to get a witness to open up. In general, making the witness feel more comfortable and relaxed will make the witness open up, so the defense counsel will probably play nice to you.

For the most part, there is no good reason for a lawyer to be unfriendly to you while questioning you for the deposition, especially at the beginning. At the start, the lawyer may try to be especially kind to you, knowing that that is when you are the most nervous and that you will react positively to an attorney who does not seem to be the angry fire-breather seen in the movies.

In the introductory questions, the defense attorney might remind you that you can take a break at any time. This is done to try to get you to think he is on your side. He may offer to refill your water or switch places if you are uncomfortable.

Simple acts of kindness are surprisingly effective at relieving the nerves of witnesses. Nervous tension makes depositions much harder because it makes witnesses adopt a defensive tone or forget important details.

If you have further questions about your deposition, call 888-848-5084 to contact dedicated Irvine personal injury attorney Samer Habbas and receive a free initial consultation.