For The Defense, February 2012 - DRI Today
For The Defense, February 2012 - DRI Today
For The Defense, February 2012 - DRI Today
Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
By Jonathan S. Hickey<br />
<strong>DRI</strong> News<br />
<strong>DRI</strong> Webcasts<br />
Young Lawyers Survival Series Continues<br />
With the first three webcasts in <strong>DRI</strong>’s<br />
“Young Lawyers Survival Series” behind us,<br />
and <strong>2012</strong> in front of us, we are primed and<br />
ready to present our next three interactive<br />
webcasts! In the fall of 2011, we addressed<br />
introductory topics, including responding<br />
to the complaint, implementing organization<br />
and file management, and utilizing all<br />
discovery tools to defend a case properly.<br />
Those first three webcasts are still available<br />
on <strong>DRI</strong>’s website for individual purchase.<br />
Now, we narrow the focus and will<br />
present deposition “survival” tactics and<br />
techniques to assist in the ongoing education<br />
and training process of new attorneys.<br />
<strong>The</strong> next installment of our series—<br />
co- presented by <strong>DRI</strong>’s Trial Tactics and<br />
Young Lawyers Committees—will be our<br />
fourth overall and take place on <strong>February</strong><br />
14, <strong>2012</strong>. Attorneys Lynn Roberson and C.<br />
Meade Hartfield will discuss depositions,<br />
focusing on deposing the plaintiff and fact<br />
witnesses. This discussion of depositions<br />
and how to use the fruits of the discovery<br />
process will be a practical primer and reference<br />
tool for new attorneys moving forward<br />
in the life cycle of case. Specifically,<br />
you will hear how to best prepare for the<br />
deposition, ways to listen<br />
to and question the<br />
deponent effectively, how and when to use<br />
an outline and exhibits, and how to ensure<br />
the transcript is clear and useful.<br />
April 11, <strong>2012</strong>, brings our fifth webcast<br />
installment. While still focusing on<br />
depositions, we shift gears to the topic of<br />
defending your corporate representative’s<br />
deposition. This discrete skill gets the full<br />
treatment from veteran litigators Sidney<br />
Kanazawa and Gail Rodgers. This presentation<br />
will discuss how to determine whom<br />
you should produce for the corporate deposition,<br />
how and when to approach your client<br />
about the deposition, strategy to assist<br />
in best preparing your client for the deposition<br />
(and making him or her like it!), and<br />
when and how to assist the corporate representative<br />
when the “red light is on” and<br />
the deposition is underway.<br />
We will close out this portion of our series<br />
with our sixth installment on May 9,<br />
<strong>2012</strong>, when John C.S. Pierce and Anthony<br />
Novak tackle the art of conducting expert<br />
depositions. This is an interactive webcast<br />
that every new attorney should make a priority.<br />
This discussion will focus on the goals<br />
of an expert deposition, how to defuse a difficult<br />
expert witness, when and how to use<br />
your own expert while preparing for the deposition,<br />
and suggestions on how to most effectively<br />
gather testimony and information<br />
necessary to challenge the expert.<br />
■■<br />
Jonathan S. Hickey is a founding member of Burden, Gulisano & Hickey<br />
in Buffalo, New York. He serves as program co-chair of the <strong>DRI</strong> Young Lawyers<br />
Survival Series, along with C. Meade Hartfield of Baker Donelson Bearman<br />
Caldwell & Berkowitz PC in Birmingham, Alabama and Guy E. Hughes<br />
of Casey Bailey & Maines PLLC in Lexington, Kentucky<br />
<br />
YOUNG LAWYERS SURVIVAL SKILLS SERIES<br />
PRESENTED BY THE <strong>DRI</strong> TRIAL TACTICS<br />
AND YOUNG LAWYERS COMMITTEES<br />
Part 4: Framing the Story:<br />
Plaintiff and Fact Witness Depositions<br />
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 14, <strong>2012</strong> 1:00 p.m. CST<br />
Part 5: Making Your Case: Defending a<br />
Corporate Representative or Client Deposition<br />
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 11, <strong>2012</strong> 1:00 p.m. CST<br />
Part 6: Clearing the Weeds:<br />
Artful Expert Witness Depositions<br />
WEDNESDAY, MAY 9, <strong>2012</strong> 1:00 p.m. CST<br />
Sign up for all three webcasts and pay only<br />
$300 for members ($390 for non-members).<br />
REGISTER ONLINE: http://dri.org/Events/Webcasts<br />
As we begin the next part of our series<br />
with three new installments, the goal of this<br />
extended webcast series remains the same:<br />
to help young lawyers understand the fundamentals<br />
of litigation, and to help them<br />
thrive and succeed with their new skill set.<br />
Join us in our mission to educate and train<br />
young lawyers in a cost- effective manner<br />
by signing up for the next three webcasts.<br />
Effective deposition techniques are essential<br />
for any new litigator, and young lawyers<br />
can only benefit from exposure to these substantive<br />
areas as presented by skilled and<br />
experienced litigators. Please don’t wait;<br />
visit www.dri.org and sign up right now!<br />
On <strong>The</strong> Record, from page 1<br />
of cases that are not necessarily similar.<br />
We felt it unfair that conduct in one state<br />
be measured in a class action by a court<br />
sitting in another state. Each defendant<br />
should be represented by a lawyer of their<br />
choosing and defended in their forum,<br />
accounting for their conduct. Going forward<br />
the Executive Committee of <strong>DRI</strong> will<br />
assist the Amicus Committee in screening<br />
requests for Friend of the Court briefing to<br />
make certain that the position we are being<br />
asked to take will be one that would be supported<br />
by our members.<br />
In addition to our formal efforts, <strong>DRI</strong><br />
substantive law committees comment on<br />
developments in their substantive areas in<br />
newsletters, blogs, scholarly articles, and<br />
as advocates in our courtrooms. In each<br />
instance they try to demonstrate the very<br />
best of the defense bar in service to our clients<br />
in our system of justice.<br />
<strong>DRI</strong> works tirelessly to be the voice of the<br />
defense bar. But the teachable moment provided<br />
by TADC’s President Keith O’Donnell<br />
still rings true. At each instance, we must<br />
speak for the defense bar and not for any<br />
discrete interest. We need to continue to<br />
focus on the fairness of the process, fair<br />
access to the courts and fair judging, making<br />
certain that as an organization we do<br />
not become partisans of a particular position<br />
of substantive law at the behest of<br />
others. In doing so we will best serve the<br />
interests of our members with the right<br />
tenor and tone expected of <strong>The</strong> Voice.<br />
<strong>For</strong> <strong>The</strong> <strong>Defense</strong> ■ <strong>February</strong> <strong>2012</strong> ■ 7