For The Defense, February 2012 - DRI Today

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