You are working on a case that is seemingly a slam-dunk in your client’s favor. Responsibility is clearly on the other party. Surprisingly, your case goes to trial and shockingly, you end up losing. Deciding this cannot happen again, you retrace how that had occurred. You observe that early in the process the opposition had taken a much different course of action than you did. While you were focusing on garnering statements from witnesses that proved what you had already thought, the opposing attorney held their cards close to the vest. You had no idea what they were up to. In trial, your client buries himself on the stand. You thought he told you all of the relevant information. After all, you were there to help him, right? So how did the opposing attorney get the upper hand? Good lawyers are guided by the facts. They are obsessed with the facts. They use facts to form their own argument, not use their argument as a basis to search for the appropriate facts. An integral part of the fact-finding phase in a case is the deposition. The purpose of a deposition according to the Practicing Law Institute: “A deposition permits a [...]