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Y O U N G L A W Y E R S J O U R N A L
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WALK A MILE IN HER SHOES
The YLS has teamed up with Walk a Mile in
Her Shoes® to organize a unique walk for men
through Chicago’s Loop. Men are invited to
literally walk one mile through Chicago’s Loop
inwomen’s high-heeled shoes (women are in-
vited to participate and support themalewalk-
ers). The event aims to raise awareness about
the cause and effects of sexualized violence and
will be a fun way to get people talking about a
very difficult subject. Go to www.chicagobar.
org/walkamile for more information.
answers is what the witness should do. You
should also counsel the witness to answer a
question only if she understands it. If she
does not understand the question, instead
of guessing the answer, it is always a better
strategy to ask opposing counsel to restate
the before attempting to answer it.
Finally, prepare the witness for the pos-
sibility that the questioning may get heated
and that opposing counsel may get loud.
Opposing counsel can try to implement
this strategy to rattle the confidence of
your witness. Then, when push comes to
shove, your witnesses will fare out better
as they know not take anything personally.
Instill in them the “it is business, and it is
not personal” approach. Know the rules for
filing a motion for a protective order, have
the judge’s telephone number easily acces-
sible, and let your witness know that you
will protect her if the situation is spiraling
out of control.
Keep it short and sweet.
It is very likely
that you will use the deposition either at
trial or in support of a dispositive motion.
To use it in this capacity, the fact finder
needs to be able to follow both your ques-
tions and the witness’s answers. Therefore,
counsel needs to structure the questions
in such a way that jurors who hear the
transcript read back to them will be able
to follow what is going on. Convoluted,
complex, and ambiguous questions will
not get you what you want—such ques-
tions lead only to convoluted, complex,
and ambiguous answers.
Read the transcript.
After taking the
time to take a deposition, you should use
it! As soon as you receive the deposition
transcript from the court reporter, review
it carefully. First, you want to make sure
that most important questions and answers
were recorded accurately. If a crucial ques-
tion or answer was recorded incorrectly,
you want to remedy it as soon as possible
through use of an
errata
sheet. Further-
more, by reviewing the transcript you will
be able to identify subjects on which addi-
tional discovery might be helpful. While
going through the transcript, make sure to
note the names of new potential witnesses
or previously unknown documents.
Finally, by reading the transcript care-
fully and analyzing the types of questions
you asked and the answers you received,
you are training yourself for the next depo-
sition. This will enable you to understand
your pattern of questioning. After review-
ing a transcript, make a mental note of two
or three things you want to do differently
the next time around. Before you know it,
you will become a stronger questioner who
can more clearly imagine what the record
is going to look like while in the midst of
the deposition and react accordingly.
Fitzgerald T. Bramwell is the principal at
the Law Offices of Fitzgerald Bramwell, a
litigation firm serving clients in the Chica-
goland area. Yana Karnaukhov works for
the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban
Development
JUNE 11 SOCIAL
Spring into Summer with the CBF Young
Professionals Board and the CBA Young
Lawyers Section on Thursday, June 11,
2015 from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at
Tradition Gastropub & Kitchen. Help us
kick off the summer and celebrate our
access to justice efforts with drinks, food
and mingling. This event brings people
together to have fun, connect with other
young professionals in the community,
and learn more about the CBF’s work, all
while raising money that advances the
CBF’s access to justice efforts.
Tickets are $35 in advance, $40 at the door,
and include 3 drink tickets (beer, wine,
call drinks) and appetizers). A limited
number of super early bird Casino Legale
tickets will be sold for $75 at the event.
Raffle prizes include CBF event tickets,
Cubs tickets and a private tour of KOVAL
Distillery for up to 25 people. Get tickets
at www.chicagobarfoundation.org/
spring-summer.