{"id":897591,"date":"2020-06-15T16:04:23","date_gmt":"2020-06-15T22:04:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/?p=897591"},"modified":"2020-06-15T16:04:26","modified_gmt":"2020-06-15T22:04:26","slug":"defending-remote-depositions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/defending-remote-depositions\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cDeposition Distancing\u201d: Practical Considerations for Defending Remote Depositions"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

David Abernethy, Kaitlyn E. Stone, Joseph Tanner and Adrienne Franco Busby | Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lawyers continue to work during the COVID-19 pandemic. \u00a0As we discussed in a\u00a0previous post, for litigators this may involve participating in remote depositions as courts attempt to keep discovery moving. We also provided tips for lawyers\u00a0taking remote depositions<\/a>. With thanks to our Faegre Drinker colleagues who have ventured into this new world and shared a great deal of useful advice with the authors, here we discuss some of the practical considerations for lawyers\u00a0defending<\/em>\u00a0remote depositions<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Preparing your witness requires that you cover all the usual issues \u2013 plus those unique to remote technology. For example, you normally would advise the witness not to bring notes or files, but for a remote deposition it is also important to remind the witness not to look at, or offer to look things up for the purpose of answering by using, e-mails or files on his computer or phone, or information available at the Internet.  (That actually happened in a recent deposition.) Tell your witness to turn off the phone, close browser windows on the computer, disable chat or text alerts, and otherwise shut down other technology that might be distracting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Determine what consultation is permitted during the deposition or at breaks, and make sure you have arrangements to consult privately. Some vendors have technology that provides a separate \u201cvirtual room\u201d for lawyers, witnesses and co-counsel to caucus \u2013 but be sure you know how to use it, so you don\u2019t inadvertently share your discussion with the other side. (The lower-tech solution is to have the witness move physically to another room and call you on the phone \u2013 but make sure you mute your audio for the videoconference platform, again so the other side can\u2019t overhear your discussion.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When giving the usual advice to pause before answering, emphasize this is especially important in videoconferencing because of the brief \u201clag\u201d sometimes experienced with the technology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As with any deposition on video, you will advise your witness about appropriate attire, facial expression, body language and so forth. But for a remote deposition you will need to work with the witness on other \u201cappearance\u201d issues in videoconferencing, such as:<\/p>\n\n\n\n