Deposition Forms, including Question Lists

This section of our website is devoted to deposition forms, including: deposition question outline checklists, and many other legal forms associated with depositions, e.g., motion to block taking of a deposition.

You are in an area of our website which discusses not only “deposition question outline checklist” (for which checklists we have some reputation), but also items such as deposition notices, subpoenas duces tecum, motions to quash depositions, and witness preparation advice forms.

Preparing your own witnesses with the aid of forms is another subject, which is discussed here.

A special note about our witness question checklists: most of them are equally useful in both your deposition preparation and also in your trial questions preparation. Our question outlines will help you organize, focus on critical questions, and prevent overlooking questions you should ask.

You can save time and still be better prepared. You don’t even want to start to invest the hundreds of hours of time that went into preparing our legal deposition question outlines, witness preparation handouts, legal forms, and trial notebook forms. Save your legal time and get expertly crafted forms!

DEP4006 Instruction Form for Witnesses – Improve Testimony

The one best aid for preparing witnesses to testify. Witness Instruction Handout is an easy to use tool for you to teach in the office, and for your witness to learn at home.

DEP4008 Instructions to Lay Witness for Video Deposition

The “Pointers” with instructions adapted specially for witnesses whose depositions will be videotaped.

EXDEP4008 Instructions to Expert Witness for Video Deposition

Applicable when the expert’s deposition is videoed.

EX0807 Subpoena Duces Tecum to Adverse Expert Witness.

Rule 26 and 45 combine to give you power, if you use the paragraphs of the Advanced Subpoena Duces Tecum.

DEP009 Practice for Clients on Their Bodily Injury Testimony

Exclusively for personal injury plaintiffs, to improve their damages testimony. The Client Prep handout is a unique “How To Testify” skill builder.

TIP3119 Social Media Checklist, Form, and Deposition Questions

You need to ask the right questions about social media sites when you take depositions of adverse witnesses.

DEP1217 Motion for Protective Order to Block Deposition

When a five day notice of deposition arrives, this is a form that an attorney should have ready in their computer, before they need it, to give him/her the assurance they know what to do and how to do it ASAP.

DEP4003 Checklist: Deposition Objections, Plus Responses

Before you go to a deposition, use this report as a checklist and memory refresher on the objections you and the other side properly can make at a deposition. Put this checklist in your deposition/trial notebook!

DEP4011 Rule 30 Notice for Deposition of Corporation

A complete and powerful form notice for taking the deposition of a corporation, partnership, or other organization, plus proven best tips and tactical advice on the subject of these depositions.

DEP4014 Deposition Checklist: Assets Examination Questions

Need to ask about assets of the person who is the adversary? Here is the deposition checklist of questions you need, because they never taught you to do an asset examination in law school.

Let’s say you send an hour creating a legal deposition questions outline in a checklist format for your next deposition. (If you only spend an hour, it probably will not be a good comprehensive list of all the question areas, but let’s use that as a minimum time.) Now let’s say you do that creation of a checklist for your deposition preparation three times. That’s 180 minutes. Now what is your cost of 180 minutes creating outlines of the deposition questions? Your costs are not your billing rate — your costs are the amount it takes to keep the secretary paid and the office rent paid, et cetera. How much are your costs per hour? Let’s say your total cost of sitting there is $50 per hour. That’s a total out-of-pocket cost for you creating three deposition outlines of $150.

Not to mention that most attorneys, especially if they are on a contingent fee basis, want to save time.

Prepared deposition question checklists, from which you can start to do your customization for your particular case, could easily save you half your time in preparing for depositions. That’s money in your pocket! The same is true of witness preparation forms, instructions to videographers of your depositions, subpoena duces tecum, and other deposition related forms — they save you lots of time, and that’s money in your pocket.

So the moral of the story is simple: Use checklists and other solid legal forms to create depositions that work for you!

But there is more to it than that. A good deposition form is a lawyer mentor in a box — guiding you and preventing mistakes. The major time thinking about the items to be included has already been accomplished for you. You are not likely to miss a point because time to prepare was short. This is the single most important reason for preparing for a deposition by starting with a form — Forms are a lawyer mentor in a box — guiding you, preventing mistakes, and adding power to your work product.

Another advantage: Avoid surprises and gather maximum information by using your deposition questions outline checklist in investigations, and witness conferences.

Another advantage : With a legal form, your legal assistants are more effective in helping the trial attorney if they have a checklist legal form to point the way. If you have a legal assistant, you will get more help from them if you let them see a checklist of the questions you want to cover in a deposition. Let’s say your premises liability checklist shows “What shoes were you wearing?” Suddenly the legal assistant knows that he/she should be asking the plaintiff client to bring in the shoes worn on the day of the fall at the premises. Another example, a legal assistant working for a defense attorney in slip and fall premises case will know that he/she can help the attorney by asking the client to bring in the literature that came with the floor wax the client is using on the floors.

In fact — we find LA’s buying these forms themselves because they want the advantage of a lawyer mentor guiding them on what facts are important and should be gathered.