How (Not) To Take A Dep By Telephone
A few months ago, I took a deposition in Boston of an expert witness in a large insurance coverage case. Although it was winter, a trip to Boston is always enjoyable. The dep was held at a law firm that had a great view of Boston Harbor. We had expected a fairly sizable crowd, but as we waited for people to arrive, plaintiff’s counsel and I realized that nearly everyone else was apparently attending by phone.
As with every other element of modern technology, there are certain rules and courtesies that I propose as we venture in to this practice. Some are just common sense and easily recognizable. Some may not be. And some may just be the rantings of one who has been brought into this marvelous age kicking and screaming by his children and law partners.
So, as I overindulged on the coffee, soda and danish that was piled up on the side board and which obviously was meant to feed 15 and not 4, I began formulating these rules for phone attendees:
- Get and circulate the call in number yourself. Don’t expect the people who made the effort to get on a plane, hail a cab, wait for an elevator did all that to make your life easier. Those people who plan to attend by phone should be the ones who obtain and circulate the call in number. Don’t expect the people who made the trip to get the phone set up. We are not the ones who need a conference phone in the room either.
- Arrange to have the phone set up and in working order before 9:00 the day of the dep. Those of us in the room don’t have any need for the conference phone that may or may not be in the room. You do. Besides, chances are that the conference room phone will have a secret 20 or 30 digit number, that no one will know. There is also a good chance that when the dep is about to start, the only person we know at the firm at this point is the nice receptionist at the front door who knows neither the code nor how to use the conference phone. She will have to find an attorney in the office to help us out who will then have to call the IT person to get it working. This takes time and we’re that much closer to missing our plane home.
- E-Mail the reporter your information. Once we have secured the necessary clearance to call in, the reporter will then request the appearances of those on the phone. In order to save time, it may be preferable to have the reporter give everyone her e-mail address and send her your necessary information. Most times the reporter will insist you give them the info over the phone anyway, along with whether you want a full transcript, mini, or CD of the dep. Keep it simple. We are the ones who have to fly Logan to Newark on a Friday night, while you’re already home.
- Don’t start calling the firm to see what’s going on in the dep room. We’re going as fast we can getting you your fancy pants phones and whatnot. We’d appreciate a little patience while we do the heavy lifting.
- Put your phone on mute. We don’t want to hear your keyboard, your Blackberry, your conversations, the NCAA basketball tournament on your computer (which we’d rather be watching, too, but we’re here working) or — for you “telecommuters” — your kids or dog.
- DO NOT PUT US ON HOLD. It’s bad enough that we have to listen to Michael Bolton, Kenny G, or some other form of Lite FM, but when you don’t come back we can’t start with the music playing. At that point, we have to tell everyone to disconnect and call back in again. When you finally realize you are disconnected and have to call back in, we will hear that beep, ask who joined and then deduce who had the lousy hold music. Those of us in the room will then laugh quietly. Don’t embarrass yourself.
- Don’t send emails with questions you want us to ask at the dep. If its that important, make the trip or ask the questions yourself.
- If you do ask questions by phone, see above about catching planes. In all likelihood, the question you asked was already answered while you were out getting coffee in the firm lunch room, watching last night’s episode of “The Office” on your computer, or trying to get your dog back in the house.
Tags: depositions, howto