Do not allow this to occur at your next deposition!
Today I drove over to Seattle in sheets of rain. The flooding in Seattle made national news tonight. In any event the traffic was slow so I plugged in my IPod and listened toEvan Schaeffer's podcast of Advanced Deposition Techniques. The subject of the podcast was gaining control of the deposition. As I pondered what Evan had said this following pet peeve of mine popped into my head.
You are taking the deposition of the other party or one of the other party's witnesses. You have just asked a question. The witness pauses a minute as if reflecting on the answer and right then the oppossing attorney blurts out "If you know". That is not proper. It is coaching the witness. The only thing opposing counsel should be doing is making objections if necessary. Either by intention or by happenstance that tells the witness to shut up. The last time that happened I threatened to stop the deposition and resume it after the other counsel and I appeared before a judge. He stopped doing it but not without protesting that he was not coaching the witness. Baloney ... it's coaching the witness!
