For the first time in 6 1/2 years of practicing law, I didn’t take an outline with me to a deposition. It wasn’t intentional, mind you. I had my accordion folder with all my exhibits and the documents I’d taken notes on. I just forgot to print my deposition outline before heading out the door.

When I got to the office of plaintiff’s counsel and began unloading the contents of my folder onto the conference table, I realized I was without my deposition outline. I was immediately flustered by this. But I took a minute and sorted myself out, and off we went.

It’s not like I was totally feeling my way through the dark. I reckon I’ve taken hundreds of depositions at this point. But at every single one of them, I’ve had my outline with me. So I remarked to the plaintiff that we were going to being conducting an experiment together. I started with the same set of background questions I always ask. Then we talked about the incident she was suing my client over. And after that, we discussed her claimed injuries and damages. I did everything exactly as I would have if I had been consulting the deposition outline that would otherwise have been sitting in front of me.

Utilizing a deposition outline

The importance of a deposition outline is that it helps you keep track of what you’ve asked and enables you to make sure you don’t miss anything. There will be occasions like the one below where you’ll have to dig a little deeper into the details of the opposing party’s medical records — and there’s really no telling where it might lead because they might willingly admit to cocaine use but get offended about an allegation of abusing pain pills.

Q. You included in your discovery responses the statement that back in early 2015 when this accident happened you were consuming cocaine recreationally?
A. Recreationally, yes, sir.
Q. How frequently were you using cocaine?
A. On the weekends, maybe, I mean —
Q. Do you remember what day of the week this accident happened on?
A. No, sir, I don’t.
Q. It was a Saturday. Do you have any reason to disagree with that?
A. No, sir, I don’t.
Q. Had you used cocaine that day?
A. To the best of my knowledge, I don’t recall. I was trying to do better at that time. It was after the new year and stuff, yeah.
Q. Okay, do you have a specific recollection of prior to the accident when you had last used cocaine?
A. No, sir, I don’t.
Q. After the accident when was the next time you used cocaine?
A. I — I couldn’t tell you, to be honest.
Q. Did you use cocaine after the accident?
A. To the best of my knowledge, probably so.
Q. Okay. Your hospital records for the day of the accident reflect that you told the ER staff that you also abused pain and nerve pills. Do you recall making that statement?
A. No, sir, I don’t.
Q. Okay. Do you have any recollection of abusing pain pills?
A. No, sir, I don’t.
Q. Okay. Have you ever abused pain pills?
A. No, sir, I most certainly have not.
Q. Have you ever abused nerve pills?
A. No, sir, I have not.
Q. Do you dispute making that statement that’s reflected in the Huntsville Hospital 16 records?
A. To the best of my knowledge, I do not recall.

A deposition outline can be a source of affirmation that boosts your confidence, but if relied on too closely, it can hinder your ability to taken the most effective deposition.

Limitations of relying on a deposition outline

The limitations of leaning to heavily on your deposition outline are that doing so may constrict your creativity and may keep you from asking natural follow-up questions that aren’t written down.

For a long time, one of my biggest weaknesses when it came to taking a good deposition was failing to ask follow-up questions. For example, in a bodily injury case, a plaintiff may tell you about a seemingly unrelated injury she sustained. But how she incurred the injury may yield information about other accidents or injuries you didn’t previously know about.

To take a good deposition, you have to invoke your most curious self. You have to be nosy and investigatory. You can do this without fear of getting lost because your deposition outline is your trail of breadcrumbs to lead you back to the main path.

But if you don’t ask these questions because you’re sticking too closely to your outline, you’re going to miss golden opportunities.