Nowadays, a considerable number of personal injury trial lawyers have the false views of preparing their clients for depositions. It is unfortunate to note that they view this element of their task as a PI lawyer to be work that does not require any professional skills.
Because of this, too many fail to help their clients in thoroughly preparing them for their depositions.
First of all, an experienced personal injury trial lawyer views the deposition as a major event during the trial of a PI case. As such, he considers helping his client in earnest to prepare for the deposition as a big way in gaining positive settlement or agreement opportunities in the future.
In getting their clients fully ready for their deposition, personal injury trial lawyers must place extra focus on the following:
1. Keep in mind the deposition's objectives – the things to remember are first, not to do any harm to the case. The personal injury trial lawyer must clearly stress it to his client that under no circumstance must he present a testimony that will prove him ineffective at the trial.
The second goal must be along the lines of achieving a positive impression on the lawyer of the defendant. Quality impression is important in achieving a positive turn out of the case in trial.
Defense lawyers in a personal injury trial believe that the deposition offers an opportunity for them to know and appreciate the plaintiff. They will also be assessing if the plaintiff generates a quality impression before the jury, as a person who has the right to receive significant compensation for the injuries they have suffered.
Once the injury victim fails to appear as an honest person and in perfect accord at his/her deposition, then most of the defense lawyers will believe that they will be the same during trial.
On the other hand, if the client managed to appear sympathetic, honest and good, the case would go on to become a lawsuit. No computer program has yet been designed to measure or calculate the damages of genuine personal suffering. Nevertheless, once a client has shown a proper impression on the jury, they would appreciate this and fine defense lawyers would be moved to include such in the insurance adjuster's evaluation of the damages.
2. Communicate the goals clearly – the personal injury trial lawyer must explain the deposition's objectives to the client and emphasize the importance of each. By doing this, the client would feel that they could achieve a sort of control over their case and take the deposition process earnestly.
3. The client needs to be reminded that the defense lawyer is not his/her friend.
4. Although this is the case, the personal injury trial lawyer must take care to advise his/her client the impact of being courteous in dealing with the defense lawyer or the insurance company's accident attorney. The lawyer of the insurance company knows that the jury awards necessary compensation to injury victims who are honest-to-goodness folks.
5. Reassuring the client that it is not disastrous to be nervous is also needed. Before the deposition, the client must be reminded not to fight his/her nervousness.
6. It is also important to remind the client to equivocate. He/she must learn to avoid terms that have absolute implications especially when there are actually no absolutes. At trial, the personal injury trial lawyer must know that absolute terms like "never" and "always" can effectively box in his/her client.
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