There are a number of things you should and should not do during a deposition. If an attorney in a deposition is asking you questions, it is the equivalent of a court proceeding, even if it is happening in a lawyer’s conference room somewhere. And while there are a whole bunch of things you need to remember and even practice before you are deposed, one very important thing that Marlo Greer wants you to remember is this:
Never say “my attorney said” to say something; or “my attorney said” to do something; or “my attorney told me” not to say something; or “my attorney warned me” not to do something. That is because the lawyer who is asking you questions at the deposition cannot ask you about anything you and your attorney talked about. And the reason the lawyer can’t ask you about what you and your attorney talked about is that your discussions with your attorney about your case are privileged. That privilege is very strong – it’s virtually impossible to force you or your attorney to disclose what you two discussed.
UNLESS….unless you decide to give up that privilege. The privilege belongs to you. You can choose to reveal what you and your lawyer talked about, and then the opposing lawyer is free to ask you lots of questions about that.
The best way to make sure you don’t accidentally give up your privilege is to watch for two words coming from your mouth: “my attorney.” For example, if you’re asked whether you took pictures of the crash scene and you did take pictures of the crash scene, then of course you can say “yes, I did.” But if you didn’t take pictures of the crash scene despite your attorney telling you to, don’t say “well, my attorney told me to, but I didn’t.” That could open the door to the opposing lawyer asking you all sorts of questions about what you and your attorney discussed, and what advice you did or did not choose to accept.
The Greer Law Group Will Prepare You for your deposition.
Depositions are not easy to sit through if you are the one who has to answer questions. They are not meant to be conversations. The opposing lawyer’s job is to extract as much information from you about your case as possible, and the hope is that they manage to get you to say something that will help them defend against your claims.
There are techniques you can learn – and that your lawyer from the Greer Law Group can teach you – that can protect you against giving away too much information at your deposition. But today’s lesson should stay with you – beware if your answer includes the words “my attorney.”
The Greer Law Group Can Help You With Your Personal Injury Claim
Whether you’ve been injured because of a car crash, a slip-and-fall, a botched medical procedure, or a sexual or other type of assault, the Greer Law Group can help you recover compensation for your injuries and damages when they were caused by the negligent or intentional acts of someone else.
We are experienced personal injury attorneys who know what it takes to build a case and get our clients the compensation they are entitled to for what they’ve suffered. Call us at 303-331-6460 or fill out our online contact form, and we will schedule a free case evaluation – a discussion that will in almost all cases be a privileged one.
META title: What Not to Say at a Deposition | Greer Law Group
Description: Beware of disclosing any discussions you had with your attorney when asked questions at your deposition.
Did you know that your communications with your attorney about your case are privileged? Nobody can learn about what the two of you talked about – including what advice your attorney gave you, what you told them about your case, and what advice you followed or didn’t follow. It is enormously hard for anyone to break through that privilege – except in one particular case.
That is, if you, the client, give up the privilege. As Marlo Greer points out in her video on this topic (link in comments), that can happen during your deposition if you include two words in your answer: “my attorney.” As in “my attorney told me,” or “my attorney said I should,” or anything else that discloses information that you and your attorney exchanged about your case.
So avoid that at all costs. Don’t talk about what you and your attorney talked about. And don’t use those two words “my attorney” in any of your answers at your deposition!
