Bar Exam Toolbox Podcast Episode 286: Listen and Learn -- Conclusory Pleadings Under Rule 12(b)(6) (Civ Pro)
Direct Examination: To Lead or Not to Lead
Law School Toolbox Podcast Episode 416: Listen and Learn -- Service of Process (Civ Pro)
Bar Exam Toolbox Podcast Episode 224: Listen and Learn -- Service of Process (Civ Pro)
The Only Rule of Multidistrict Litigation Is...
Bar Exam Toolbox Podcast Episode 208: Listen and Learn -- Motions to Dismiss a Case
Practicing Before the U.S. Supreme Court | Kannon Shanmugam | Texas Appellate Law Podcast
Amended Rules Five Months Later: Early Trends in Case Law and What It Means
Proposed FRCP Changes: Effect on eDiscovery, RIM & IG (CLE)
Thorough preparation of the deposition witness is critical to successful deposition practice. Prior to the deposition, the witness should be advised how and when to respond to questioning, the roles of counsel and the court...more
In civil litigation, depositions are a key pretrial discovery tool used to uncover facts, obtain admissions, gather evidence for motions, and assess witnesses. They prevent “trial by ambush” by revealing crucial information...more
Ten is the presumptive upper limit on the number of depositions that each party may take in civil litigation in the federal courts. This number, provided by Rule 30(a)(2) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, can be...more
With the COVID pandemic, remote video depositions and trial testimony very quickly went from rare to routine. Remote testimony, for the most part, is viewed as a convenience to both witnesses and attorneys, and parties and...more
It is not uncommon in litigation for parties to introduce testimony through depositions taken for use at trial. It is very uncommon, though, for a party to request to use their own deposition testimony as their trial...more
Dismissal of a lawsuit is a rare sanction for a discovery violation, but it happened recently in a workplace discrimination lawsuit, due in large part to two probing depositions that called into question one party’s assertion...more
In this episode of "The Trial Lawyer's Handbook" podcast series, litigation attorney Dan Small explores how to avoid asking leading questions during direct examination. The Federal Rules of Evidence state that lawyers should...more
Though typically conducted in a conference room, a deposition can take place in many locations and through a variety of methods. So long as you capture a verbatim record, either face-to-face or remotely through the use of...more
Way back in April 2020, during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, a federal magistrate judge in Colorado had already seen enough to offer the following plea that lawyers reassess their habit of traveling long distances...more
Deposition transcripts, like other pretrial discovery materials, do not become public records until they’re filed with the court. Before they are filed with the court, they routinely dwell in obscurity, shielded from public...more
The international law firm McGuire Woods recently published a news note, Virginia Court Holds School Board Immune From Virginia Human Rights Act Claims, explaining how a local school board successfully raised a sovereign...more
No other pretrial discovery process rivals the deposition for its ability to alter the course of civil litigation. Depositions alone bring litigators face-to-face with key witnesses, experts, and the parties themselves in a...more
The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (FRCP) can be intricate and confusing, especially when it comes to the interplay between various rules. Few aspects of civil litigation present potential pitfalls such as amending and...more
For many attorneys, the prospect of a U.S. Supreme Court argument serves as the capstone of a legal career. But for a select few, like Kannon Shanmugam, chair of Paul Weiss’s Supreme Court and Appellate Practice Group,...more
Does the thought of improperly preparing subpoenas for litigation keep you up at night? Given the heavy workloads and tight deadlines attorneys and paralegals routinely face, it’s all too easy for errors to slip through in...more
How many lawyers does it take to handle a case? Well, usually two, one for the trial and another one for the appeal. And that’s because the functions and procedures in the trial court differ so widely between the courts’...more
A civil jury trial is a risky proposition in any court, state or federal. To manage that risk, it is usually in each party’s interest to engage in some form of alternative dispute resolution, or ADR. Knowledge of the local...more
Trial advocacy is a mix of law and theater, requiring a lawyer to know both the law and their audience. Attorneys must effectively argue their client’s case using the evidence and the jury instructions to show their client is...more
At long last, the Supreme Court of the United States has joined the rest of the federal court system in adopting electronic filing. As of November 13, 2017, attorneys filing documents with the Court must submit their...more
Your iPad can be used for much more than FaceTime and Netflix. Planet Depos has put together a list of the top five iPad apps for the legal professional. These apps will help make your life easier, and make your iPad as...more
If you read only this… - New amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure became effective December 1, 2015, governing all subsequent civil cases and all proceedings currently pending, to the extent such...more
The current amended Federal Rules of Civil Procedure—and, in particular, those that address the practice of civil discovery—are the product of five years of development, debate, and, of course, dialogue. Now that the Rules...more