I will never forget the first time I deposed an expert witness.

I had been out of law school for a little over a year, and here I was being sent to go “toe-to-toe” with a physician who had been practicing medicine infinitely longer than I had been practicing law, and who most certainly was in disagreement with my theory of the case.

The word “intimidated” would have been putting it mildly. My fear turned to panic when I walked into the deposition room and I realized I knew the expert witness. He was a family friend whom I had known since I was a child! Despite my anxiety, I did my best, and actually took a great deposition.

Any young litigator will eventually encounter a similar situation. Most of the time, no matter how much you prepare, an expert is going to know more about the subject matter than you. On top of that, the majority of expert witnesses you encounter will be seasoned deponents, giving them another leg up. All you can do is take an appropriate amount of time to prepare, know the record, and go into the deposition with the mindset that you are going to have a nice “conversation” with Mr. or Ms. Expert Witness.

Just remember the odds are pretty slim that your first expert deposition will be of your uncle’s best friend – like mine was.

I still haven’t lived that one down…

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