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Why do you need to be prepared for your pre-trial deposition testimony? Would you like to learn
the answer to that? Come join me as I share with you this great information. Hi. I’m
Gerry Oginski. I’m a New York medical malpractice and personal injury trial attorney practicing
law here in the state of New York. First, a deposition is a question and answer session
given under oath. You know, there are many people who believe that an attorney who talks
to their client beforehand (before giving testimony) that somehow the attorney is telling
the witness what to say, that they’re putting words into the witness’ mouth. And I want
to share with you that nothing can be further from the truth. Now why is that? The reality
is that the preparation that goes on beforehand is basically to give you, the injured victim,
an opportunity to refresh your memory about what happened. You see, your question and
answer session – this deposition, this examination before trial – is going to happen many months
if not years after your incident occurred. And chances are you’ve probably forgotten
a lot of details. Now the whole purpose of preparation is to get you to remember certain
details. And if you don’t, then to get you to refresh your memory. Plus, what we also
do is give you samples of questions that the defense attorney is likely going to ask you.
Now why is that important? It’s just to give you an understanding of what the defense
attorney is going to do. And remember, this is not a test. It’s not a guessing game.
So, for example, if you don’t remember a specific thing your obligation is to tell
the attorney, “Listen, I don’t remember. It’s been so long since it’s happened.”
Or if you’re unsure of the answer, the whole purpose is not to guess. Why? Because if you
guess you could be guessing correctly, you could be guessing incorrectly. And now that’s
going to lock you into your testimony so that years later at trial if you now give an answer
to which you don’t remember or have forgotten or started to guess, you may be giving an
incorrect answer. In addition, one of the key things that we do is we explain how the
process works. We explain the ground rules of what happens during the course of a deposition.
We also explain how you have to answer questions verbally. Why? You can’t just nod your head
or say “Hmm, yes.” Why? Because there is a court reporter present and they have
to take down verbal responses. They can’t take a shake of the head. So what’s important
is that the attorney prepares you for what’s going to happen during the course of that
question and answer session. The attorney wants the client to testify truthfully about
what happened and to give them the best opportunity to remember all the details that occurred
during the course of their incident. So why do I share this with you? I share this with
you because chances are you have questions and concerns about your own particular matter.
And if your matter happened in New York and you have legal questions, what I encourage
you to do is pick up the phone and call me. I can answer your legal questions. This is
what I do every single day and I welcome your call. You can reach me at 516-487-8207 or
by email at lawmed10@yahoo.com. I’m Gerry Oginski, here in New York. Have a wonderful
day!