when to depose
a deposition would be required for instance if one were to witness an accident that resulted in a liability lawsuit all parties involved in the case are permitted to attend the deposition the deponent will be asked a number of questions related to the lawsuit by the attorneys on both sides a court reporter who is present accurately records every question and answer in the deposition and produces a transcript that can later be used at trial due to the exhaustive questioning that is characteristic of depositions they may last several hours under the federal rules of civil procedure and its state equivalents a deposition must take a maximum of seven hours per day for each deponent in canada the deposition process is called examination for discovery and examinations for discovery are limited to 7 hours per party conducting the examination 1deposition questionsquestions asked at a deposition can be more wide ranging than those that may be allowed in courtroom proceedings for example a witness to an automobile accident may be asked a series of questions such as as depositions are a critical part of the litigation process and can significantly affect the outcome of a trial legal professionals strive to adequately prepare their clients for depositions while deponents are required to be scrupulously honest in their answers to questions the objective is to avoid common mistakes made by deponents these mistakes may include saying too much thereby providing information that can be used to the advantage by the opposing side another common mistake is making guesses or assumptions since deponents are required to stick to the facts and not speculate or theorize 