b'Fall/Winter 2020Page 7 Remote Depositions (Continued from page 6)deposition begins.Doing this on the front end companies also provide a technical supportcan help minimize unintentional appearances personwhocanattendthedepositiontoby other household members and pets. resolveanytechnologyissuesthatmay7. Think About Your Virtual Background.occur.While it may be common for attorneys to think 5.BreakWitnessPreparationintoabouttheirprofessionalappearanceoncam-Multiple Sessions.It is often harder forera, it is also important to think about the ap-a witness to keep concentration through apearanceofyoursurroundingsandofyour video conference than it is in person in adesktop screen.You should make sure you do conference room; witness preparation cannot have any confidential or privileged materi-be challenging remotely as a result.Thisal laying around in your home office that could is especially true if you have a lot of docu- be visible on camera.Additionally, you should ments to go through with the witness.Formakesureyourdesktopscreenisclean,and thisreason,wehavefoundithelpfultopop-upnotificationsaredisabled,as wehave break up the preparation into a couple offounditsometimesnecessarytoshareour sessions instead of one all-day session.screens to show the witness specific portions of an exhibit. 6.DefendingisEasier,Takingis8. Prepare to be Flexible. Lastly, we know Harder.Whilepreppingwitnessesre- depositions can be a contentious environment, motely is challenging, defending a witnessbutthenew remotenaturecanlead toaddi-remotelyisnotthatmuchdifferentthantional frustrations and issues, so be prepared defending a witness in person.While theto be flexible.Technology issues, audio delays, briefdelayinherentinremotedepositionslow internet, pets barking, and phones ring-technologycanimpactthetimingrelatedingareallthingsthatweexperiencedwhen toassertingobjections,thewitnessmayparticipating in remote depositions.This is a haveanadvantagebynotbeinginthenewwayoflitigatingforeveryone,andwe samephysicalspaceasthequestioner,should all be patient and understanding as we which can be intimidating for some.Ques- navigate this new norm. tioning is usually less intense and done at a slower pace, which can also benefit the witness.However,wehavefoundthat*Stephanie Phan and Sheila Chen are associ-takingremotedepositionscanbemoreates in the Orange County office of Troutman challenging.Handling the technology andPepper.thedocumentsmakesithardertogeta questioning rhythm going.It is also much easier for a witness to get distracted or in-terruptedby technologyissuesor outside factors.One option is to deal with this at thebeginningofthedepositionandask thewitnesstoturnoffanyotherdevices andfindaplacethatisquietbeforethe'