Defending Rule 30(b)(6) Corporate Depositions in Employment Litigation
Best Practices for Responding to a Deposition Notice, Selecting and Preparing Witnesses
Recording of a 90-minute CLE webinar with Q&A
This CLE webinar will prepare employment counsel to effectively defend depositions of corporate representatives during the course of pending employment litigation. The panel will discuss how to respond to a Rule 30(b)(6) deposition notice and select and prepare witnesses for the deposition.
Outline
- Responding to the deposition notice
- Negotiating with opposing counsel
- Filing objections
- Seeking a protective order
- Filing reciprocal 30(b)(6) notice
- Selecting the 30(b)(6) witness(es)
- Using witness with detailed knowledge of subject matter versus witness with more isolated knowledge
- Designating a lawyer, or someone else privy to extensive privileged information, as witness
- Identifying witness who has been or is likely to be separately noticed for a fact deposition
- Identifying one versus multiple witnesses to address multiple topics in response to 30(b)(6) notice
- Preparing for the deposition
- “Educating” a witness in advance of a 30(b)(6) deposition
- How should instructions and preparation for a 30(b)(6) witness differ from instructions and preparation for an ordinary fact witness?
- When is it appropriate to prepare new written materials to produce at a 30(b)(6) deposition?
- Problem areas
- When the questioner goes beyond the scope of the notice
- When the witness proves to be insufficiently knowledgeable about a subject area
- When the witness provides inaccurate or incomplete information at the deposition
Benefits
The panel will review these and other key issues:
- How should employment counsel respond to a Rule 30(b)(6) deposition notice that appears to be vague, overbroad or seeks privileged information?
- What are the particular dangers of designating a lawyer, or someone else with extensive privileged information, as a 30(b)(6) witness?
- To what extent must or should employment counsel educate a witness in advance of a 30(b)(6) deposition?
Faculty
Allegra J. Lawrence-Hardy
Partner
Sutherland Asbill & Brennan
Ms. Lawrence-Hardy has extensive experience handling complex multi-party, multi-jurisdictional commercial and labor and... | Read More
Ms. Lawrence-Hardy has extensive experience handling complex multi-party, multi-jurisdictional commercial and labor and employment matters. She has successfully defended primarily Fortune 100 companies throughout the United States and abroad in numerous trials, arbitrations and other forms of alternative dispute resolution. Ms. Lawrence-Hardy co-leads the firm’s Labor and Employment Team as well as the Business and Commercial Litigation Team.
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