Johnny Always Says it Best...

Finally recovered from my week-long bout of cancellitis with one of those depos that never fails to return your feeling of self-worth. You know the kind: Everyone in the room is polite and respectful, they're not engaged in a urination contest, and they understand what it means to make a good record. You're nailing all the readbacks, you've got LiveNote going on a couple screens, and it's all coming up copper-plate since they're not talking all at once. It's the kind of depo where you walk out knowing that you truly did your job the way it's supposed to be done.

More and more these days it seems rookie lawyers are taught that the law must be practiced at 350 words per minute. I had a newbie (from a very large, well-respected law firm, by the way) chide me on a break because I yelled "One at a time" on the record when he incessantly kept talking over the witness. Here was his comment: "Um, you know, could you not yell so loud when I talk over the witness? It really startles me. Could you like wave your hands or something to get my attention?"

WAVE MY HANDS?!?!? I got 385 Texas-sized pages in five hours, he only took breaks when the videographer had to change tapes, and this nutball wants me to WAVE MY HANDS?

My comment to him was, "Well, I was trying to startle you back into Q&A." Then I left the room to cool down. For the record, Mr. Cash is illustrating the exact manner in which I considered waving to counsel.

"Experience teaches only the teachable." - Aldous Huxley