Litigation Lawyers in Lee

Civil depositions occur during civil litigation in Lee, New Hampshire. They are part of the discovery process.

"Discovery" is a process that occurs before a trial in Lee, New Hampshire. During the discovery process, both sides are required to make relevant information available to each other.

One of the most effective ways to acquire information relevant to a lawsuit in Lee, New Hampshire is to conduct a deposition of a party who you believe to be privy to that information. A deposition is a Q&A session between an attorney representing one of the parties to a lawsuit, and someone who has knowledge relevant to the lawsuit. This can be one of the parties, or a witness. The person being deposed is sworn in, and must answer all of the questions presented to them under oath. An attorney representing the other side can object to lines of questioning, on every grounds that would be valid during in-court testimony. The purpose of this is primarily to get the objection on the record, but if it proves to be a major sticking point, a judge can rule on the objections later. If any questions are found to be invalid, the questions, and their answers, will not be shown to the jury during trial. This is much more effective than simply instructing the jury to disregard a question and answer they've already heard.

Conducting A Civil Deposition in Lee, New Hampshire

Depositions in Lee, New Hampshire serve a very important purpose: acquiring testimony on the record, and admitted as evidence, when there is some reason to suspect that the witness won't be able to appear in court during trial, because of health, potential incarceration, or any other reason.

Civil Depositions in Lee, New Hampshire, can take a very long time to be completed, normally lasting several days, and sometimes going on for weeks. So, people who are called to give depositions in Lee, New Hampshire should be prepared for some considerable inconvenience.

To help mitigate this inconvenience, Lee, New Hampshire authorizes witnesses who are appearing in depositions to be paid a set amount of money for their time, and reimbursed for travel expenses. However, if there is any evidence that this money is being used to influence a witness' testimony, there is going to be a serious problem: this would amount bribery, and it is a serious offense.

If you are called to a deposition in Lee, New Hampshire, it's absolutely necessary that you answer all the questions truthfully, to the best of your knowledge. When testifying in a deposition, you are under oath, just as you would be in open court. Deliberately lying in a deposition is perjury, which is a serious crime.

How Can A Lee, New Hampshire Lawyer Help?

If you are directly immersed in a lawsuit in Lee, New Hampshire, and have to appear at a deposition, you should already be represented by a lawyer. It goes without saying that you should do whatever they advise you to do during the deposition.

If you are not directly immersed in the lawsuit, you might still have to appear at a deposition, if you have information that's relevant to the case in Lee, New Hampshire. You probably don't need to hire a lawyer in that case, but it might be a good idea to at least get a consultation from one.