This is the first in a series on CEO depositions.
I found in many cases that my best witness is often the other party. This is particularly true in the case of CEOs. Being a good business man or business woman does not make a person a good witness.
CEOs are not accustomed to being required to answer questions, particularly where the CEO holds a controlling interest in a closely held company. In such cases, CEOs are rarely held accountable and they often feel that they are smarter than the people that they are dealing with. These characteristic are toxic in terms of deposition performance.
To make matters worse, CEOs tend to have busy schedules and it is often very difficult to get an appropriate amount of time to prepare them or to obtain their complete attention when they are meeting with you. One need only review the deposition of Bill Gates to realize that even the most capable and brightest of CEOs can perform poorly during depositions.
To ensure that the CEO is available for sufficient time to properly prepare, I provide clients with war stories, involving poor deposition performances by CEOs. The CNN.com article Gates Deposition Makes Judge Laugh in Court shows the disastrous consequences of Bill Gates' dismal deposition performance. If you have your client's CEO read it, he will appreciate the need to prepare and take the deposition seriously.
Many years ago a client's CEO answered a question with a completely different answer than what he repeatedly told me during our preparation session. When I later asked why his answer changed, he explained that he made a snap decision to take a different position to advance the case. I explained that what he did had the exact opposite result and that the next time he is deposed he needs to stick to being a CEO and let me be the lawyer.
I have found that if you explain the pitfalls of a deposition and the fact that CEOs are often terrible witnesses, you will get their attention very quickly and they will be more receptive to preparation and adhering to your advice.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
