Depositions in Family Law Cases

Barbra Ilene Black | The Black Law Group LLC

Barbra I. Black has been practicing law for over twenty-eight years and is a founding member and the managing partner of The Black Law Group, LLC. Attorney Black was a former partner at the Boston, MA law firm of Burns & Levinson, LLP, where she practiced for over eight years in the firm’s Divorce and Family Law group. Prior to that, she was a solo practitioner for several years, focusing her practice in the area of domestic relations litigation.

Attorney Black concentrates her practice in the areas of divorce & family law in both Massachusetts and New Hampshire. Attorney Black has extensive litigation and trial experience and handles a variety of family law cases involving complex and diverse issues. Attorney Black’s divorce & family law practice includes, but is not limited to, prenuptial & postnuptial agreements, joint petitions for divorce, contested divorce actions, same sex divorce actions, custody and or child support cases and modification and contempt cases. Ms. Black is a member of the Massachusetts and New Hampshire Bar Associations and the Massachusetts Family and Probate Inns of Court. She is a graduate of Suffolk University Law School and Brandeis University.

Attorney Black has been selected as a “Super Lawyer” for the past several years, as published in Boston Magazine.

Jonathan Meidanis | The Black Law Group LLC

Jonathan Meidanis joined The Black Law Group, LLC as an Associate in February of 2018. He is a graduate of the Southern Methodist Dedman School of Law, where he served as a staff editor on the SMU Science and Technology Law Review.

Prior to joining The Black Law Group, LLC, he clerked for the New Hampshire Ninth Circuit-Merrimack where he observed family law cases and rulings. He was also a contract attorney for American Tower Corporation where he practiced real estate representing American Tower in multi-million-dollar real estate transactions and in the successful integration of a billion-dollar portfolio. Additionally, he practiced real estate and probate and estate planning in his solo practice.

Attorney Meidanis focuses his practice primarily in the area of family law, including divorce and post-divorce matters involving custody, child support, parenting time, alimony, and modification of existing judgments.

Attorney Meidanis is an active member of the Massachusetts Bar Association and the New Hampshire Bar Association and regularly attends Continuing Legal Education classes to stay current on best practices and trends in the law.

I. Depositions in general | 1:00pm – 1:15pm

1. What is a deposition?
2. Reasons to take a deposition
3. Determining who to depose
4. Document requests
5. Cost

II. Preparing for a deposition you are taking | 1:15pm – 1:30pm

1. Determining who to depose
2. Selecting and Assembling Exhibits
3. Drafting a deposition outline
4. Client input

III. Taking depositions | 1:30pm – 1:45pm

1. Questioning witnesses
2. Responding to objections
3. Using exhibits
4. Using information obtained from social media
5. What deposition questioning techniques will maximize the information obtained from witnesses

IV. Defending depositions | 1:45pm – 2:00pm

1. Prepping your client to testify
2. Documents your client should review in advance, or not!
3. Prepping your client for attire and what to bring to a deposition
4. Stipulations prior to the deposition
5. Objections – when to raise them

Break | 2:00pm – 2:10pm

V. Post-deposition strategies | 2:10pm – 2:25pm

1. Using deposition information during discovery
2. Using deposition information during settlement discussions and trial

VI. General discussion re: depositions | 2:25pm – 2:40pm

1. General strategies in taking and defending depositions
2. What are the most common challenges family law practitioners face when taking and defending depositions of parties, lay witnesses, and experts?