Preparing clients to testify is something I have done countless times in my career. About five years ago, I radically changed the way I prepare witnesses to testify in depositions – with truly remarkable results.

Deposition testimony is one of the few aspects of civil litigation litigators don’t control. The best we can do is advise the witness how best to answer those questions before the deposition starts and make objections during the deposition to preserve the record and perhaps give the witness clues about what may be wrong with the question. Contrast deposition testimony with pleadings, discovery requests, motions, briefs and appeals. Litigators control nearly every aspect of every document filed in a lawsuit.

The testimony your witnesses will give in their depositions turns almost entirely on how well those witnesses perform in responding to the questions they are asked. Unfortunately, there is almost nothing you as a litigator can do to prepare them for what they will experience once the deposition starts and the other side’s lawyers starts firing questions at them.

Even after you give them the right advice – don’t volunteer, don’t speculate, listen carefully to the question you have been asked and answer only that question – it’s very likely your client won’t know how to apply that advice when he or she actually walks into the deposition. That’s because depositions are completely foreign experiences to witnesses – they are unlike anything they experience in their daily lives such as business meetings, conversations or even typical questions during the course of a day – and most witnesses have no idea how to act when the transcript and video starts rolling; and the fact they are rolling adds to the pressure felt by the witnesses.

A good deposition video properly focuses on teaching witnesses how to give substantively good (or perhaps more accurately how to avoid giving substantively bad) deposition testimony as opposed to teaching witnesses how to look like they are giving good testimony. I’ve seen trial consultants offer deposition video programs that emphasize style over substance but looking credible is not the purpose of a deposition even though most depositions are videotaped. What good does it do your client if your witnesses look credible while testifying but are giving away the farm in their deposition testimony that will come back to haunt you in motions to dismiss and/or motions for summary judgment, in settlement talks or at trial? You should be sure the deposition video you use was created by litigators – and not trial consultants – and that it properly focuses on teaching witnesses how to give substantively good deposition testimony.

Using a deposition video – that shows witnesses how to testify in a deposition and as importantly how NOT to testify in a deposition – gave my clients the tools they need to perform like pros in their depositions. Being able to see – in addition to being told – how to respond to an objectionable deposition question makes all the difference in the world. I have seen it transform loose and nervous witnesses who seemed destined to go “off the rails” in their depositions with disastrous results into deposition rock stars.

All most witnesses need is a deposition video that gives them someone to emulate – a witness who is doing it right in a deposition – so they can model their behavior on that witness to yield truly fantastic results. Deposition testimony can make or break your case, so you owe it to yourself – and your clients – to make deposition video a part of your witness preparation routine just as I have.

For an excellent example of a witness preparation video, visit Deposition Rescue. The site includes additional videos with FREE advice that is a must for anyone who wants to perform their best in their deposition.

Zach McGee is the President of New Media Legal Publishing, Inc., a legal publishing company based in Los Angeles. Before co-founding New Media Legal Publishing, Mr. McGee was a litigator at Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP and an in-house litigator and transactional lawyer for NBCUniversal, LLC. He is a graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law School and was a law clerk to the Honorable Michael B. Mukasey, Chief Judge, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.