I just emailed someone with the message, "Sorry I didn't get back to you sooner, but I was in depositions all week."
Yes, I can actually sound pretentious with authority now, as I was indeed in depositions this week. Actually, just the last two days of it, but the earlier part of the week was spent embroiled in preparation for them. A trial approaches, so all the last-minute discovery (read: gathering of all the information and evidence needed for trial) is now taking place, and as a result things have been busy and will remain so for the forseeable future.
But about the depositions. Deposition-taking is one of the basic activities of litigators, and thus a skill I'll need to have. These were the first I'd ever even attended, so at first I was glad that I didn't have to do them. But soon I decided it was unfortunate that I couldn't because after all the document review I've done I would have known what to ask. And, I suspect, were it not for my license situation, my firm probably would have let me. But since I'm not a California attorney officially representing this client, I metaphorically taped my mouth shut and instead assisted my boss, taking notes and passing him suggestions of questions he could then ask himself.
It was all a great learning experience though, and it was good to see how depositions play out before they fall on my shoulders to do for real. It was also nice to walk away with a sense of confidence that I could have actually done them for real. In a way, I've already done things like them before. Years ago, way before law school but at the naissance of this career evolution, I toyed with becoming a journalist. The interviewing skills I worked on then are very much transferable to deposition-taking. In both situations you are generally trying to get people to say things for the record and need to form clear questions to elicit what you want. The formalities for depositions are different, as are the strategies involved in crafting your approach, but, generally speaking, crisp, clear questions and sufficient preparation are key for both.