Interviewing and Preparing Witnesses CLE

Interviewing and Preparing Witnesses

September 2010

Interviewing and Preparing Witnesses

Program Description:

The area of witness preparation is a “no man’s land” between a lawyer’s duty of partisan advocacy and the court’s truth-seeking function in which case law and commentary offer very little guidance. Ron Nemirow and Nike Fleming will discuss the ethical and professional liability problems arising when lawyers interview potential witnesses and prepare them to testify in the courtroom or in deposition.

- Colo. RPC 1.1, 1.2(d), 3.3(a)(3), and 3.4(b).

- “Recall” versus “recognition”: how memory can be affected by the questions and words used during direct examination.

- Discovery of witness preparation.

- Exposing excessive or manipulative witness preparation during cross-examination.

- Non-party medical providers in medical malpractice cases.

- The sequestration rule (CRE 615).

Agenda:

11:30 am - 12:00 pm

Registration

12:00 pm - 1:00 pm

Program

1:00 pm

Adjourn

Faculty:

Nike L. Fleming

Kennedy Childs & Fogg, P.C.

Denver, CO

Nike L. Fleming is an associate at Kennedy Childs & Fogg, P.C., where she has practiced law since 2006. Ms. Fleming practices in professional liability defense, with a focus in medical malpractice and legal malpractice defense. She received her B.A. from Valparaiso University (magna cum laude) in 2002 and her J.D. from the University of Iowa College of Law in 2006. While a student at the University of Iowa, she was the executive editor of the Journal of Corporation Law. Ms. Fleming is the co-chair of the Community Action Network of the Denver Bar Association and Publications Vice Chair for the Young Lawyers Committee of DRI. She has also been named a Rising Star in 2009 and 2010.

Ronald H. Nemirow

Kennedy Childs & Fogg, P.C.

Denver, CO

Ronald H. Nemirow is a shareholder at Kennedy Childs & Fogg, P.C., and has practiced there (or at its incarnations) since 1987. His practice emphasizes professional malpractice defense (primarily lawyers), appeals, litigation of insurance coverage and bad faith disputes, and complex civil litigation. Mr. Nemirow has lectured throughout Colorado on legal ethics and legal malpractice avoidance, including continuing legal education programs on Practical Legal Ethics in 2001, 2003, and 2004 through 2006, and a 2004 presentation for the CBA on bankruptcy ethics. Through no fault of his own, he has from time to time been listed as a Super Lawyer and included in Best Lawyers. He received his J.D. from Harvard Law School in 1985, his A.B. in literature (magna cum laude, with honors) from Brown University in 1979, and a teaching certificate from the University of Colorado in 1981. Mr. Nemirow owns, but does not use, a banjo.