Bearing Witness Read Online Free PDF

of each witness contacted.
    â€œYour Honor,” I said, trying to maintain my composure, “this is nothing less than an attempt to use the power of this Court to intimidate potential witnesses and, in the process, to invade the confidentiality of my trial preparations.”
    Judge Wagner agreed and disagreed. She granted Kimberly’s request for the Miranda-style warning, but ruled that I did not have to let Kimberly know who I contacted. I told myself that I could probably live with that—as if I had any choice in the matter.
    I fared worse with the Conrad Beckman subpoena. “Ms. Gold,” Judge Wagner announced sternly, “the Court is not unmindful of the fact that Mr. Beckman is an extremely busy executive. Reluctantly, I will allow you to depose him. However, I will limit that deposition to exactly two hours.”
    â€œTwo hours?” I said, incredulous. “I don’t think I could complete it in two days.”
    Judge Wagner responded with an imperial shrug. “Deal with it. The mere filing of a lawsuit does not give a plaintiff the unfettered right to depose a busy chief executive officer.” She paused to jot a note on her docket sheet. “You’ll have two hours.” She turned to Kimberly. “Anything else?”
    â€œUnfortunately, yes, Your Honor. Given that the trial date is now just two months away, I must remind Ms. Gold that we are still awaiting new dates for her client’s deposition.”
    Judge Wagner looked at me. “Is there a problem?”
    â€œThere most certainly is,” I said, my temper flaring. “Kimberly has already subjected my client to twelve days of deposition. Twelve days.” I shook my head in disbelief. “While Ms. Howard squeals in panic at the thought of having Conrad Beckman deposed for two hours, she thinks nothing of subjecting my client to day after day after day of completely irrelevant lines of questions. At some point—”
    â€œThat is preposterous,” Kimberly said, acting shocked.
    I spun toward her. “Let me finish,” I snapped. I looked back at Judge Wagner. “Judge, enough is enough. The defendant is using discovery as a weapon to make this case as painful as it can for the plaintiff. It’s a scorched-earth tactic, Your Honor—an attempt to turn the discovery process into a trial by ordeal.” I shook my head angrily. “And meanwhile, more than six months have elapsed since defendant was supposed to produce its documents to me. Six months, and I have yet to see a single piece of paper. Ms. Howard is trying to sneak to trial without having to reveal a thing.”
    Kimberly put on a show. She was “incredulous” and “insulted” and “offended” by my accusations. We argued back and forth until Judge Wagner raised her hand for silence.
    â€œHere’s what’s going to happen,” she announced, turning to me. “You’re going to make your client available for one more day of deposition before month end.” She looked at Kimberly. “The Court appreciates the efforts you are making to review your client’s documents. However, Ms. Gold has a point: six months is a long time. Perhaps we can prioritize the tasks. It seems that the documents plaintiff needs most urgently are those having to do with the bids. Get those to her by the end of the week.” She looked at me. “That ought to keep you busy for a while.” She turned back to Kimberly. “Get the rest of the documents to her in, let’s say, three weeks. By December eighth.” She looked at both of us. “Okay?”
    â€œYour Honor,” I said, “we’re talking about hundreds of thousands of documents. It’ll take me weeks to review them, and I’ll still have an awful lot to squeeze in before trial, especially with the Christmas holidays.” I paused. “Judge, if the current trial schedule stands, Beckman