The Advocate - June 2006 - Idaho State Bar - Idaho.gov

the bad actor aware that you know the rules, you are serious about
them, and he or she is not going to intimidate you. Wise use of the
court reporter’s transcript to make a record and use of videotaping
to preserve that which may not show in the written word can also
be valuable tools.
Such tools for resolving deposition conduct problems should
rarely be needed if you follow our primary practical rule.
Experience confirms that civil and professional conduct in deposition
practice invites and ordinarily results in civil and professional
conduct from others. Even if not, it ensures a solid record for corrective
action and for use at trial. And, most importantly, it almost
always results in a more productive and effective deposition.
ENDNOTES
1. #297Videotape (ISB/YLS)-Building a Case from Discovery to
Trial and Beyond: Depositions - March 2006. (RAC) (1
Videotape - 1 credit). A one-hour discussion by James L. Martin,
Moffatt Thomas Barrett Rock & Fields, Boise. YLS Section
member’s rental is $25; non-section member’s rental is $30.
2. #285V (ISB/PRO) Deposition Ethics-October 2005. (RAC) (1
videotape - 1.5 Ethics credits) - Dick Fields, Moffatt Thomas
Barrett Rock & Fields and Allyn Dingel of Elam & Burke, talk
about their combined 83 years of practice. Both Idaho State Bar
Distinguished Lawyers recipients, they bring their unique perspective
and experience to the issues inherent in depositions.
PRO Section members-$30; non-section members-$35.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Richard C. (Dick) Fields is a senior partner in the law firm of
Moffatt, Thomas, Barrett, Rock & Fields. He is past president of the
Idaho State Bar, Western States Bar, Jackrabbit Bar, Idaho Association
of Defense Counsel and the Idaho Chapter of the American Board of
Trial Advocates, and is a fellow and past state chairman of the American
College of Trial Lawyers. He was the Idaho lawyers’ representative to the
Ninth Circuit Judicial Conference in the mid-1980s. He is also past
chairman of the Idaho Volunteer Lawyers Program. He is a member and
past chair of the Professionalism & Ethics section. He was a 2000 recipient
of the Bar’s Distinguished Lawyer Award. He is a magna cum laude
graduate of Harvard University and the University of Denver College of
Law, and was admitted to the Bar in 1966 (previously admitted in
Colorado).
M. Allyn Dingel Jr., graduated from the University of Idaho
with a degree in Economics in 1958 and received his L.L.B. from New
York University School of Law in 1961 where he was a John Norton
Pomroy Scholar and associate editor of the NYU Law Review. He served
for three years with the Idaho Attorney General as counsel for the
Departments of Insurance and Finance and was the chief criminal
deputy. In 1967 he joined the Boise law firm Elam & Burke, P.A.
where he is the senior member. The emphasis of his practice
includes federal and state civil litigation and administrative law. He
is a founding member of the Idaho Law Foundation and served as its
vice-president from 1975 to 1978. He is a member of the Idaho
Association of Defense Counsel and was elected president in 1977. He is
a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, and served as the
lawyer representative and chairperson to the Ninth Circuit Conference of
the United States Courts from Idaho. He was Chair of the Idaho Code
Commission and served as the Idaho State Bar’s delegate to the American
Bar Association’s House of Delegates. He presently serves as Idaho’s ABA
delegate to the ABA’s House of Delegates. He is also a Fellow of the
American Bar Foundation.
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