Insights & Events

Hollingsworth LLP partner Joe Altieri recently presented to the International Association of Defense Counsel’s Trial Techniques and Tactics Committee. Joe’s presentation, “A Marathon, Not a Sprint: Working with Company Witnesses in Serial Mass Tort Litigation,” addressed strategies for preparing company witnesses for deposition and trial testimony across the life of a multi-year mass tort litigation.

Drawing on nearly a decade representing a range of companies in complex litigation, Joe discussed the strategies defense counsel should consider in preparing company witnesses to testify effectively and credibly through repeated depositions and trials. The presentation focused on how counsel can assist and support corporate witnesses by, among other things, mastering the underlying facts and technical record as thoroughly as the witness and helping the witness understand the process and time needed for preparation and testimony. He also emphasized the importance of working with the witness and other counsel to ensure a schedule that allows the witness to testify while still completing non-litigation job responsibilities. All of these things are necessary given that, more often than not, a company witness likely never anticipated years of litigation and has both personal and professional activities outside of the litigation.

Joe has particular depth in the Firm’s product liability and mass tort practices where he has extensive experience representing corporate clients in the preparation and defense of company scientists, regulatory managers, and business leaders across numerous depositions and trials spanning multiple years of serial litigation.