(a) An attorney should not intentionally ask a witness a question that misstates or mischaracterizes the witness's previous answer.

(b) An attorney should not intentionally ask a witness more than one question at a time. To insist upon an answer to a multiple-part question after objection is presumptively improper.

(c) An attorney should not repeatedly ask the same or substantially identical question of a deponent if the question already has been asked and fully and responsively answered by the deponent. Upon objection by counsel for the deponent, or by the deponent if unrepresented, it is presumptively improper for an attorney to continue to ask the same or substantially identical question of a witness unless the previous answer was evasive or incomplete.

(d) Objections in the presence of the witness which are used to suggest an answer to the witness are presumptively improper.

(e) An attorney should not question a deponent in such a manner that he or she knows or should know would serve merely to annoy, embarrass, or harrass¹ the deponent.

(f) An attorney for a deponent should not initiate a private conference with a deponent during the actual taking of a deposition, except for the purpose of determining whether a privilege should be asserted. To do so otherwise is presumptively improper.

(g) It is presumptively improper for an attorney to instruct a client not to answer a question at a deposition unless:

(h) If the attorney lodging an objection or instructing a witness not to answer believes that the objection or the instruction requires the assertion of facts or an explanation of the formal defect, which would in any way be instructive to the witness, then the witness should be excused while the objection or instruction is made.

(i) During breaks in the taking of a deposition, no one should discuss with the deponent the substance of the prior testimony given by the deponent during the deposition. Counsel for the deponent may discuss with the deponent at such time whether a privilege should be asserted or otherwise engage in discussion not regarding the substance of the witness's prior testimony.

(j) Unless the parties agree, or the court orders otherwise, the only persons allowed to attend a deposition are the officer before whom the deposition is taken, an individual acting under the direction and in the presence of the officer, the parties, including one representative of a party other than an individual, the parties' attorneys, a non-attorney member of the attorney's staff needed to assist in the representation, the witness, the attorney for the witness and an expert witness expected to testify on the subject matter of the deposition.

(k) All persons present during the taking of a deposition should be identified on the record before the deposition begins. Other than the deponent, counsel representing a party, or an unrepresented party, persons attending a deposition may not ask or answer questions during, or otherwise participate in the process of, the deposition.

(l) Except for the person recording the deposition in accordance with Rule 2-415, during the taking of a deposition no one may record the testimony without the consent of the deponent and any parties to the case that are in attendance, unless otherwise ordered by the Court.