Free Stipulation by Sawyer Bennett Page A

be, my feelings are hurt just a tiny bit.
    Sometimes I hate
being a woman and all the things that come with it that make me soft
and mushy.
    Pushing those
thoughts aside, because they really have no room in my head, I ask
Matt to tell me more about the case that is sending us all the way to
Chicago for depositions. He makes a smooth transition from gloating
over his weekend sexcapades, and spends the next twenty minutes until
our flight is ready describing, with mind-numbing detail, about his
lawsuit. It’s against a major auto manufacturer that produced a
vehicle where the seatbelts were faulty, causing their customers to
be ejected from the vehicle during rollovers, or shot through the
windshield in head-on collisions. Matt spoke with fervor and
righteous indignation over the poor victims, practically sneering
when he told me he had proof that they knew the seatbelts were
faulty, but didn’t want to spend the money to do a recall.
Rather, they rolled the dice and hoped no one made a claim for
compensation.
    I have a feeling
that they are going to be very sorry for crossing Matt Connover.
    Apparently, we would
be doing the depositions of some of the big wigs in the corporation,
to see just how high up the ladder the conspiracy to keep the secrets
of the faulty seatbelts went. My job would be to sit there and take
tedious notes on every question and answer, making sure that I even
paid attention to the deponents’ facial reactions in case Matt
stumbled on something that they really didn’t want him to know
about.
    I’m excited to
see Matt in action. Despite the rocky start to our working
relationship, I am eager to learn from him. I did some of my own
Googling of the illustrious Matt Connover, and found that he is well
respected in the legal community. He’s already made quite a
name for himself after only ten years of practice.
    I just need to
remember to keep my libido in check, my heart on guard, and my work
beyond impeccable, and all will be well in my life.

The first day of
depositions are over, and we’ve all met down in the hotel
bar/restaurant for drinks, dinner, and then more drinks.
    We’re on the
more drinks part now, and there is room to celebrate. Matt killed it
today, and it was almost a surreal experience.
    First, we were at
the corporate defendant’s law firm, a massive, steel-and-glass
structure that dwarfed the rest of the Chicago skyline. The
depositions took place in the largest conference room I’ve ever
seen. The table was massive and could seat fifty people, although
there were only about fifteen in attendance.
    The lawsuit is
complex, and there are multiple parties. There are five plaintiffs
total, and all of their lawyers had flown in to hear the testimony.
Matt had long ago been appointed lead counsel. He was the only one
asking the questions—and the man was pure genius.
    I thought the
questioning would be contentious but quite the contrary… Matt
took the ‘good old boy’ approach. He softened up each
deponent with benign questions, carefully poking and prodding.
Nodding in commiseration, he gave sympathetic looks over how hard
their jobs were. At one point, during the first deposition, I even
began to wonder if Matt’s heart was really in it.
    But then, just when
he had them practically eating out of his hand, he attacked and went
on the offensive. He caught them in lie after lie, and then pulled
out reams of documents to shove under their noses, showing how he
exposed their lies. I swear he even had one guy in tears after
pointing out the multitude of untruths that had been captured by the
court reporter, who was recording every single word with a smirk on
her face.
    Yes, tonight we are
celebrating, even though we have another day’s worth of
depositions tomorrow. Matt told me it wouldn’t be so easy
during the next round. He told me that, rest assured, the defense
would be up all night preparing their witnesses to try to withstand
Matt’s attacks the following day.
    Still, I