Depositions are not for the weak or timid. Personal details are revealed. Feelings can be hurt. Sometimes lawyers have to turn tough on a witness.

“People involved in lawsuits are exposing themselves to a process and that includes, to some extent, an invasion of privacy and discussing unpleasant things,” said attorney Richard A. Roberts, of Nuzzo & Roberts in Cheshire, Conn. “Very few people leave a deposition and say, ‘That was fun.’”