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LOL that came straight out of the mouth of a lawyer prepping him. That’s not the part you’re supposed to say, doofus failson.
“Don’t talk about things you don’t know about” is an excellent tip to give any witness preparing to testify under oath. But you kinda hope they don’t stand on TV and recite that phrase verbatim.
And especially, you hope they don’t import that phrase into things they obviously WOULD “know about.” When you deny knowing about everything, it tends to undermine assertions that you lack knowledge of specific points.
At depositions, and sometimes even in court, I tend to admonish with the “wallet analogy.” It’s useful.
“If I asked you how much money is in YOUR wallet, you wouldn’t know exactly, but you could give me a reasonable estimate. That’s based on personal knowledge . . . .”
“If I asked you how much money is in YOUR wallet, you wouldn’t know exactly, but you could give me a reasonable estimate. That’s based on personal knowledge . . . .”
“But if I asked you how much money’s in MY wallet, you would be speculating. You don’t have personal knowledge of how much I usually carry. You’ve never looked in my wallet. You’d be guessing. So I want you to give your best estimate when you have one, but never speculate.”
