New York lawyers can slander each other during depositions.

In New York a lawyer can slander opposing counsel with impunity or at least with immunity. This guy got slapped when he called opposing counsel, ""uncivilized, ignorant and incompetent," during a deposition. Then he got sued.

Not satisfied with just a slapping someone who called them names, the other lawyer also filed a complaint alleging slander and assault. The judge ruled that opposing counsel yelling at you in a deposition was not an assault and that any slanderous statements were immune from suit because a deposition is a judicial proceeding even though a judge is not at a deposition. You can read the order here.

Of course, saying you can slander opposing counsel is not the same as saying you should slander opposing counsel.  We here at the Gillette-Torvik blog encourage lawyers everywhere to take the high road and avoid calling opposing counsel names, spitting on them, or slapping them.