In a career spanning more than 100 formal depositions, host Matt Campobasso has watched the full spectrum of human behavior under pressure—the liars, the saints, the corporate warriors, and the whistleblowers. And every single time, a witness says something in the first five minutes that tempts him to deliver a final verdict on the spot. But if he snapped that folder shut and walked out of every deposition after five minutes, he wouldn't just be wrong—he'd be committing professional malpractice.

In this solo episode, Matt makes the case that we've imported that same malpractice into our everyday lives. We live in a high-velocity judgment culture where a single political take, a bumper sticker, or an offhanded comment is enough to make us label someone, lock the door, and throw away the key. Drawing on neuroscience, litigation strategy, and a decade of courtroom experience, Matt introduces "The Deposition Discipline"—a framework for trading snap verdicts for patient discovery in the courtroom of life—and argues that the shortcut to being right is the longest road to being lonely.

Whether you're leading a team, navigating a divided family dinner, or just trying to build deeper relationships in a world designed to keep things shallow, this episode makes the case for staying in the room long after your ego has started looking for the exit.

• The Biological Shortcut: Why your brain is a prediction machine built for the savanna—and how its ancient survival templates are catastrophically misfiring in polarized workplaces, fractured communities, and divided families.
• The Deposition Discipline: The litigation-tested tool for replacing snap verdicts with curiosity—why the best lawyers don't walk out when a witness says something ridiculous, they lean in and ask "tell me more."
• The Connection Tax: How misunderstanding creates a compounding debt on your professional output and personal relationships—and why "trench warfare" in the workplace buries speed, creativity, and innovation.
• The Loneliness Verdict: Why judging people quickly curates your life down to a hall of mirrors that feels safe but is hollow—and how we've replaced the messy work of understanding with the sterile work of grouping.
• The Cross-Examination: Matt takes on the two toughest objections head-on—"some people are just bad" and "I don't have the time"—and explains why refusing to understand an opposing idea is like a doctor refusing to study a virus.
• The Origin Inquiry: The exact phrase—"Help me understand how you got there"—that drops someone's identity shield and gives you access to the inputs you're missing.
• The Snapshot Audit: How to identify one person you've filed away as "just one of those people" and find the common ground that has nothing to do with what you disagree on.
• The Discovery Delay: The practice of staying a judgment until discovery is complete—because real growth happens in the minute after you want to leave.
• The Mirror Mercy Test: Before you write someone off for a bad 10 seconds, ask yourself: what's the worst 10-second snapshot of my life—and would I want to be judged by it forever?

Build your case with us: Share this episode with someone who needs to hear the why behind the what and join the conversation on social media using #TheCaseFor. We want to hear about a time a single question broke a stalemate and built something real.

Remember—whatever your case is, don't be afraid to build it and carry it out into the real world.