For lawyers and paralegals, deposition transcripts are one of the most important files they will use in their cases. Depositions are out-of-court testimonies taken under oath, usually conducted by a lawyer or attorney without a judge present. These documents contain critical facts and witness testimonies and can play a major role in deciding cases, but due to their conversational nature, they can be quite large and unwieldy documents.
That’s where deposition summaries come in, usually created by a litigation paralegal working under the supervision of a lawyer. Their job is to accurately and concisely summarize the document, without missing key points or distorting any facts. Most depositions aim for an average ratio of 10-15: 1, meaning that every 10-15 pages of full testimony should be distilled down to at least one page of concise and easy-to-digest facts.
Depending on the complexity of the testimony, it can take about a full day’s work to summarize 100-200 pages of testimony, so it’s important to make sure you fully understand the process before beginning. Some mitigating factors that can lengthen or shorten the time it takes to prepare a summary are:
- How complicated the case is
- If it is given by a lay witness or an expert witness
- Which type of deposition summary you are preparing
- Experience and prior knowledge of the person preparing the summary
Types of Depositions
The first factor that will affect how you create the summary is the type of deposition. They can be given in several ways, such as:
Written depositions
This type of deposition, called a written interrogatory, consists of written questions presented to the witness by a lawyer. The witness then writes out answers to the questions, which form the basis of the deposition.
Oral depositions
Oral depositions can be more formal and have some rules about how many lawyers can ask questions and how relevant the questions are to the case. Usually, the answers will be transcribed by someone else who is present or may be recorded by an audio or video recorder.
Pre-recorded video depositions
This type of deposition is usually considered the most expedient and efficient, as the evidence can be provided to the lawyer without spending time writing or asking questions. The witness will receive questions and will record themselves answering them.
Deposition Summary Formats
Once you have this raw information, it will need to be condensed down into a form that can be easily read and understood by judges, juries, and anyone else involved with the case. There are three major types of deposition summaries you can choose from when you begin to prepare them:
Page-line
This type of deposition summary is the most common, but also the most time-consuming and expensive to produce. It presents information in an extremely easy-to-understand format, presented in the form of two numbers, such as “20:10”. This would indicate to anyone reading that the summarized fact they just read can be found on page 20, line 10 of the full deposition transcript.
Topic-by-topic
This type of deposition summary is broader and less precise than page-line summaries, but easier and less expensive to produce. It presents information through categories so that the reader can get a quick overview of the general topics and information contained within the full transcript.
Chronological
Chronological deposition summaries are used to establish timelines. This can be critical in some cases where the location of the witness or defendant at a certain time is under question.
Steps to Take
Now that you have a full understanding of the different types of deposition summaries and their various uses, let’s look at the steps to take when beginning to prepare your summary.
- Read through the transcript and gain a full understanding
- Annotate or highlight the most important parts that will be in the summary
- Decide the type of summary and begin writing it
These steps seem simple, but they can be quite time-consuming and complicated and it’s important to remember that the quality of work you do can have significant, real-life effects on another person’s life or freedom. Because of their importance in conveying facts, deposition summaries are considered one of the most valuable tools available to a legal team, especially in the discovery phase.
You must always remember to do certain things when preparing a summary:
- Include all relevant facts, especially when they help your case
- Do not alter or change any context
- Remain neutral and do not editorialize or dramatize
- Avoid any repetitive or duplicate answers
- Present the information in a standardized and easy to understand format
If you follow these steps, you will be well on your way to creating an accurate and useful deposition summary that could be the key to protecting an innocent person from conviction or convicting a criminal of their crimes when they would have otherwise gone free. If you need help with deposition summaries, contact a legal team today and they will be happy to help you with the process!