UTAH LITIGATION SUPPORT
USERS GROUP
August 16, 2007
AGENDA
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Overview
Court Reporting 101
LiveNote Demo
OVERVIEW
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Deposition: The taking and recording of testimony of a
witness under oath before a court reporter in a place
away from the courtroom before trial
OVERVIEW
"More than 90 percent of all civil cases settle. Therefore, a
deposition may wind up being the real 'trial' in a case.
If the opposing party makes a weak showing, he or she
may be more willing to settle."
-- Henry L. Hecht, U.C. Berkeley School of Law
OVERVIEW
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Whether or not to take a deposition, and whom to
depose, are important strategic decisions made by the
attorneys on the case
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Depositions are used to gather relevant facts from the
adverse party or from other third-party witnesses who
may have knowledge of the facts
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If the deponent appears as a witness and trial and
testifies differently from his/her deposition testimony, the
deposition can be used to impeach the witness
OVERVIEW
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Advantages of taking depositions
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Uncover evidence, new avenues to investigate
Freeze the witness’s story, obtain admissions
Learn the opposition’s factual and legal theories
Establish foundation for the admission of documents at trial
Observe demeanor and credibility of witnesses
Obtain testimony from witnesses who will not be available at trial
DEFINITIONS
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Court reporting: The verbatim shorthand reporting
method used primarily to record legal proceedings. The
information recorded is transcribed and turned into an
official transcript, and is considered a legal document
when completed by a “certified” court reporter.
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Court reporters: Court reporters play a critical role not
only in judicial proceedings, but also at every meeting
where the spoken word must be preserved as a written
transcript. They are responsible for ensuring a complete,
accurate, and secure legal record.
DEFINITIONS
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Realtime: “Happening right now, in present time. In a
deposition or trial setting, realtime programs are a
means of having the court reporter's notes made into
plain English just seconds after the reporter enters them
on the stenographic writer, and then broadcasting this
text to the attorneys' computers where it is captured by a
special program.”
DEFINITIONS
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Streaming: A technique for transferring data such that it
can be processed as a steady and continuous stream.
Video and audio streaming are of particular importance
in the context of depositions.
DEFINITIONS
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Synchronization or Synch’ing:
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Exhibit linking or synchronization: The process of providing
exhibit links that allow the reader to click the link in the text of the
transcript and access the referenced exhibit.
Video synchronization: The process of synchronizing the
encoded video file with the deposition transcript. Synchronizing a
video makes it easy to search and review transcript and
deposition video, and create video clips that contain the relevant
text.
TRANSCRIPT AND EVIDENCE MANAGEMENT
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Applying technology to assist in collecting, organizing, and analyzing records of testimony from
and for use in depositions, hearings, trials, and other litigation contexts
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Powerful searching functionality
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Within a single transcript, across multiple transcripts, across exhibits
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Search within easy-to-organize groups of transcripts
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Highlighted hits, hits within Q/A sets, etc.
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Saved searches
Easy-to-use, easy-to-customize issue codes, annotation features
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Use issue codes to eliminate or minimize necessity of summarizing transcripts
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Within a single transcript, across multiple transcripts, across exhibits
Reporting capability for variety of uses
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Witness files, issue files
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Annotation reports
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Condensed transcripts
Reduce reliance on paper copies, increase cost savings
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Minimize time spent locating, retrieving, re-filing transcripts and exhibits
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Reduced storage requirements
Hyperlink to other resources
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Concordance/Summation
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CaseSoft products
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Sanction/Trial Director
Optimize internet capabilities to access transcripts and evidence remotely
COURT REPORTING 101
PREPARING FOR THE DEPOSITION
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Give the court reporters as much advance notice as
possible
Provide a copy of the Notice – s/he’ll need the caption
and party information
A glossary of terms is always helpful, especially for
cases that involve a specialized vocabulary
If the deposition will be videotaped, special
arrangements need to be made well in advance of the
deposition date
SETTING UP AT THE DEPOSITION SITE
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Will need to arrive early to accomplish equipment setup
Internet access may be required
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Streaming technologies
Instant messaging capabilities with off-site participants
If the attorneys want to use realtime, they’ll need laptops
and cables
If they want to use any LiveNote features, they’ll need
the proper software installed on their laptops before the
deposition begins
VIDEOTAPED DEPOSITIONS
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Logistics
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Setup suggestions
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Space
Setup time
Specify format
Minimal background distractions (noise, backdrop, etc.)
Solid color clothing displays better than busy prints
Videography charges are separate (and in addition to) court
reporting fees
The video-transcript
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Strongly recommend synching at the time of transcript preparation
Usually provided to the attorneys on a dvd
POST-DEPOSITION ACTIVITIES
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Will the parties want “dirty disks” at the end of the
deposition day?
Preparation of the transcripts
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Transcription plus cleanup
Preparation of exhibits
Proper formatting of the electronic version of the transcript
Proper preparation of the paper versions
Witness review
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Usually have 30 days within which to review and advise the
reporter of changes
The attorneys usually prefer to be responsible for providing
copies to the witness
Reporter will prepare an errata sheet once changes are received
Thanks!
Diane Kent, court reporter
Lanette Shindurling, court reporter
CitiCourt LLC
www.citicourtreporting.com
Karen Greene, legal technology consultant
Baker Robbins & Company
kgreene@brco.com