Who needs a deposition summary?

One of the most important parts of a court case, deposition is vital to the discovery process as it puts forward unknown facts and helps lawyers to get to the key issues in the case.

Depositions allow both parties to see the case from the other’s angle. However, a legal deposition can be hours and hundreds of pages long. To save time and to boil a deposition down to its key elements, a deposition summary is needed.

If you have heard that you may need to participate in a deposition summary, you probably have some questions about it. Below are key things to know:

First, a deposition summary is the most concise form of a deposition transcript, which is intended to help a busy attorney or law firm distill lengthy testimonies into a format that is easy to read and digest. The deposition summary offers a precise overview of the full transcript and highlights key points in the deposition by line and page.

Deposition summaries are beneficial for witnesses during a trial. They can refresh the witness’s memory, or create a reference point during a key part of the testimony. The ability to pinpoint specific points that are vital to an argument can reinforce the position of the attorney, which can make the evidence or testimony more credible.

A deposition summary is helpful for pre-trial preparation for both attorneys and clients. When getting ready for a trial, prep time is essential to ensure the case is in order. Summaries reduce huge piles of paperwork to review. This makes prepping the case faster and more efficient.

A deposition summary also is beneficial to the client because it saves him or her money. Attorney fees are billed by the hour. Saving time by using summaries can save a lot of money for the client and also gives the attorney time to focus on vital parts of the case.

The summary is often useful in technical testimony, which can be beneficial for attorneys, clients, and the jury. They make it easier to understand complex, technical testimony in personal injury or workers’ comp cases. The easier it is for the layman to understand testimony, the better it is for the case as a whole.

It is easy to see how important a deposition summary can be to a case. If you participate in a deposition, you will probably have access to the summary and can see how helpful it is.