Perhaps you have been a paralegal for years, maybe decades. Or you are a first or second year associate who’s trying to get up to speed on a new case you’ve been assigned. But you’ve got an embarrassing little secret. You’ve never summarized a deposition transcript. And you have a pile of them in your inbox that need to be dealt with sooner rather than later. We in the legal profession love our billable hours, but there is no way you can justify spending 8-10 hours on a transcript that may only be 150 pages. You will surely get the attention of the partner managing your case, and not in a good way. So let’s review some pointers that will get you through this process in a timely manner.
1) Know the case facts
If you have access to the case documents, read the complaint and/or the discovery responses to get an idea of the allegations at issue. Make sure you know which party your firm is representing and which attorney is doing the questioning, your firm’s or the adverse party’s.
2) Know your audience
Once you know what the case is about, you can basically deduce what your side is looking for. If you are representing the Plaintiff in a motor vehicle accident for example, any testimony about who’s at fault is pertinent. You also need to find out what the attorney wants as far as style; does she want a page/line summary or a memo format? A few paragraphs summing up a 100-page transcript, or a painstakingly detailed thesis on every miniscule fact? And most importantly, always find out how much time she wants you to spend on the summary.
3) Watch your language
It goes without saying (but I’m going to say it anyway) that your spelling, grammar and punctuation have to be flawless. Most competent attorneys are sticklers for proper English, and for good reason- it can be a major factor in whether they win or lose their case. Use spell check and/or a platform like Grammarly or ProWritingAid. Proofread your summary at least twice, with a solid half hour in between to give you a fresh perspective for finding typos.
4) Know what to leave out
If you’ve done your research and have a decent overview of the case facts, you should be able to cull out the unnecessary testimony. Even if you are preparing an extremely detailed summary, there is so much superfluous testimony in depositions. No need to make note of arguing attorneys (what, attorneys argue?) or details that have nothing to do with the matter at hand.
5) Use as much verbatim testimony from the witness as possible
In law, more than most fields, words matter. If the witness says she thinks she came to a complete stop at the stop sign, and you note, “Witness says she came to a complete stop,” that’s not accurate.
Summarizing depositions, as is the case with many tasks in life, gets easier with repetition. Your first summary may take you many more hours than you feel you can bill for, but the more summaries you do, the easier they will get. I have always compared depo summaries to school book reports, and although you’re not going to find Spark Notes for the testimony you have to summarize, hopefully these tips will make things easier.
