Summary Deposition Services: How They Work

Lawyers and paralegals both rely on providers that offer summary services for depositions. A summary deposition is an important legal tool, as it allows litigators to highlight the key points of witness testimonies, which helps them keep on track when presenting a legal case.

How Summary Depositions Are Used

If you have not outsourced the work before, you might wonder how the process works. Summary deposition services allow you to take a deposition transcript and condense it so you can follow the key points of a deposition. This allows lawyers to cross-examine witnesses and support their arguments during a legal trial and during discovery.

Usually, a company that offers deposition summaries also summarizes trials and hearings, and will also help with the discovery process. The idea of the summaries is to capture the testimony precisely and pare down the transcripts so the main highlights are easily followed. One page of a summary equals about 10 pages of testimony.

Summary Formats

You’re also able to choose the type of format you’d like. While the page and line format is used the most often, you can also outline the content issue by issue, or chronologically, depending on the type of case.

Other Services

Summarizers of content can also provide help with special interrogatories, form interrogatories, contention discovery, supplemental interrogatory material or requests for the production of documents. Therefore, you can go to one outsource to take care of all your summarization and discovery needs.

What to Look For In a Provider

When you’re seeking legal summarization and discovery services, work with a third-party provider that offers safe electronic deliveries, years of trial-preparation experience, and has been in business for over ten years. They should also be available 24/7 and have the capability of handling thousands of transcript pages at one time.

Your summary services should be HIPPA compliant, high quality, and dependable. Summarizers should have the know-how to condense the material in a concise, clear, and easy-to-understand format.

Deciding on a Summary Format

When setting up summary services, think about the type of summary you need. While a page and line summary is more involved and costs more money, it also can be easily referenced and will help you with various legal scenarios.

If you’re trying to figure out when a crime happened or are defending a client that has been accused of a time-related offense,, you may want to narrow down the material by a timeline.

Some summaries go over the incidents in a case on an issue-by-issue basis. This type of summary is helpful if you’re defending a person in an employment discrimination or sexual harassment case.

Final Thoughts on Choosing a Provider

As you can see, it helps to work with a summary deposition service that understands the full scope of gathering and condensing evidentiary materials. Use the above tips to help you make up your mind.