Without a doubt, deposition designations play a crucial role in modern litigation. When done well, they can serve as a foundation for your strategy. They make your pre-recorded depositions more concise, cohesive, and impactful. And they help you get to the heart of your matter. Unfortunately, the deposition designation process is often manual, time-consuming, and labor-intensive. In short? It’s a pain.
In this article, we’ll provide everything you need to know to master deposition designations. We’ll give an overview of the designation process and offer tips for overcoming common challenges. Next, we’ll share how legal case management software can help and how litigation teams can use AI for deposition designations. Finally, we’ll answers to common questions and offer additional resources including a couple of deposition designations examples and templates.
Want to explore more efficient approaches to deposition designations? Check out this webinar from ILTA: Efficient deposition designations for modern litigation teams.
The deposition designation process
- Deposition preparation: Before the deposition begins, teams organize relevant documents, identify key areas of testimony, and outline objectives to ensure focus during the deposition.
- Schedule and conduct depositions: Teams work with witnesses and court reporters to schedule depositions and conduct interviews, capturing testimony under oath.
- Receipt of deposition transcripts and recordings: After depositions, transcripts and recordings are delivered, providing the foundational materials for designations.
- Review and annotation of transcripts: Legal teams thoroughly review transcripts, highlighting and annotating relevant testimony based on case strategy.
- Select deposition designations: Teams identify specific pages and lines to designate, ensuring compliance with procedural rules and trial objectives.
- Final review and approval of designations: Designations are reviewed collaboratively for accuracy and strategic alignment before being finalized.
- Designation exchange with opposition: Designations are shared with opposing counsel as part of the pre-trial discovery process.
- Review of opposition’s designations: Teams analyze designations submitted by the opposition, preparing objections and counter-designations as necessary.
- Objections and counter-designations: Disputes over designations are addressed through objections or counter-designations, refining the testimony to be presented in court.
- Submission to court: Finalized designations, along with objections and counter-designations, are submitted to the court for approval.
Developing deposition designations is an iterative process, often requiring multiple reviews, revisions, and exchanges. Ideally, when this process concludes the mutually agreed upon deposition designations are filed with the court. However, if agreement cannot be reached, judicial intervention may be required.
Challenges and best practices for deposition designations
Meeting tight timelines
Depending on the deposition schedule, the number of depositions, and the length and complexity of the resulting transcripts, you might be facing a mountain of work and only a few weeks to get it all done.
While we know everyone wants to dig in and get to work right away, it’s important to remember the case might settle or be handled dispositively. So, it’s wise to leverage junior associates and paralegals for the first review. It grows their experience, and it doesn’t need to be perfect. Additionally, this approach improves efficiency and reduces costs for your client.
Another alternative is to leverage AI to assist with the initial transcript review. Leading law firms are increasingly using AI for this purpose. According to new research from Ari Kaplan Advisors reports, 90% of litigation leaders believe that AI will transform transcript management.
