TranscriptionliveA deposition can be defined as evidence that has been given under oath or recorded, so that it will be used in court at a later date. In the United States, they are normally given outside the court under well defined circumstances and they can be recognized when the law is dealing with criminal cases. They are usually part and parcel of the entire process. Legal transcriptions of the deposition summaries are usually done by professional transcriptionists who listen to the video or taped recordings as well as any dictations that are made by the lawyers.
Before the litigants or both parties face trial, preparation and collection of vital and relevant information has to be done from each other in a process that is referred to as e-discovery. Depositions normally become very important during the litigation process for the lawyers or attorneys.
There are different formats of depositions that are normally sent in for transcription such as:
- Customized depositions
- Topic summary deposition
- Page by page deposition
- Chart summary deposition
Each of the different formats or styles has their own advantages. For instance, the chart type normally has the essence of the content as it is presented in a continuous manner. The topic and summary helps the reader to identify the subject matter quickly.
There are a number of litigation support companies that provide court reporting and deposition services through various state of the art technologies. Quick transcription work and real time court reporting that has very minimal turnabout time can help to ensure that the deposition transcripts are made available within a very short period of time. In the US different cities and states normally have differing practices when it comes to the processes that are used to have the transcripts produced.
When there are no witnesses at trial, it may require that depositions or video recordings be taken. The attorney is responsible for ordering the deposition and he or she normally starts by questioning the deponent. A subpoena is used to notify the deponent. A verbatim stenographic has to be made by the court reporter to record everything that will be said at the deposition. This process is usually called direct examination. There are times when the legal deposition transcripts can be used to gather enough evidence that can be used to make a settlement outside the courts. This implies that they normally have very important information that can be used to land at important decisions. More on deposition transcription
