Deposition Summary
A deposition summary, also called a deposition digest, is a reduced, or digested, version of a deposition transcript. There are three goals when summarizing a transcript:
1. Relate relevant material
2. Don't alter the context of the material
3. Avoid editorializing within the summary
1. Relate relevant material
When deciding what information to impart to the attorney within the summary, ask yourself whether a specific piece of information is part of the overall picture of the litigation. Is it something that might affect an attorney’s decision on a specific matter? If yes, it is probably relevant and the paralegal should include the information in his or her summary.
2. Don't alter the context of the material
If a witness states "We killed them," that sounds like an admission to murder. But what if the question was "How did your football team play against the Raiders?" Obviously, the answer was taken out of context. While this is an exaggerated example, the paralegal should be careful to impart the spirit of the question (as well as the response of the witness) within the summary.
3. Avoid editorializing within the summary
It is difficult not to develop opinions and prejudices (either for or against) regarding a witness who has been deposed. But the paralegal needs to maintain a neutral attitude when reading the deposition and summarizing the material. Otherwise, an inaccurate reflection of the transcript may be imparted.
There are two ways to summarize a transcript.
1. Topical summary
2. Page-by-page summary
A topical summary excerpts a portion of the transcript that deals with one specific topic and summarizes that material. The portion being summarized may be just a couple of lines, or several pages. Example:
page 6, line 5-26 Deponent (Mr. Jones) only remembers shopping, getting in the passenger seat of the car prior to the accident and waking up in great pain in the hospital after the crash.
page 6, line 27- Mr. Jones says his wife was not on any medication at the time of the accident,
page 7, line 8 even though she had received a prescription that week for back pain.
A page-by-page summary simply digests each page individually. For example:
page 6 Mr. and Mrs. Jones went shopping at Yuckie’s Supermarket. Deponent (Mr. Jones) had a headache, asked wife to drive. While Deponent does not remember the accident itself, he does remember shopping, getting in the passenger seat prior to the accident, and after the crash waking up in great pain in the hospital. Deponent says his wife was not on medication
page 7 Mrs. Jones had received a prescription the week of the accident for back pain. To his knowledge, deponent was involved in one previous automobile accident. It occurred in 1991 or 1992. Mrs. Jones was driving a friend’s car in Washington DC and was hit by a bus in a tunnel. She was not ticketed and the bus driver was found to be at fault.
Whichever form of deposition summarizing a paralegal chooses, the goal is always consistent: provide the attorney with a more manageable means of accessing the deposition transcript without losing relevant information.