How to Improve Online Depositions
Until a few years ago, online depositions happened on the outer margins of litigation practice. Most litigators preferred to take depositions in person. Occasionally, they’d take testimony by video conference when deposing minor witnesses or if logistical complications demanded it. But resorting to an online video platform for conducting a deposition was a last resort. […]
6 Must-Have Features of Court Reporting Software
Remote depositions require software to conduct, record, and transcribe each session. But not all court reporting software is created equal. And some lawyers still run significant practical and ethical risks by not using digital deposition solutions at all, opting instead to muddle through remote witness examinations by hosting them on generic video conferencing platforms. Savvy […]
What Does Court Reporting Look Like in 2023?
Court reporting has undergone a transformation in the past decade. The combined effects of a stenographer shortage, the pandemic, and—perhaps most importantly—remote deposition technological innovations, have re-laid the foundations of the industry and created new possibilities for how lawyers conduct discovery. In 2023, despite labor market headwinds, court reporting looks poised to deliver on the […]
Best Practices for Conducting Successful Remote Depositions: 5 Tips for Legal Professionals
When the pandemic banished everyone to their home offices, litigators turned to remote depositions to keep their cases moving. It wasn’t pretty at first. Technical glitches and logistical hurdles abounded. In those early days, you were lucky to cover half as much ground with a witness remotely as you could in person. But in time, […]
Will Remote Video Deposition Services Decrease the Value of the Text Transcript?
The text transcript has long been the evidentiary gold standard for recording a witness’s sworn testimony and proving it in court. Transcripts are as potent a piece of evidence today as they were one hundred years ago. And yet, the black-and-white certainty of a typewritten transcript also leaves something to be desired. It strips spoken […]
Maximizing Efficiency With Remote Deposition Services
Efficiency is the name of the game in oral discovery. As a litigator, you have a limited window to schedule and take depositions. And when you sit down with a deponent, you need to cover substantive ground quickly. Efficient deposition practice means getting as much information as possible while spending the minimum time and money […]
The Impact of Remote Legal Depositions on the Legal Industry
Like many industries, legal services changed dramatically during the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition to court sessions being held online rather than in-person, proceedings like legal depositions also had to be held virtually. While remote depositions have been used regularly by firms for over a decade—when circumstances made them a necessity—the pandemic forced law firms to […]
The History and Evolution of Remote Legal Depositions
Remote legal depositions are not something new that arrived only because we were dealing with a pandemic. In fact, remote depositions had been available for nearly a decade before COVID-19. The fact is that remote depositions were nearly always considered a tool of last resort rather than a preferred option. This changed dramatically during COVID-19. […]
The Impact of Court Reporter Shortages on the Legal System
The United States currently faces a severe shortage of traditional court reporters who transcribe testimony in-person. A decline in licensed court reporters that began a decade ago accelerated during the pandemic. Current estimates put the shortfall at around 9,000 fewer stenographers than courts and lawyers need. The dearth of court reporters has had a heavy […]
Best Practices for Conducting Remote Legal Depositions
Remote depositions have become a common feature of litigation in the past few years, particularly since the dawn of the Covid-19 pandemic. As lawyers have gained comfort and familiarity with the virtual deposition paradigm and the technological innovations that have made it possible, they’ve learned lessons and developed protocols that facilitate conducting oral discovery remotely. […]