Civil litigations can be extremely long, tedious, and hard to track. There are too many elements, and this is one of the major challenges everyone faces when they handle any civil litigation such as medical malpractice, personal injury, accident, and so on.
How legal teams usually handle these is by ensuring that the documentation is perfect in prep so that when the actual trial or negotiation starts, they have everything under control. Since these litigations span a few months, documentation plays a vital role in keeping everyone on the same page.
Of all the documents that have a role in civil litigations, deposition summaries are easily the ones with the most significance. They prepare the legal team for what is to come in trials and also help them get the rest of the evidence, pretrial motions, and discoveries in place.
So, of course, having an accurate disposition summary in place is the first step to having successful litigation.
Importance of an accurate deposition summary
Before we go any further, let us define what deposition summaries are. Deposition summaries are an unbiased, condensed, and accurate synopsis of an interview or deposition between a member of the legal team and the client/eyewitness. We extract them from a recording or transcript of the deposition
Now, since these are summarized versions, accuracy becomes of paramount importance.
Why? Let us take a look at the benefits of having an accurate deposition summary :
- Timesaving
Depositions are usually long conversations. But not all of that is important or significant to the trial’s outcome. And, it can be an immense time saver if the deposition summary can cover all the important facts and not have the legal team go back to the deposition for any information.
- Avoid surprises
We mentioned the legal team uses deposition summaries to prepare pretrial motions, prep for trial cross-examination, discovery motions, etc. If the deposition summary is not accurate, then some rude surprises await the legal team during the trial or negotiations.
- Convenience
In the case of medical malpractice cases and personal injury litigations, the deposition will have a lot of medical and technical terms that may not be easy to comprehend for lawyers. But a deposition summary can break down the meanings along with the terms to make it easier for the legal team.
How to draft a deposition summary accurately
It is time to understand how you can ensure that the deposition summary is as accurate as it can be. While reading a huge transcript and summarizing it can sound daunting, it is possible with a few simple steps.
- Take time to understand the case. Since you are going to work on a summary of the case, it is important to know how the story plays out before you start working on the summary. The summary must be perfect in detailing the entire conversation and highlighting the important facts, so take time to understand the case.
- When you are perusing the deposition, make a note of the timelines and the significant portions as you go through. Then when you take a second look to summarize the deposition, it becomes easy to weave a story around the events.
- Decode all technical and medical terms before starting on the disposition summary to include the interpretations in the final document.
- Double-check to ensure you have omitted no facts, events around the litigation, details about both the parties, evidence, and so on. The chronology and information must be completely present with no exceptions.
- Work with a professional team if your legal team is overloaded or does not possess knowledge about the technical terms for best results. Delegating this to a team with expertise in deposition summaries will help you get a leg up on your opposition without spending a lot of time on paperwork.
And if you are looking for a team to help your law firm with deposition summaries, then connect with MedSum today!