Seattle Deposition Reporters

The deposition, sometimes appropriately referred to as an “examination before trial,” is an important part of the pretrial process, often called “discovery”. A deposition is very similar to a witness examination at trial. A deposition may last for less than one hour, or it may take several days or longer to complete. Unfortunately, only the lawyer taking the deposition can predict with any accuracy the length of the deposition, and that is not accounting for any cross-examination that may be conducted by other parties to the legal action. Therefore, it is not generally productive for the court reporter or anybody else in the room to inquire about the length of the deposition. Unforeseen circumstances may add hours to the even the most simple deposition.
If you are in a situation where your deposition is scheduled to be taken, if you have a responsible attorney, he or she will arrange to meet with you prior to the deposition in order to prepare you and explain the discovery process. This is an extremely valuable opportunity for you to review the facts and circumstances of the case with your attorney prior to being questioned by the opposing attorney. It is extremely important to schedule this meeting so that you can be best prepared for your deposition.
The most common reason for taking a deposition is to learn what the witness (you) knows or does not know about the facts involved in a particular case. One of the first people you will encounter in the deposition suite is the court reporter, who may seem enveloped by cords, computers and high-tech gadgets. Forget your impressions, from movie and television, of the elderly female court reporter submissively sitting in the corner, tapping on keys on a machine from which paper is being expelled at a snail’s pace.
As for making the record, the court reporter is the most important person in the room. Court reporters are officers of the court, and are responsible for making the record. If you speak distinctly and refrain from interrupting, you will have a new best friend in the form of the court reporter. The array of objects at the court reporter’s disposal includes a stenographic machine, laptop, and ten fingers, which operate at a rate of 225 to 280 words a minute. In this day and age, the most skilled court reporters are stenographically writing down what everybody is saying, while at the same time, their steno is being translated and comes through as English on their laptop. Attorneys in the room also have the opportunity to “hook up” to the court reporter’s equipment with their own laptops and watch the show in realtime.
The most common reason for taking a deposition is to learn what you, as a witness, know or do not know about the facts involved in a particular case. A deposition is not an attempt to intimidate or harass you. Generally, any party to a lawsuit has the right to take the deposition of another party or a witness with relevant information to the case. A deposition is often an attorney’s only opportunity to question another party directly prior to the trial in the case. The deposition, therefore, is among an attorney’s most valuable pre-trial tools, and the law, both Federal and State, prescribes certain rules for taking deposition testimony. The parties in a litigation are afforded an opportunity, through their attorneys, to question each other -- and sometimes persons who are not named as parties in the lawsuit -- about facts that might be relevant to the case. This discovery process helps the litigants prepare for possible motions, out-of-court settlements, or trial.
After the deposition, the court reporter will prepare the transcript of the proceedings during the deposition. All parties have the opportunity to order a copy on paper, or more often, via electronic means. As the witness, you will have the opportunity to review the record and make “corrections”, but most often the court reporter’s record will prevail. The original of the deposition is given to the party who noted and took the deposition, and they have the obligation to file and make the deposition publicly available, in accordance with the rules of the particular court or state in which the deposition was taken.
For your deposition, call Seattle Deposition Reporters now at 206.622.6661, the largest and most reliable court reporting service in the Pacific Northwest, serving Seattle and all major metropolitan areas since 1985.
Ask about our complimentary conference rooms for those folks coming to us for a deposition!
Website: www.seadep.com

Seattle Deposition Reporters is one of the largest court reporting firms. We offer complete legal services including videoconferencing & videotaped depositions.Looking for Seattle court reporters?For Seattle depositions visit our website today.