De Bene Esse Deposition Format

[Jennie Ann]

A court reporter did not show up for a video deposition, and the lawyers agreed to go forward with the de bene esse deposition anyway. The videographer was a notary and gave the oath to the witness.

Now they want a transcript. After a few phone calls between the videographer and a few court reporting companies in my area, it was referred to me. I was given the DVD and no notes.

After the first counsel examines the witness, asking him his credentials as a doctor, he states in colloquy that he wants to submit this witness as an expert. Opposing counsel wants to then ask a few questions, what I'm thinking is voir dire.

My confusion is this. If this was in court, the opposing counsel's questions would be considered "voir dire examination." A de bene esse deposition is supposed to be the expert's testimony outside of court but for court use later on, I think.

Do I just carry it as examination by counsel for the plaintiff and/or examination by counsel for the defendant? Am I supposed to insert "voir dire examination" when opposing counsel wants to see if this witness is truly qualified to be an expert?

What I am asking for is how to label the EXAMINATION BY lines. Should I use standard deposition format? Do I not use the term "VOIR DIRE" in the EXAMINATION BY lines?

[Judy]

"The court reporter didn't show up," my ass. How many times has a reporter just NOT shown up? I had a reporter get a flat on the freeway once and couldn't show up. I had a reporter forget that her machine was in her car that her sister borrowed and it started late. I've had ~somebody~ write down that the depo was supposed to start at 1:00 and it really started at 10:00 (that was either the atty's sec or the CR's scheduler's fault). I've had secretaries say, Oops, I forgot to schedule this, how soon can somebody be here? But the CR didn't show up? Bah, humbug.

But that wasn't your question, Jennie. And, sorry, I don't have an answer for you. I do everything under
-EXAMINATION- (centered, of course) with my everyday BY lines and Q&A and make life easy on myself.

[Jennie Ann]

LOL @ Judy. I was thinking the same thing, Judy, about the lack of a court reporter.

I haven't done legal stuff in YEARS. I am familiar with traditional deposition format, but I was not sure about this one because it sure does sound like voir dire examination to me.

I have never seen VOIR DIRE EXAMINATION in a deposition, though. However, it's been a long time since I've done anything like this. Thanks for the reply, Judy! :-)

[Judy]

I think they're lucky that you're helping them at all (considering one of the options that I didn't mention was they were just being CHEAP) and I wouldn't worry too much about the headings and just get the puppy out the door.

[Kyung]

Treat it like a deposition.

[Jennie Ann]

Out of sight and out of mind. Gone, gone, gone. The puppy is out the door. LOL

I was uncomfortable doing this job, as I don't do legal anymore. I must say, though, that the audio quality was excellent, and that was a plus. However, I did have one a phonetic parenthetical by a person's name that I could not find. Of course, the videographer didn't have a court reporting ear and ask for the spellings at the conclusion.

Also, there was simultaneous speaking several times. A competent court reporter would have told them to speak one at a time.

What took the longest amount of time for me was setting up the title page, appearances, and content page. I kept going back and forth on that contents page, trying to decide which style I like best. That's where having one format, like Califronia, works best, I think, eliminating questions on style and format.

I had never worked for this entity before, as they were a referral. I requested a credit card to guarantee payment, and they asked if they could give me a check. So, instead of charging a page rate, I charged a per-minute rate. This is where charging a per-minute rate can be a good thing, knowing how much the job is before you start.

I had forgotten how many pages Q and A can generate, and I think I didn't charge enough. In my area, most transcripts are 22 lines per page, unlike the California standard format. Usually, I get 50 pages per audio hour. This deposition was 55 minutes long, and I got 59 pages.

All in all, it was fun, but I think I kind of like my general transcription world better, though I was wondering the entire time I was typing if I could make more money scoping. ;-)

[Judy]

With the quality of your work and know-how, I bet you could make a killing scoping.