In a recent webinar hosted with EDRM, Nextpoint brought together litigation attorneys and legal professionals to break down what actually goes into deposition prep. The discussion surfaced five deposition preparation strategies that consistently move the needle. Here are the key takeaways.
1. Start your prep before you have a date on the calendar
Deposition prep begins the moment you know one is coming. One of the first things to lock in is a standing order with a court reporting vendor so you consistently get the files you need, in the format you need them. This sounds like a small logistical detail, but it matters more than most people realize. If you ask for “the transcript,” you might get a PDF, a PTX, a TXT, or a four-page-per-sheet manuscript — and not all of those will play nicely with your litigation platform.
“If you say ‘give me the transcript,’ you might get a lot of different varieties because a lot of things can fit to that ask.” — Megan O’Leary, Senior Solutions Architect, Nextpoint
The PTX and TXT formats are your most versatile options. They’ll work across most platforms and give you the flexibility to sync with video and link exhibits later. If you can get a linked exhibit file (LEF) from your court reporter — which bundles the transcript with hyperlinked exhibits — even better. Being able to click directly from transcript text to the underlying exhibit while you’re reading is a big time-saver, especially during trial prep and designations.
2. Know your witness type and tailor your prep accordingly
Not all depositions are created equal, and your prep should reflect that. Are you taking the deposition or defending it? Is this a fact witness or an expert? The answer changes your entire approach.
For an expert deposition, you need a deep command of your expert’s report, the opposing expert’s report, and any rebuttal reports. Have real, substantive conversations with your expert — if there’s an expert in the case, there’s almost certainly a layer of complexity that requires it. Prepare your redirect in advance, because you already know what opposing counsel is likely to ask.
For a fact witness, you’re in information-gathering mode. Talk to your own witnesses, review all available discovery, and figure out what you actually need from this person. Unless you’re going against an expert, keeping your tone neutral tends to serve you well — discovery depositions are about collecting facts.
“These are discovery designations. I’m just trying to gather my facts. And if anything is a zinger, I want to save it for trial.” — Cristina DeLise, Of Counsel, Burns Charest LLP
Early on, build out a cast of characters: who is everyone, and how do they relate to each other? Once you understand the people, start building out the events and the timeline. A case is a living thing, and having that foundation in place makes everything downstream (depositions, motions, trial) sharper.
3. Prep your witness to listen, not just to answer
One of the most overlooked deposition preparation strategies involves how you coach your witness — not what to say, but how to listen.
Here’s a simple example. If someone asks “Do you have time?” The correct answer is “Yes.” Not the time itself, just yes. Most people instinctively over-answer, and in a deposition, that habit can create real problems.
The four acceptable answers are: yes, no, I don’t know, and I don’t remember. If your witness doesn’t know something, they shouldn’t guess. If they don’t remember, they shouldn’t pretend. Honesty and brevity go hand in hand here.
“Don’t coach your witness on what to say in their answer. Coach your witness on how to hear the question, understand what is being asked, and then all you need them to do is tell the truth.” — Cristina DeLise, Of Counsel, Burns Charest LLP
Coach your witness on the process: how to pause, how to make sure they understand the question, how to ask for clarification if they don’t. And don’t be afraid to go hard in prep sessions. If your mock questioning is tougher than anything opposing counsel throws at them, your witness walks into the real deposition having already survived worse. Many witnesses come out of prep sessions saying, “That wasn’t so bad.” That’s the goal.
A few other things worth covering: tell your witness to wear “church clothes” — not a three-piece suit, but something put together and appropriate. And remind them to keep their facial expressions neutral, no matter what question is being asked.
4. Video depositions aren’t optional anymore
Another critical deposition preparation strategy is treating video as a standard practice. A jury doesn’t want to sit through an attorney reading from a transcript. Seeing a witness on screen is more compelling, more human, and more persuasive. Body language, hesitation, and demeanor all come through in ways that text simply can’t capture.
“No jury in America wants to sit and listen to an attorney read a transcript. It makes it so much less boring and more interesting to be able to actually see the person.” — Julianna Gravois, Paralegal, Burns Charest LLP
For remote depositions, the standard should be that everyone is remote. If opposing counsel is in the same room as their client while you’re on a screen, that’s an uneven playing field, and you should push back on it.
If you are doing a remote deposition, take two seconds to look at what the camera is actually capturing. A cluttered background or a poorly lit room can undermine credible testimony before a single word is said. Once a deposition is recorded, you can’t re-do it.
Beyond trial, video clips are useful in mediation presentations, mock trials, focus groups, and even in preparing a witness for their direct exam — showing them clips of their own prior testimony is one of the most effective ways to help them see what needs to improve.
5. Use designations as a working tool
Deposition designations are iterative by nature: affirmative designations, objections, counter designations, objections to counters. It goes back and forth, and managing that process cleanly matters.
“The iterative nature of deposition designations cannot be understated.” — Cristina DeLise, Of Counsel, Burns Charest LLP
Designations are also more versatile than people often think. You don’t have to limit yourself to marking passages only for trial use. You can use them to flag anything worth revisiting — a key admission, a passage relevant to an upcoming expert deposition, something useful for a mock trial. Think of them as your notes on the transcript, organized in a way you can search and filter later.
When you’re ready to share designation reports with the court, a well-organized export that shows each side’s positions and objections in one document makes a judge’s job easier. Judges tend to notice these things. The ability to export clips as individual MP4 files or as a compiled video sequence also opens up real options for how you use that testimony downstream.
If you’re building designations for trial, wait until as late as reasonably possible. The story of a case evolves as litigation progresses, and you want to be working from the full picture.
The key takeaway
These deposition preparation strategies all point to the same truth: winning starts long before deposition day — the right file formats, the right vendor relationships, a witness who knows how to listen, video that’s ready to use, and designations that actually serve your case strategy.
If you can get the foundation right, everything that follows gets easier.
Want to see these strategies in action?
Watch the full Nextpoint Deposition Masterclass webinar to see a live walkthrough of deposition prep workflows, transcript management, video syncing, and designation tools inside the Nextpoint platform.
