Karl M. Kindt III
314-308-7075
kkindt@earthlink.net
In preparing a digest of a deposition, which can then be attached to or associated with the deposition, nearly all legal professionals have at their fingertips, Word, Excel and OneNote. Each of these application have tools that, when used in conjunction with one another or other software programs or separately, can create dynamic digital digests that focus upon the testimony most relevant to the key elements of the case. In this workshop, I will demonstrate how to create a digest/summary of a transcript that links to the line/page numbers and hyperlinks to evidence and brings up to the screen other documents, photos, video and audio files. I will also discuss and explain the new so called A.I. software that might augment this digesting process, such as some online digesting sites and Adobe Acrobat's new A.I. digester.
The digest needs to be brief but succinct and dynamically related to the line/page numbers of the transcript and to other evidence in the case. The summary can be hyperlinked to the salient points of the deposition so that with one click, the person reading your digest can go immediately to that portion of the transcript itself. In this workshop, you will explore the best methodology for writing dynamic briefs, which will be a chronological synopsis of the witness testimony that can be hyperlinked and conjoined to other evidence in the case. Digests need to ignore the "objections" made by the attorneys during the deposition but sometimes a link to the objections from your brief can also be helpful to the reviewer of your brief. When a number of depositions are digested in a case, it is wise to use an Excel spreadsheet and/ OneNote to provide the reviewers a simple database of case evidence that also links to the digest. Sometimes the witness will refer to a photograph or object in testimony and creating digests that include links to these items can be critical for understanding the digest of the testimony.
During the workshop, you will learn how to use the tools of Word, Onenote and Excel to create powerfully dynamic summaries of depositions.