Feature Article: Deposition Transcript Management Technology Provides Unprecedented Levels of Efficiency
	Litigation Minute: Angry Times Necessitate Anger Management in the Courtroom
	News & Events

Feature Article: Deposition Transcript Management Technology Provides Unprecedented Levels of Efficiency

Time is of the utmost importance to litigators when it comes to deposition transcript review. A careful review of witness testimony is vital to the early development of a well-informed case strategy. That being said, the effort it takes to review deposition transcripts can be enormously time-consuming and expensive. Fortunately, recent advances in deposition transcript management technology present the potential to make transcript review more efficient and cost-effective than ever before.

The Evolution of Deposition Transcript Management Tools
The "old school" method of reviewing transcripts is the paper method, whereby attorneys mark up hard-copy transcripts with pens, highlighters and sticky notes. Although this method may feel comfortably familiar to more tenured attorneys, its inherent limitations include: the inability to have trial team members review a transcript they are not physically holding, difficulty deciphering handwritten notes, inconsistency of issue designations through a deposition or set of depositions, and the inability to cross-reference multiple documents for common occurrences.

Litigators have long agonized over transcript review woes, and more progressive attorneys have turned to technology to remedy this malady. The earliest technological solution was offered by court reporters, providing searchable deposition transcripts to attorneys on CDs or DVDs. Next, about 10 years ago, local software programs emerged that allow reviewers to manage their depositions electronically rather than on paper. These programs are installed locally on individual computers, and deposition transcripts are uploaded and stored on a local server. The programs typically allow users to search, highlight and annotate text to one degree or another, depending on their sophistication.

Web-based deposition transcript review solutions (such as Ontrack^® Prepview^™ document transcript manager) are the latest evolutionary breakthrough in transcript management. These tools allow reviewers to log on from any computer with Internet access to personally upload, classify, review and annotate deposition transcripts without relying on someone from IT or litigation support to upload the documents. More importantly, the entire trial team can easily access the transcripts, allowing for attorneys with the most expertise in a given matter to conduct the review irrespective of their geographic location; any annotations made to a transcript will show up in virtual real-time to any other person viewing the document. Web-based tools provide an efficient and organized method to identify case issues and share work product among attorneys.

Deposition Transcript Management Features
The sophistication of the features provided within deposition transcript management tools varies drastically between tools. The following are several important capabilities that counsel should consider in light of their specific case when selecting a document transcript management tool:

• Advanced Searching Across Multiple Deponents: The ability to search across multiple transcripts for common themes is often essential to understanding a case and developing a litigation strategy. For example, in a case with 250 depositions, it is unlikely that any reviewer would recognize that Deponent 56 and Deponent 198 provided different accounts of the same event unless they searched across all available transcripts for reference to that event. Note that a Web-based tool is necessary to search across multiple deponents if the deposition transcripts are not all stored on the same server.
• Exhibit Linking: Exhibit linking allows an exhibit introduced during a deposition to be retrieved by hyperlink in the deposition transcript at the point it was introduced, allowing a reviewing attorney to quickly and easily understand the exhibit in context.
• Custom Designations, Annotations & Reporting: Trial teams should insist on a document transcript management tool that allows them to tailor the issue designations, annotation options and reporting to their case. Another important consideration is that any reports generated with the transcript can be transported easily into a trial presentation system for use in the courtroom.
• Video Synchronization: Video synchronization is the ability to search transcripts and immediately display and listen to the corresponding streaming video of the deposition. The transcript text will flow along with the video as it plays. This technology can be crucial to understanding deponents' testimony, as the spoken word often conveys a completely different meaning from the written word. For instance, a deponent statement in which a gentleman says he would "never discriminate against someone because they are female" may appear benign on paper, but it may be incriminating on video if it is said sarcastically or followed by a sneer. The spoken word during a deposition may also occasionally be used to impeach a witness.
  
  Moreover, video depositions can be used by experienced trial attorneys or jury consultants as witness preparation tools. Witnesses will benefit from being shown what mannerisms they had during the deposition transcript that should or should not be used during live trial testimony in front of an impressionable jury. Last, video synchronization can be used as a trial planning tool for cases in which video depositions will be shown at trial. Trial judges often limit the time for showing video depositions. Advanced deposition transcript management tools with video synchronization allow a reviewer to select desired text throughout a deposition transcript and see the total corresponding amount of video time the text represents.

Trial attorneys today are under enormous pressure to maximize the likelihood of a successful litigation outcome while minimizing costs for cash-conscious clients. Deposition transcript management tools have proven to increase efficiency and can result in enormous cost savings by minimizing the amount of time spent in transcript review while gaining a better understanding of the case – and thus a decisive advantage.

Special thanks to Brian McDonald, Kroll Ontrack/TrialGraphix director of online solutions, trial services, for his contribution in writing this article. He can be reached for question or comment at bmcdonald@trialgraphix.com for questions or comments.

Litigation Minute: Angry Times Necessitate Anger Management in the Courtroom

Americans—potential jurors—are angry. They are angry, largely, at corporate America for its perceived greed, commonly believed to be a contributing factor to the economic downturn. Angry jurors are not dispassionately dispensing justice; rather, studies have shown they are more likely than their dispassionate counterparts to award high compensatory and punitive damages against corporations.

Trial attorneys who defend businesses need to come into the courtroom with an anger management strategy. The following are recommended strategies to mitigate the damages caused by juror anger:

• Keep Angry Jurors Out of the Jury Box. The best solution – eliminate angry jurors during voir dire. The traditional assumption that white-collar workers will be friendlier to corporate America than blue-collar workers may be inaccurate in today's emotional climate. White-collar workers may be angry because their retirement savings have diminished with the stock market decline. A further danger is that an angry white-collar worker with business experience may be a powerful persuasive influence against the corporate defendant in jury deliberations.
• Watch Your Demeanor. Attorneys who are overly aggressive or hostile to opposing counsel or party can fuel juror anger. While counsel may express appropriate sympathy to a sympathetic plaintiff, they should be careful that their conduct does not convey their client has done anything wrong to warrant an apology. Counsel should maintain a polite and respectful demeanor, traits strongly associated with professionalism.
• Show Reasonableness of Business' Conduct. Show, don't tell, that your client behaved reasonably. Often, a successful strategy is to describe the exact actions taken by a corporation to meet or exceed an industry standard. Jurors with limited business experience are often impressed with the thoroughness of complex business processes and precautions.
• Carefully Argue Contributory Negligence. Showing that the plaintiff was contributorily negligent is a powerful legal argument, but it is only decisive if the jury buys that the plaintiff did something wrong. A contributory negligence defense can backfire if the jury feels that you are attacking the victim. The best way to present a contributory negligence case is to carefully show the jury that the plaintiff acted in ways that the jurors would not.

Anger is a powerful emotional driver. Trial attorneys who follow the strategies outlined above can direct juror anger down a path that does the least possible damage for their client, rather than allowing the anger to chart its own collision course.

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Ontrack Inview Analysis Module Further Streamlines the E-Discovery Process
The Ontrack^® Inview^™ Analysis Module by Kroll Ontrack is an early case assessment tool that helps legal teams streamline e-discovery by providing early visibility into case data before processing and review begins. Use the Ontrack Inview Analysis Module to investigate your data using concept searching, topic grouping, and additional advanced visualization features; identify potential custodians; and decrease the size of your document set by including only the most relevant documents. This service will help you gain control over the e-discovery process and significantly reduce the time and expense associated with e-discovery and litigation. For more information, please visit www.krollontrack.com/ontrack-inview-analysis-module/.

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This newsletter was written by Meridith Socha and Kelly Kubacki, Kroll Ontrack Law Clerks, with assistance from Regina Jytyla, Kroll Ontrack Managing Staff Attorney. Ms. Socha can be contacted by writing to msocha@krollontrack.com.

For more information about electronic discovery and computer forensics services, contact Kroll Ontrack at 800 347 6105 or visit www.krollontrack.com.