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Exhibit Stipulation at Depositions

The following is a handy stipulation to have on hand at depositions. It solves a common problem which can be created by the standard method the rules of practice provide for the originals of exhibits used at depositions (i.e., the court reporter or other designated repository for deposition exhibits is by rule to keep them or seal them with the original transcript.). The standard rule provision simply doesn't work well much of the time. For example you may want to keep the original of your exhibit for use in other depositions or for trial preparation,. Or perhaps the problem is simply that an exhibit is huge and the court reporter or the attorney would have a difficult time in sealing the original exhibit in the deposition. Or perhaps all attorneys have already been furnished with copies and don't want the expense or bulk of getting more exhibits.

In these situations, use such portions of the following stipulation as are needed. Many attorneys keep something like this in their deposition notebook and read into the deposition record the following as an oral stipulation by the attorneys at the deposition.

It is stipulated by the attorneys for the parties:

that the originals of any deposition exhibit will be kept by the attorney who brought it to the deposition;
that as to any deposition exhibit which is kept by the attorney who brought it to the deposition, the court reporter will only keep a copy of the exhibit to go with the original deposition transcript;
that the attorney will keep any original exhibit to the time of trial and make it available at trial, and at reasonable times before trial, for inspection or copying;
that the attorneys present at this deposition either have copies of the exhibits or will make their own arrangements with the court reporter or the custodian attorney for copies.

The federal rules (and most state rules) have shortened the list of objections to testimony that can validly be made by an attorney at a deposition.

Before you go to a deposition, you should have a one page checklist of the objections that can or cannot be validly made at a deposition. One page is all it should be if you really want to use it fast! Read it over before a deposition to refresh you memory. Put the one page in your notebook you take to the deposition.