ARCHIVE - How to Find Expert Depositions and Trial Transcripts

Find the full transcript of the webinar below:

Hi everyone, we’re going to get started. Thank you so much for joining us today. My name is Jessica, and I’m a Product Support Specialist here at Expert Institute, which means I’m essentially one of our resident experts here regarding our online portal, Expert iQ. But today, our Senior Implementation Specialist, Betty, will be demonstrating our new feature in Expert iQ—our Transcript Network. This webinar should only be about 15 minutes, and it will encompass a demo of this new service. Please save any questions for the end of the presentation. We’ll do a Q&A afterward. And without further ado, I’ll hand it over to Betty to show you our Transcript Network.

Awesome, really appreciate it, Jessica. Thank you all for taking the time. Like Jessica mentioned, this will be a quick webinar because this is a very user-friendly resource that we’ve rolled out. But if any of you have logged on to Expert iQ lately, which is our online portal, you might have seen on the left-hand side a brand new tab called our Transcript Network. This was just rolled out a couple of months ago. It’s our repository of deposition and trial transcripts that we’ve really just been building up over the past few years. And you all have access to this at no extra cost to your firm. So I’ll show you where you can find that in Expert iQ, how you can access those at no extra cost, and some of the different features that are within the Transcript Network as well.

Give-to-Get Model

So what I’m going to do actually is switch over to Expert iQ to show you all a live demo of the Transcript Network. We’ll break this up into three different parts. So, number one, I’ll show you all how to upload transcripts to our network. So our Transcript Network is a give-to-get model, meaning that if your firm has deposition or trial transcripts sitting in a folder somewhere, you can upload those to our network and that will accumulate credits for your firm. [Then, you’ll] be able to download transcripts that are in our repository. Not only can you upload those transcripts, but for those documents that your firm has either uploaded or downloaded, you can annotate those documents and collaborate firm-wide. So it’s a really nice way to consolidate all of those case documents in one place. And then lastly, we’re really able to find all the transcripts that we have access to and properly search for the transcripts that you’re looking for. I’ll show you how to do that as well.

But without further ado, I’ll go ahead and jump over into Expert iQ. I’ll walk you through the processes for each one of those. And as Jessica mentioned, there will definitely be time for questions at the end. Keep in mind, our Transcript Network is a plaintiff-only resource. So this is only available to firms who exclusively work on the plaintiff side of things, which I would say is about 95% of our client base. But just something to keep in mind—only plaintiffs’ firms will be able to access all of these various transcripts that I’m about to be showing you.

So you’ll see, the Transcript Network is located on the left-hand navigation menu in Expert iQ. Each of you should have access to Expert iQ. If you don’t, you can reach out to your Customer Success Manager to go ahead and get you set up with a login. This is where all of the work that we’ve ever done for your firm is housed, including Expert Searches, Strategic Research, Case Clinic reviews with our in-house doctors, and the newest feature, our Transcript Network, which again houses all of the transcripts that we have accumulated through firms like yourself [that] we work with under a partnership basis, as well as experts who we have referred in the past. They’re very forthcoming with providing those. Usually, they receive copies of transcripts after they testify. Those are also included in our Transcript Network. At this point, we’ve amassed thousands of transcripts, and this network is growing every day.

Uploading Transcripts

So if you click on the Transcript Network on the left-hand side, you’ll be able to see some of the documents that we have in our repository. You can also go ahead and start uploading transcripts to the network. I would recommend that being your very first step. As long as your firm has credits, you will be able to download transcripts at no extra cost. So with each upload that you send in, one unique transcript equals one unique credit. [Then], you can use that credit to download one document that we have in our repository. So a pretty simple system. But to go ahead and upload documents, you’ll just navigate to this upload button, which is on the right-hand side. It’s blue, and there’s just a box where you can drag and drop documents in. So let’s say I upload this deposition right here. Drag and drop in. There you go. It’s uploaded.

Redacting Sensitive Information

There are a couple of really helpful things that you can do. One is that if there is a document associated with one of your cases, and you don’t want any other attorneys who are part of this network to know the identity of your client, you can redact any plaintiff names. So I’ll just go ahead and type in ‘Smith’. That means that any mention of ‘Smith’ throughout this document will be redacted so that you can still contribute to this network without necessarily revealing information that you would like to keep confidential.

Access Level

Additionally, you can also indicate what access level you would like this particular document to be. There are two different options. One is to enter it into our network. That means that any other plaintiff attorneys who are part of the Transcript Network will be able to see this document and potentially download it. The other option is to mark it as private, which means that maybe this is a document that you don’t want to release into the network or you’re not obligated to under whatever governing rules there might be. So in that case, it can just be available only for your firm to see. You won’t gain a credit in that sense, so you won’t have credits to be able to apply to other transcripts in our network. But it is just a nice way for your firm to keep all those transcripts still in one place without them being kind of spread across the firm. So that is the benefit of marking it as private, although you’ll only get credit if it is marked as network access. So that’s really all you’ll do. You’ll press submit, and then your firm now has one credit as part of this network to be able to go ahead and download transcripts.

Finding the Credit Amount

Now, if you’re not sure, [whether] someone at my firm [has] already downloaded transcripts, and [you want to know] the status of how many credits my firm currently has, you can navigate to the Manage Uploads button, which is right next to the Upload button to see how many transcripts your firm has currently amassed. So it looks like this, right here. So you can see that there are currently two total uploads for your firm, two total credits essentially. You can also see each one of those documents that have ultimately been downloaded through those credits. So this is a really easy way to actually keep track of that.

Now for your firm’s actual documents that are in here, whether they be documents that you yourself have uploaded or documents that your firm has downloaded to the Transcript Network, those documents can actually be really easily annotated and collaborated on firm-wide. So just in this example, this is a deposition that your firm might have downloaded through the Transcript Network. It’s now available to your firm to be able to take a look at.

Highlighting and Annotating Documents

Not only will you be able to view the document, but you can also highlight it, annotate it, and anyone else at the firm will be able to see any of those notes that you’ve contributed. One thing that I can do is over here on the right-hand side under the magnifying glass, I can search for specific keywords. It will populate anytime an ‘Axle’ was mentioned in this particular document. So, [it’s a] really easy way just to quickly comb through that. And, I can also highlight. So if a particular passage seems interesting to me, I can go ahead and highlight that, and I can even put in a comment. So just inputting, right. This is interesting, go ahead and save that.

Collaborate Together

Others in your firm can actually reply to those particular comments. You can even search through the comment thread, try and find specific contributors at your firm. If your firm does work pretty collaboratively on cases, then this is just a great way to house all those transcripts in one place, and as you’re preparing for a deposition or trial, easily access those notes and point out things to each other all in one place within our Transcript Network.

Finding Transcripts

To actually find transcripts that you’re interested in downloading, really all you’ll do is you’ll navigate to the Transcript Network. The first thing that you’re going to see is a search bar. So all the transcripts that you might have access to are in here, and you can just search and see which ones are either related to your case, your expert and decide from there if you would like to apply a credit to download that. You can either search by any particular keyword. You can search by an expert name. You can search by case type. You can also apply a date range as well. Maybe you have an opposing expert who is a bit of a frequent flyer as an expert, and some of their depositions date back several decades, but you only want to see what depositions they have within the last five years or so.

So that’s something you can filter it down to as well. If you click on any one of these and decide whether or not you’d like to download them, you will receive sort of a preview option that will show you the first few pages. So you can decide from there and have a really informed decision as to whether or not this is in fact a transcript that you’d like to apply a credit to download.

Q&A

So that’s really the general walkthrough. What I think I wanted to do now is just open it up to questions. But before I do that, just wanted to remind you all that, again, as long as your firm has uploads and credits, this is at no extra cost to your firm. It’s just another nice resource to be able to go ahead and take a look at as you’re preparing for a deposition or trial. But if anyone has any questions at this time, Jessica or myself, we would be happy to answer.

If you want to direct your questions to the Q&A button at the bottom of the screen, we’ll be happy to answer them.

Q: What type of documents are accepted on the Transcript Network?

A: What we’re looking for specifically are transcripts of either experts or defendants. We don’t accept lay witness depositions. We’re also really focused on trial or deposition transcripts that are a bit more recent. So those dating back to roughly 2000s or so. So anything within that realm, we’re going to accept.

Q: Are all transcripts accessed firm-wide or does each individual user get credits to use?

A: They’re all accessed firm-wide. So, somebody else at your firm submits transcripts, then your entire firm has one credit to download. That might take a little bit more coordination. If somebody has their own transcripts, so they kind of manage and want to keep those credits to themselves, but it is firm- wide. If you click the Manage Uploads button, you can see how many credits your entire firm has.

Q: If you mark a deposition private, does it still show up on an Expert Search?

A: If you mark a deposition private, does it still show up in an expert search? Are you referring actually to Expert Radar, which would be the profiles on opposing experts?

Q: I understand anyone has access to the entire deposition, but would you see the deposition?

A: What you’ll see in the Transcript Network, if you type in an expert’s name, you’ll see the first few pages of that deposition. So you’d be able to properly determine is this something I would like to apply a credit to. You won’t be able to see the entire document. But that would be your view so that you could get a good idea of ‘Is this in fact my expert? Is this in fact related to my case? Would this in fact be helpful?’

Q: Is this only for experts enrolled with Expert Institute or any expert?

A: This is actually for any expert, and most people will utilize this for opposing experts as well, but doesn’t have to be anyone we’re affiliated with. We’ll really accept any deposition or trial transcript on any expert.

Q: What is the cost if you don’t have a credit? Can we see what is in the library without a credit?

A: If you don’t have a credit, the cost to download one full transcript will be $100. I believe one partial transcript would be $75. So there would still be the cost associated for transcripts. If you would like to purchase just the bundle, then you can get a discounted rate for that. But that would be the cost if you don’t have one credit through a transcript you’ve uploaded.

Q: Can you search terms and a transcript before downloading it, for example, if I wanted to see if the expert discussed colon cancer in the deposition?

A: Sure. So my knowledge is that you’d be able to keyword search through the entire document. But I don’t believe that a particular passage would pop up. But I do believe you’d be able to see if that keyword would appear. And then through the actual preview, you’d be able to see the full passages of the first few pages. I’ll have to double-check on that. But to my knowledge, yes, if you do search a keyword, you’ll at least be able to see if that does appear in the document and if so, how many times.

Q: If another firm uploaded the transcript for an expert I have a delivered radar profile on, will that transcript show up on my radar profile?

A: Yes, it absolutely will. For those of you who aren’t aware of Expert Radar, that’s more of a really in-depth, deep dive, and information gathering on your opposing experts. So let’s say another firm across the country happens to upload a transcript on Dr. Smith, and you’ve requested a radar profile on Dr. Smith. He’s your opposing expert this time around. We will automatically include that transcript in your radar profile. You won’t even need to go into the Transcript Network separately to see if we have anything on them because we’ll automatically include that as well as other transcripts that we might have found through other databases that we’re sourcing. So that is a really nice feature. On a radar profile, there is a complete section for depositions and transcripts, and those will populate into that section. Awesome.

Q: Is there a per search cost?

A: The per search costs or per transfer costs would really just be, again, $100 per download for one full transcript and $75 for a partial. So that would be the price per unless, again, you wanted to kind of purchase a bundle, in which case, we can work that out on a case-by-case basis. Hopefully the idea, though, is that this wouldn’t constitute any sort of costs at all, as long as your firm has transcripts to upload. And again, if you all are worried about keeping things anonymous with your particular clients, there will be that redaction option, and we can easily cross out any information that you would want hidden from the rest of the network.

A: I also do want to highlight what one of our team members Chelsea put in the chat. To be clear, transcripts are not only for experts but also for defendants. For example, a doctor who is not an expert can upload transcripts regarding them as well.

Yes, so a good point from Chelsea, she actually heads up the entire Transcript Network team. So experts, defendants, and we do accept deposition and trial transcripts as well. Anything you might have. If you’re not sure, I don’t think it hurts to go ahead and upload it. And then, we’ll go ahead and vet those various documents as they come through accordingly.

Thank you so much for joining us today. Hope you have a great rest of your day everyone. And we hope that this was informative and [that] you learned a lot about our transcript network.

We’ll be on the lookout for some of those uploads. Doesn’t hurt to go ahead and get some in and build up those credits. But thank you all for the time. Really appreciate it. Thank you, everybody.