Bilingual Deposition Team Makes It Happen in South America

Taking depositions in a foreign country like South America often can be a challenge.  Should you attend in person or by videoconference?  If you attend by videoconference, how will you get the exhibits in front of the witness?  Will you need an interpreter?  How difficult will it be to find a court reporter and videographer?  Are they bilingual?

These are just a few of the difficulties lawyers often confront when taking depositions outside the U.S.  With language barriers and time differences, simple things like making videoconference and transportation arrangements can be delayed or misunderstood, resulting in disappointment and/or lost opportunities.  That’s when the Planet Depos bilingual team members, including the court reporter, videographer and in-house staff, kick in and make it happen!

We recently covered a deposition in the fun and exciting City of Barranquilla, Colombia.  (Did you know that Shakira is from there?  In order to ensure a complete and accurate transcript and video record, the Planet Depos client opted to have the court reporter and videographer physically present with the foreign witness — a very smart decision!

With this in mind, a bilingual court reporter and videographer from the U.S. were assigned to cover this important engagement.  The Planet Depos bilingual back-office team arranged for the videoconference location and testing, as well as the hotel and transportation for the court reporter and videographer from the airport to the deposition location in downtown Barranquilla.  As one might expect, there was a need for last-minute printing services, and we were able to jump into action and ensure the documents were printed and available at the time of the deposition.

With the court reporter and the witness in the same location, the testimony was easily heard and understood, allowing for no interruptions in the flow of the deposition.  Likewise, having the videographer physically present with the witness also ensured high-definition video with clear audio to be used later for trial.

Another benefit of having the court reporter physically in the presence of the witness is that, at the direction of counsel, the exhibits were easily marked and passed to the witness during the deposition.  At the conclusion of the deposition, the court reporter retained custody of the originally marked exhibits, which were later distributed with the synchronized transcript and video.

Planet Depos is committed to making it happen anywhere in the world, whether in a skyscraper in Hong Kong or in the carnival city of Barranquilla, the place where spider monkeys take you dancing and never let you go.