Beware of the "Usual Stipulations"

Here in Northern California court reporters are always faced with lawyers from Southern California making a stipulation at the end of a deposition, relieving the court reporter of his or her obligations under the Code of Civil Procedure. 

Our normal procedure is to always follow the code, which means the witness has 30 days to read his or her counsel's copy instead of the original and send an errata sheet to the court reporter.  The original remains in our office for 30 days and after that, any corrections received are placed with the original, sealed, and sent to the noticing party for safekeeping until time of trial.  These procedures ensure the integrity of the original.

Click here for a thoughtful article by Steven D. Archer, a partner in the Los Angeles office of Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi LLP on what it means to make the "usual stipulations" in a deposition.