What is a deposition?

A deposition is a procedure used in US-American procedural law to examine witnesses prior to the oral hearing of a trial. In Germany and other European countries, there is no comparable instrument. Lawyers for the parties to the proceedings conduct these witness examinations without the presence of a judge. The witness is questioned by the opposing party’s lawyer and confronted with documents from the so-called disclosure process. The witness is represented by a lawyer who has precisely defined and limited rights of intervention. The course of the hearing is recorded verbatim by a court reporter and later made available to the court. The witnesses are sworn in.

The aim of the hearing is to obtain statements, interpretations of content and, if necessary, concessions from witnesses for the benefit of the party conducting the deposition. The witnesses are put under considerable pressure verbally and through the manner in which they speak. One objective of the deposition is not only to obtain truthful statements, but also, if necessary, to involve the witness in contradictions in order to undermine their credibility. A deposition often lasts six to eight hours, but can also last several days.

The role of the interpreter

If witnesses do not have a sufficient command of English, an interpreter is required. Ms. Carola Wark was engaged for this purpose in projects that I managed. Ms. Wark translated the questions of the interrogating lawyers and the answers of the witnesses. Ms. Wark also acted as a check interpreter, i.e. she checked the translation work of an interpreter from the other side. In the case of so-called cross-examination during a deposition, the interpreters switch roles.

Ms. Wark had a very difficult role as interpreter during the depositions of the witnesses. She had to understand and translate the questions of the interrogating lawyer with all their nuances. The same applies to the witness’s statements in the opposite direction. The relationship between the questioning lawyer, witness and defending lawyer is characterized by considerable tension and requires the utmost concentration when interpreting. But the relationship between the interpreters can also become very tense if the frequency of corrections increases. Last but not least, the interpreter must have familiarized herself with the special technical terms of the respective industry for the deposition.

The interpreter also needs a relationship of trust with “her” witness, which she must build up in advance of the deposition. To do this, the interpreter must be able to pick up and process the witness’s linguistic style and be able to credibly convey their concerns correctly in English. As a rule, the witnesses are quite familiar with the language of the interrogation and, in the heat of the argument, tend to answer in the language of the interrogation themselves, not allowing their own interpreter to finish or even correcting them. This requires a high level of patience and an intensive study of the specialist vocabulary of the particular industry that is the subject of the proceedings. Finally, the interpreter is also responsible for agreeing rules of conduct for interpreting with the witness so that there is enough time for listening and interpreting. This requires a high degree of empathy.

Ms. Wark performed this role excellently in several depositions with my participation and coped very well with the heavy workload. In a subsequent cross-examination, she was even asked to interpret for witnesses on the other side, which is a great tribute to her professionalism.

Georg Leers

REINSURANCE RESEARCH