Preparing a Client's Text Messages Before a Deposition
Reviewed by Jacob Reed, founder of Verity ·
Short answer
Get the full export well before the deposition, not the client's favourite screenshots. Read both sides, starting with the client's own worst messages, because opposing counsel will. Prepare the client for the questions about the record itself: which phone, how it was saved, whether anything was deleted, who else had access. Build an index of the key exchanges by message number, so every quote can be checked against the full conversation.
A deposition is where a client first hears their own texts read back to them. It should not be a surprise.
Weeks before
- The full export from every app the parties used; see what to ask a client for.
- A numbered copy of the whole conversation, produced and kept the same way throughout.
- Gaps explained before anyone asks; see why an export can be missing messages.
Read the client's side first
The other side will quote the client's angriest, rudest and most careless messages. Find them first, put each in its context, and talk through what was happening that day. Verity's free preview has a "Your side" panel that runs the same wording and timing checks on the uploader's own messages, on screen only, which is a quick way for a client to see what a reader would.
Questions about the record itself
- Which phone and which app the messages are from, and since when.
- How the export was made, by whom and when.
- Whether anything was deleted, and if so what and why; see deleting texts during a case.
- Who else could get into the phone or the accounts.
- How the client knows a number belongs to the other party; see proving who sent a text.
An index by message number
List the key exchanges by number and date with a one-line note, so the client can find each one quickly and nobody argues about which message is meant. Verity reads the export in the browser, without uploading it, numbers every message in date order and flags gaps of seven days or more; its report prints each flagged message with its number and the messages around it.
For the hearing itself: making an exhibit list.
This is general information for legal professionals, not legal advice. Prepare witnesses within your jurisdiction's rules of professional conduct.
See the numbered exhibit on a sample
The numbered exhibit and the pattern report, built from a fictional conversation.