The Rulebook

Case captions

List parties with commas, then “Plaintiff,” then parties again, mirroring the notice.

• Format the caption to mirror the notice of deposition.
• Each party name is followed by a comma; designations like “Plaintiff,” sit on their own line with a trailing comma.

Addresses

City and state/country are set off with commas; no comma before ZIP.

• Comma between city and state.
• No comma between state and ZIP.
• If the sentence continues after the ZIP, add a comma after the ZIP.

Dates

Set off the year with commas. No commas with “of” or European order.

• Month-Day-Year style: comma before and after the year mid-sentence.
• “22 July 1979” and “July 22 of 1978” take no commas.

Names & companies

Commas before suffixes/degrees (M.D., Jr., LLC, LP). No comma for Roman numerals.

• Use commas around degrees and suffixes: “Jane Doe, M.D., testified.”
• Roman numeral suffixes take no comma: “John Scribner Johnson III”.
• Always look up the official company name.

Lists / Oxford comma

Always use the Oxford comma in legal work.

• “red, white, and yellow” — comma before the final “and”.
• Don’t use commas when “and” is replacing them: “foot and your ankle and your knee.”

Direct address

A direct address ALWAYS needs a comma — set off the name/title of the person addressed.

• Use commas around the addressed name, wherever it falls in the sentence.
• Yes, sir, / No, ma’am, take commas.

Spellings

Surround spelled-out words with commas.

• Use hyphens between letters in the spelling, commas around the spelling block.

With quotations

Commas before opening and closing quotes when integrated into a sentence.

• Integrated quote: comma before the open quote and inside before the close quote.
• No comma for incomplete quotes or single quoted words like “must”.

Compound sentences

Comma before for/and/nor/but/or/yet/so only if a full clause follows.

• If multiple commas already appear, use a semicolon before the conjunction instead.
• Three independent clauses chained by “and”: usually no commas. Four → break into two sentences.

Introductory phrases & Yes/No

Comma after introductory clauses; comma after Yes/No when answering.

• After / although / as / because / if / since / when / while introduce a comma when fronted.
• Usually no comma when the clause comes at the end.
• Throw-away openers (Well, Oh, Now, Finally, First) get a comma. Strong expletives get a period.

Filler words & conjunctive adverbs

Surround non-essential / filler words and conjunctive adverbs with commas.

• Fillers: according, perhaps, indeed, apparently, obviously.
• Testimony throwaways: as you already know, you know, like, I mean, yeah.
• Conjunctive adverbs at the start (Otherwise, However, Therefore) take a comma after.
• “too” attracts a comma — and mid-sentence “too” or “though” is set off with commas on both sides.
• After the word “Now”, ALWAYS use a comma.

Confirming/tag clauses

Tag questions like “don’t you?” are preceded by a comma.

• Use comma before short tags. For longer/heavily punctuated sentences, use a semicolon.

Double adjectives

Two coordinate adjectives modifying one noun take a comma.

• Test: if you can swap the adjectives or insert “and,” use a comma.

Objections

Comma OK for short grounds; period for longer grounds.

• “Objection, irrelevant.” is fine.
• Longer grounds read better with a period: “Objection. States facts not in evidence.”

Nonessential appositives & adjective clauses

Set off nonessential elements that can be removed without breaking the sentence.

• Essential = no commas; Nonessential = commas.

Repeated words

Short repeats take commas; full repeated clauses take periods.

• “Yes, yes.” “No, no, no.” → commas.
• “I did. I did.” → periods.
• Optional comma in “Whatever it is is …”

Parallel sentences / omitted verbs

With a semicolon between parallel parts, a comma stands in for the repeated verb.

• Only used when the parts are joined by a semicolon.

Numbers/letters in a series

Comma after numbered items at the start, before them at the end.

• “one, he lied; two, she lied; and three, …”
• “He drove too fast, number one.”

Intro phrase + heavy punctuation

If a long sentence already has several commas, use a semicolon before the conjunction.

• Substitutes for what would otherwise be a fourth or fifth comma.

Compound sentences with many commas

Semicolon before the conjunction joining two clauses when the sentence has several commas.

• Optional if there are only one or two commas.

Tag clauses

Use a semicolon before “is that correct?” / “fair to say?” when what precedes is a full sentence.

• Use a comma instead if the first part is not a full sentence.
• A period may be used in very busy sentences.

Complex lists

Use semicolons between list items that themselves contain commas.

• Avoids ambiguity in long lists.

Conjunctive adverbs (renaming)

Semicolon + “that is,” / “namely,” / “notably,” + comma when an independent clause follows.

• Use a comma (not semicolon) when what follows is not independent.

Conjunctive adverbs linking clauses

Independent clause; however, independent clause.

• One-syllable adverbs like “thus” may omit the trailing comma.

Closely related clauses with omitted verbs

Semicolon between clauses where the verb is borrowed from the first half.

• A comma replaces the missing verb. Cannot use a period — the second half can’t stand alone.

“That”-clause lists

Long lists of “that you…” clauses often use semicolons for clarity.

• Commas are acceptable unless at least one clause itself contains a comma.

Introducing more information

Colon after general info to introduce specific, related info.

• No capital after colon if what follows isn’t a complete sentence (unless proper noun).
• Capital first letter if a complete sentence follows.
• Don’t use a colon if the lead-in isn’t set up grammatically (“my favorite foods are…”).

Time

Use colons in times: 3:15 p.m., 3:00.

• Military time: usually no colon (1440), unless seconds are included (14:40:22).

Words/phrases as words

Put the referenced word/phrase in quotes.

• Use double quotes around the cited word.

Reading from documents

Quote only language you can verify; otherwise capitalize presumed titles.

• Long quotes (~50+ words) may be indented and opened/closed once.

Quoting what was said

Quotes for exact repetition; no quotes when paraphrasing.

• If you can’t guarantee verbatim, paraphrase.

Quotes within quotes

Outer = double quotes; inner = single quotes.

• Reverse on subsequent nesting.

Quoted paragraphs

Open quotes each paragraph; close only at the end of the final paragraph.

• Signals continuous quoted material across paragraphs.

Interruptions inside quotes

Use commas and dashes to break out commentary between quoted segments.

• Reopen quotes after the interruption.

Misread/sloppy quotes

Use dashes for corrections; insert [as read] for misreads, don’t add missing words.

• Preserve the witness’s actual reading even when wrong.

Quoting prior Q&A transcripts

Use capital Q and A — letters only, not spelled-out words.

• Standard transcript convention.

Reading a deposition into the record

No quotes — bracket with parentheticals at start and end and use Q&A format.

• Parentheticals signal the read-in passage.

Slash usage

Slash means “one or the other or both”; also dates and fixed expressions.

• No spaces around the slash.

Reporter parentheticals

Multi-word parentheticals take a period inside; one-word parentheticals do not.

• Used for stage directions in legal transcripts.

Spellings

Letters in spellings separated by hyphens.

• Partial spelling starts with a hyphen: “-f-f-e”.
• Don’t hyphenate ZIP-code digits.

Compound words & adjectives

Many compounds are hyphenated; check Merriam-Webster.

• sister-in-law / sisters-in-law.
• stepbrother, stepsister, stepparent → no hyphen.

Fractions & compound numbers

Hyphenate spelled-out fractions and compound numbers.

• Mixed numbers in digits don’t get hyphens.

Letter/number combinations

Hyphenate most letter-number combos.

• Standard for designations and medical terms.

Adjectives, measurements, ages, dollars

Hyphenate when number + word together modify a noun.

• Drop the hyphen when not directly modifying a noun.

Prefixes

Many prefix words take hyphens — verify spelling.

• Some prefixes are closed (preexisting). Check the dictionary.

Ratios

Hyphen and sometimes “to”.

• Style varies by source.

Politicians

Hyphenate -elect and ex- titles.

• Standard political-title convention.

Suffixes

Some suffixes take hyphens (e.g., -wise).

• Check the dictionary.

Multiple compound adjectives

Repeat the first part with a trailing hyphen.

• Suspended hyphen pattern.

Guttural utterances

uh-huh = yes; huh-uh = no.

• Don’t add explanatory “positive”/“negative.”

Singular possessive

’s after singular nouns, including those ending in s.

• Style varies for singular names ending in s.

Plural possessive

Plural ending in s → apostrophe only; irregular plurals → ’s.

• Apply the apostrophe to the end of the full compound.

Organizations

Use the official spelling — many org names omit apostrophes.

• Verify the trademark/branding.

Contractions & abbreviated verbs

Standard contractions; ’s for “is”; abbreviated verbs (ref’d, stip’d, OD’d).

• Apostrophe stands in for omitted letters.

Decades

’90s or 1990s — leading apostrophe only, never trailing.

• No apostrophe before the s in the decade form.

Time / worth expressions

Apostrophe shows value of time.

• Plural takes apostrophe after the s; singular before.

End of statements

Periods for finished statements and polite requests phrased as questions.

• “Could you state your name for the record.” → period.

With quotation marks

Periods go inside the closing quotation mark.

• American style.

In parentheticals

Period inside parens for multi-word; none for one-word.

Initials and abbreviations

Periods with initials, a.m./p.m., Jr., M.D., Inc.

• No double period if abbreviation ends the sentence.
• State abbreviations (GA, MI) and most company types (LLC) usually no periods.

“Okay,” “All right,” etc.

Short throw-away responses take periods.

End of questions

Question marks at the end of any question, including ones embedded in an answer.

• Even mid-answer rhetorical questions take a question mark.

With quotation marks

Inside if the quoted material is the question; outside if the whole sentence is.

Within dashes

For self-interrupted questions mid-sentence, place the “?” inside the dashes.

• Don’t use this construction at the end of a sentence.

Interruptions

Two hyphens with spaces on both sides (--) form a dash.

• Use for self-interruptions and cross-speaker interruptions (“excuse me--”).
• A dash cannot be broken up across lines and cannot start a sentence.
• Don’t start a new line with a dash — pull a word down.

Stutters & mistaken words

Use a dash for stutters, complete interruptions, and mistaken/repeated words.

• Edit out most single-word stutters unless reflecting a speech disorder.
• Reduce three-peats; double stutters optional.
• For mistaken words, SHOW the dash between the wrong and corrected word: site—side.

False starts

Keep false starts where the speaker changes direction.

With quotation marks

Dashes go outside the quotes unless part of the quoted material.

• Treat as punctuation belonging to the carrying sentence.

Mid-sentence questions

Surround mid-sentence tag questions with dashes; keep their question marks.

• If the inserted bit isn’t a question, surround it with commas instead.

Trailing off

Three periods when a speaker trails off (not interrupted).

• Often after “so” or “but” when they don’t finish the thought.

Omitted words in a quote

Ellipses inside quotes show omitted portions.

• Mark every omission.

The Court

“The Court” is capitalized most of the time.

• Refers to the judge or the court as an institution.

The State

Capitalize “State” when personified (doing an action).

Titles

Titles without a last name are NOT capitalized.

• Capitalize only when attached to a proper name.

Noun + numeral

Capitalize the noun when it’s paired with a numeral (Count 1, Exhibit 4).

• Exception: page, line, and paragraph stay lowercase (page 3, line 12, paragraph 2).

Consistency

Capitalize consistently throughout the transcript.

• Pick a treatment for each term and keep it the same.

Starting with “And” / “But”

“And” or “But” CAN start a sentence — leave them.

• Common in spoken testimony; preserve the speaker’s phrasing.

Checking “and”

When you see “and,” check whether BOTH sides are complete standalone sentences.

• Both sides complete → comma before “and” (compound sentence, Rule 1.9).
• Second side not a full clause → no comma.

No partial words

Do not leave a partial word in the transcript.

• Either finish it with a dash for the cut-off or drop it per stutter rules.

Leave mistaken words in

Leave mistaken words in the transcript — don’t silently correct.

• Use a dash for the correction (site—side, Rule 11.2).

Ignore “um,” “hmm”

Ignore filler sounds like “um” and “hmm.”

• These are not transcribed unless meaningful.

Ages are numerical

Write ages as numerals.

• Spell out ONLY if the age starts the sentence: “Thirty-two years old, she …”.

Numbers at sentence start

Spell out any number that starts a sentence.

Noun + numeral

Capitalize the noun when paired with a numeral (Count 3, Exhibit 4).

• Exception: page, line, paragraph stay lowercase.

Consistent format within a sentence

Within the same sentence, use the same number format (all numerals or all spelled out).

Dates are numerical

Dates must be written numerically.

Dollar signs

If the speaker doesn’t say “dollar(s),” do NOT add a $ sign.

“$30-odd”

“$30-odd” is correct (hyphenated).

Shortened years

Use a leading apostrophe for a shortened year: ’23.

Watch-outs

“On to” (two words), not “onto.” Distinguish “sometime” vs. “some time.”

Semicolon as a check

Use a semicolon to confirm both sides are independent clauses.

• If either side can’t stand alone as a sentence, a semicolon is wrong.

Two spaces after a colon

Per our formatting rules, put two spaces after a colon.

“This” in quotes when referenced as a word

Put “this” in quotation marks when referring to it AS a word.

Byline after colloquy

Always add the byline when coming out of colloquy.

• Re-identifies the speaker resuming Q&A.