Summarizing Deposition Transcripts with Copilot: Save Time, Stay Accurate
- Aug 25
- 3 min read
Updated: 3 days ago
Streamline transcript reviews
Download the free PDF reference guide at the end of this post.
Legal professionals—especially paralegals who bill by the hour—know the drill: reviewing a single deposition transcript can take hours, even days. It’s tedious but necessary work, and yet it’s often the first thing attorneys or clients try to cut from the budget. For defense-side paralegals, meeting billable quotas while balancing heavy caseloads can feel like an impossible race.
What if you could automate the first pass?
With Microsoft Copilot, you can.
This post kicks off my 7-part blog series: “Powerful Ways Law Firms Can Use Microsoft Copilot—Responsibly.” And we’re starting with one of the most practical use cases in litigation: summarizing and analyzing deposition transcripts stored in OneDrive or SharePoint.
What Copilot Can Do
Microsoft Copilot can help you:
Summarize long transcripts quickly
Extract testimony relevant to specific legal issues (e.g., damages, liability, timeline)
Present the results in a clean, searchable table
Save time and reduce cognitive overload for your legal team
Whether you're prepping for depositions, mediation, or trial, Copilot gives you a faster way to locate what matters—without skipping the details.
Copilot in Action: Summarizing Deposition Transcripts
There are two ways to run the prompt:
✅ Option 1: SharePoint Copilot Agent
If your firm has Microsoft 365 Copilot and a SharePoint Agent scoped to a matter site or document library, you can ask the agent directly to summarize the PDF—no need to open or convert the file to Word.
✅ Option 2: Word Online via OneDrive
If you're not using a SharePoint agent, open the OCR-enabled PDF in Word Online. It will convert to editable text, where Copilot can run the prompt directly inside the document.
💡 Try This Prompt:
“Summarize the key testimony in this deposition transcript and extract all references to [insert topic, e.g., financial damages, timeline of events, medical treatment, etc.]. Present the output in a table format with the following columns: Page, Line, Testimony, Objections (if noted), and Notes. Be as concise as possible while preserving key context from the testimony.”
👉 Pro Tips for Input:
Upload or link the clean transcript text (PDF, DOCX, or pasted content into Word).
Make sure the document formatting is clean (e.g., page and line numbers are intact and easy to parse).
Save the transcript with date/time metadata: YYYYMMDD-FileName.pdf.
Example of What You’ll Get Back:
Page | Line | Testimony | Objections | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
32 | 12–22 | “The plaintiff stated she first noticed pain after the second injection…” | None | Describes onset of symptoms |
47 | 6–10 | “Dr. Smith acknowledged he did not review the full MRI report before making a diagnosis.” | Relevance | Potential credibility issue |
Ethical Tip: Don’t Skip the Human Review
Copilot is smart—but it's not a lawyer. Use it to jumpstart your review, not to replace your judgment. Always verify the output, compare against the original transcript, and add your notes and nuance before relying on the summary in a legal document. AI can miss nuance.
Download the PDF Reference Guide
I’ve created a downloadable PDF reference guide that includes:
A plug-and-play prompt template for summarizing key testimony.
Real-world tips on using files in PDF, ASCII, PTX, and E-Transcript formats.
Two access methods: SharePoint Copilot Agents or Word Online via OneDrive.
A sample output table for context.
An ethical reminder to verify, refine, and supervise every result.
This downloadable PDF is yours to use, print, and share with your team.👇
💼 Perfect for litigation support staff building more efficient workflows with Microsoft 365.
Final Thoughts
Summarizing deposition transcripts doesn't have to drain your time—or your billable hours. With the right Copilot prompt and a thoughtful workflow using SharePoint or OneDrive, you can streamline this tedious (but critical) task and create clean, structured outputs in minutes instead of hours.
Whether you're a paralegal trying to meet billable expectations or a firm looking to reduce burnout without compromising quality, summarizing deposition transcripts with Copilot can be your behind-the-scenes assistant—when used ethically and strategically.
This is just the beginning. Copilot has so much potential to support legal professionals, and I’ll be sharing more tips just like this one over the coming weeks.
👉 Stay tuned for Tip #2: Building Medical Summaries with Microsoft Lists + OneDrive.
💬 Have questions or use this prompt already? I’d love to hear from you in the comments or on LinkedIn.
Misty Murray
CEO | Founder
Check out my Paralegal Boss Blog Series
At Arrow Consultants, we help legal professionals all over the world create better systems and build sustainable law firms using the full power of Microsoft 365. From case management to training, our mission is to make legal operations smarter, leaner, and built to last.