Calculating the total page and line count for deposition designations

You can use the Excel file linked to at the bottom of this post to automatically calculate how many pages and lines are in a single deposition designation, and multiple designations.

The beginning and ending pages and lines for each range of testimony are entered in columns B through E. Column H has a formula which computes the total number of lines in a single range of testimony:

=IF(B2=D2,(E2-C2)+1,(E2-C2)+((D2-B2)*25)+1)

If the designation is only on a single page, it simply subtracts the line number in column C from column E. If this is not the case, it multiplies the number of pages by 25, and adds them to the difference between E and C to get the line total.

Column I contains the formula that divides the line count by 25, and rounds down the result to the nearest whole number, unless there are less than 25 lines:

=IF(H2<25,0,ROUNDDOWN((H2/25),0))

The formula in column J: =IF(I2=0,H2,H2-(I2*25))

. . .subtracts the line count for the rounded down result given in column I from the total line count, unless there is less than 1 page, in which case it returns the total line count from column H.

On the TOTAL row, the formula in cell I9 not only adds up the page total listed above in column I, but also gives the sum of lines in column J divided by 25, rounded down to the nearest whole number. This gives the total page count for all the designations given in columns B to E on the above rows.

=SUM(I2:I8)+(ROUNDDOWN((SUM(J2:J8))/25,0))

Finally, the formula in J9 subtracts [the total line count divided by 25 and rounded down to the nearest whole number, but then multiplied by 25 - to get a number divisible by 25] FROM the total line count, in order to get the number of lines left over when the lines adding up to full pages are counted .

=SUM(J2:J8)-(ROUNDDOWN((SUM(J2:J8))/25,0)*25)

Deposition Designations v3.xlsx

Download XLSX • 12KB

Web-based CaseView Hiccups

CaseViewNet is widely used by reporters to provide a reattime feed to their transcript during depositions and trials. A link will be distributed by a reporter to the caseview.net site which should function normally on most computers, and in most browsers. However, antivirus software, and other computer configurations may prevent the web-based version of the transcript from streaming. You will be able to successfully log on, but when you do there will be a blank screen:

If this happens to you, look in the URL for the session code, and the password. For example:

https://caseviewnet.com/index.php?sessionCode=TI29MX&password=JudgeM.

Then download the CaseView application. Once it's installed, on the toolbar, press 'Connect' on the toolbar:

Click next, and then create a connection in the next step of the wizard by entering the session code:

. . . accept the default options and then click Next again to enter the password:

You will get the same streaming transcript which is available on the web.

China's Courts Are Live Online

China has a remarkable online system to provide live video streams of court trials. On this website: http://tingshen.court.gov.cn/ , China Court Trial Online, you can readily access the surveillance cameras in courtrooms all over the People's Republic of China, and watch the proceedings in realtime.

To use the site, simply scroll down to the map of China, and select any one of hundreds of courts from any of the provinces of China. (If like me, you can't read Chinese be sure to right click on Chrome and select 'Translate to English'.) The site contains archived videos of court hearings as well.

The video records are clearly quite extensive. Tonight, I was able to access both live and archived video of court proceedings in the Shenzhen Nanshan District People's Court:

. . . the Zigong City Gongjing District People's Court in Sichuan:

. . . the Wuhan Railway Transportation Intermediate Court:

. . . and the Lingqiu County People's Court in Shanxi:

According to the home page more than 12 million court proceedings have been posted on the site, and more than 20,000 will be broadcast today. The world's most populous country provides an opportunity to surveil its justice system, and vast resources to allow attorneys to learn from trials on a particular issue, or proceedings before an individual judge or panel.

I've seen videos posted online of appellate court oral arguments in American courts, but I'm unaware of such an extensive system being in place in the courts of any other country.