Why Second Chair?


The Second Chair video deposition management process has several advantages over the traditional process.

Less Costly

The Insurance Industry currently spends $10-15B on the deposition process, that’s up to 35% of total litigation cost. Cases average 2-4 years to resolve, with 90 -95% being settled. Litigation costs for cases continue to grow with time.

The Second Chair video process is cost-neutral and in some cases actually less expensive than the traditional process. And better management of the deposition process compresses case timelines, further reducing paid loss.

Adds More Value

Depositions are rarely attended by claims litigation professionals and the related documents are rarely read in entirety. So the current process adds very little value – basing litigation decisions on a paper in a file, not a real evaluation of the people involved.

Second Chair provides a comprehensive evaluation of the individuals involved in a case – honesty, jury impression, etc. This allows claims litigation professionals the ability to plan case strategy based on first-hand knowledge of how witnesses testify. It also creates more opportunity to collaborate with defense counsel and internal personnel via the sharing of videos and documents. Many customers use Second Chair video in reserve and settlement conferences to improve their strategic position.

And it provides a historical archive of expert witnesses (industry-wide).

Leads to Better Outcomes

Plaintiff attorneys’ use of advanced trial technology (e.g., video) far exceeds defense attorneys. Second Chair helps even the playing field by making the same technology available to the defense/client side.

Second Chair clients make the best decisions based on more information of all witnesses (plaintiff and defense). They even use video for plaintiff witnesses in their strategy preparation.

Why Video?


Using video to evaluate key witnesses makes sense. Not only does it enable a litigation manager to evaluate the "human element" of their cases, but it is more effective in trial situations as well as in negotiating and settlement conferences.

  • 93% of communication effectiveness is determined through nonverbal cues1
  • 5x greater information retention with visual and oral versus text alone2
  • 83% of learning occurs visually3

1 Mehrabian’s Communication Model, UCLA
2 Chi, et al., Cognitive Sciences
3 OSHA

Improving the Deposition Process


The current deposition management process – focused on text and paper - is costly, labor intensive and delivers limited value to litigation managers. We believe that if "a picture is worth a thousand words," then a video must be worth a million words. Second Chair is founded on the principle that video depositions are both more cost effective and more valuable to litigation managers than text depositions.

It is ironic that the traditional current litigation process actually makes it very difficult for litigation managers to easily see the people involved in a case. Sure, they can read statements, but that doesn’t give any indication as to their demeanor, truthfulness and how they will be perceived by a jury. Second Chair technology makes it easy for litigation managers and their legal partners to see, share, and store video deposition highlights.