Smarter Deposition Workflows: A Practical AI Guide for Paralegals

Paralegals don't just support the deposition process. In most firms, they run it.

Document management, exhibit organization, transcript review — your desk sits at the center of the entire deposition lifecycle. AI has changed what's possible at every stage, and the paralegals who lean in are doing work that used to take a whole team.

In this session, Sierra Van Allen, Steno's Legal Solutions Manager and former Certified Paralegal, walked through how paralegals can use AI to work smarter at every stage of the deposition process.

What we covered:

• Before: Research and prep workflows for organizing exhibits, building witness profiles, surfacing prior testimony inconsistencies, and using AI to identify gaps in your attorney's question set before anyone sits down.
• During: When the attorney goes off-script, AI's semantic search lets you find the right exhibit in seconds by describing what it is rather than remembering what it's called.
• After: Using AI to cross-reference testimony, generate summaries and timelines, and turn a finished transcript into strategic intelligence for motion practice, witness prep, and trial.

Sierra also showed how Steno Connect and Transcript Genius fit into this workflow for firms already using Steno.

Whether you're new to AI tools or already using them daily, this session left attendees with prompts, frameworks, and techniques worth bringing back to the next case.

Meet Your Host

Sierra Van Allen

Sierra Van Allen is Steno’s Legal Solutions Manager, focused on legal technology and thought leadership for legal professionals. A licensed Florida attorney, she previously practiced construction litigation at Carlton Fields in Tampa. She graduated summa cum laude from Stetson University College of Law and holds an undergraduate degree from the University of Arkansas. Before law school, she worked as a Certified Paralegal at Linebarger Goggan Blair and Sampson in Broomfield, Colorado.