For this month’s post, I’ll continue my series on auto-indexing, going back to Case CATalyst, but this time I’m going to show you how to index objections and certified questions (or just questions that the witness has been instructed not to answer).
If you do not need to index such things, that’s great! I have at least one client who has to index objections for video-recorded depositions, and quite a few who have to index certified questions. There are one or two who also need to index questions which the witness’s attorney has instructed them not to answer.
So with all that being said, I’ll start with objections.
My usual client who indexes objections includes the BY line for the objecting attorney, so I will show you how to index the objections that way.
A typical out-of-the-box index template will not work for this type of index, so I’ll start by creating a general template.
First, open a new text file in whatever user profile in which you need to index objections (inside the System Files –> Index Templates case) and name it something memorable. I’ll use “Objections Index” for this tutorial.
You’ll want to create a header. For this tutorial, I’ll just put the word “OBJECTIONS” with spaces between each letter, centered on the first line. Press F4 and L to create a new line.
Now, create a table (Alt+e+b+t) with three columns and one row.
Oops! It looks like the right end of my table is too far to the right. See the little arrow-like marker in the ruler up at the top? I’m going to drag that a little to the left so that the table will fit inside the border.
There we go. That’s much better. Now I can add some column headers and resize the columns. I know that the first column is going to have a lot of “BY <ATTORNEY NAME>”s in it while the other two are only going to have page and line numbers up to three (or possibly four) digits, so I’ll resize them before adding a header for objecting attorney, one for page number, and one for line number.
Finally, we add the index codes. For ease of memory, I’ll use index O, for “objections,” this time, just in case there’s already an index C or D in use. In the cell beneath “OBJECTING ATTORNEY,” we’ll need the <Index On O> code (F4+I+O); in the “PAGE” column, we’ll put the <Index Page> code ( press F4 twice, the the letter I, and scroll to Index Page before pressing Enter); and in the “LINE” column, we’ll put the <Index Line> code (press F4 twice, the the letter I, and scroll to Index Line before pressing Enter).
Add a new line (F4+L) after the <Table End> code–if you don’t, you’ll get an error–and save and close your template.
Now comes the tricky part. You probably could create a separate BY line Include file for objections as opposed to just regular colloquy, but remembering to use the different code to bring in the one for objections could get finicky.
Instead, I will just show you where to add your index codes for objections while editing your job. It’s just two steps.
- When you come across an objections while editing, place an <Index On O> code before the MR./MS. on the appropriate line of colloquy.
- Place and an <Index Off O> code before the colon.
I have highlighted the codes in the Reveal Codes pane in the image above so you can see what I mean. Repeat steps 1 and 2 for every objection in the proceeding.
Now, when you build your objections index, it will look like so.
And now for the certified questions/questions instructed not to answer.
As with indexing objections, indexing certified questions or questions that the witness was instructed not to answer involves a few options. One particular option is whether or not to include the actual question on the index page. For the purposes of this tutorial, I will not be including the question; however, I will tell you how to modify your template and codes if you need to include it.
We’ll need to start with creating yet another index template, so go into your System Files–>Index Templates case, and create a new text file. I’ll call this one Certified Questions, but the process is the same for questions which the witness has been instructed not to answer.
Just as before, add a header and a table. This time, however, the table will have only two columns instead of three. It still only needs one row.
Resize both cells of your table so that they are only large enough to fit one three- to four-digit number each. Then add the headers “PAGE” and “LINE.” It’s easier if you do this on a centered line, type “PAGE,” tab over, type “LINE,” and then enough spaces to line up the P and the L with the left sides of their respective columns, thus:
Finally, add the <Index On Q> and <Index Page> (I used Q for ease of memory) codes in the first cell and an <Index Line> code in the second. Then add a new line after your table, save, and close the template. To add the question itself, you will need the table to have three columns (still one row), and you’ll need to put the <Index Heading On Q> code in the first cell. The heading for that cell should be “QUESTION.”
Just as with the objections, it would be less tedious to add your indexing codes during editing than to try to bring them in while you write. To do that, add an <Index On Q> code and an <Index Off Q> code either right at the beginning of the Q line for the question or put it in a hidden text box (Alt+E+I+H) at the beginning of the line. In the image below, I have highlighted these codes in the Reveal Codes pane. To include the question, put the <Index Heading On Q> code before the first word of the question, the <Index Heading Off Q> code after the final question mark, and the <Index On Q><Index Off Q> codes after the heading off code. This will make the last line of the question show up in the “LINE” column of the index, but you have to have the heading code turned off before you can turn on the index code itself.
Build your index next, and it should look like this:
Now, I created these indices separately; however, you can only use one index template at a time. So what do you do if you have an examination index, an exhibit index, and an index for objections and/or certified questions? Easy!
- Open your index template for your examinations and exhibits.
- Go to the end of the file and press F9 (include).
- Navigate to whichever template you want to add first, either objections or certified questions, and double-click or press Enter. You may need to adjust your table cell sizes.
- Repeat step 3 for the other template.
- Save and close the index template file.
The next time you build your indices, all you’ll need to do is delete the ones that have no data. You may get an error message about not finding anything to index with certain codes when you build your index; that’s okay. All you’ll need to do is delete the tables and headers you don’t need after you’ve built the index.
Here’s what the index looks like all put together. I made most of it single-spaced and deleted blank lines so that it would fit on one screen, but you get the idea.
Next month, we’ll index the same types of information, but in Eclipse.