It was asked online recently, and I am paraphrasing, “In New York, why does every agency seem to have a different stips page? We should all be the same.”

I had a wordy response. I was very thorough, but I hope that any reader seeking this information will take it at face value. I don’t think I’m smarter than anyone, but I do think I am correct.

“As far as I know there is no stipulation mandated to be put in the transcript by law under the CPLR. If you read the stips, many versions of the stips, all they actually say is that the parties agree to follow certain provisions of the CPLR, which the parties are generally required to do anyway.

For your own peace of mind you may want your stips to read that parties waive filing of the transcript pursuant to CPLR 3116(b), or if a remote deposition where you are swearing the witness by video or phone that they stipulate to such remote swearing pursuant to CPLR 3113(d), but generally you are just going to get this game of every company telling you what stips they want and everybody doing their own crap because the CPLR doesn’t direct us what stipulations should be in there.

Stips pages are customary in New York, but as best I can tell, not required by law, and before I ended my freelance career, I was more or less omitting them from transcripts.

It was, my understanding, customary for lawyers to limit speaking objections except as to form. In maybe 2006 or thereafter, these rules were codified in the uniform rules for NY trial courts 221, uniform rules for conduct at depositions, and CPLR 3115. So while the attorneys may be agreeing to usual stips, it basically doesn’t matter anymore, because if it’s a NYS action, they have to follow the CPLR anyway.

So don’t let this world of everyone telling you they are right bother you… because they are all kind of right or wrong depending on how you look at it.

Hopefully this has assisted you in knowing why we are not all the same. And hopefully it’ll make you more confident to do whatever you end up doing. And hopefully if you learn I am wrong you will come back and let me know, hey, you’re wrong, the law actually says this. But I have spent a good chunk of time reading different sections of the law for this issue and would be very surprised to learn I am wrong.

(Edit. Similarly, on the Federal side, I don’t think there needs to be a stip page, but there are some interesting things about deposition proceedings in the FRCP. For example, I believe the reporter is technically supposed to say the caption information aloud, something like that. I will find it. FRCP 30(b)5.”