Who Can Attend a Deposition: Parties, Experts, and the Public

Almost anyone can attend a federal deposition unless a court orders otherwise. The people who must be there are the witness, a presiding officer, and the attorneys. Beyond that, the parties themselves have a right to attend, and so, as a practical matter, do members of the public, journalists, family members, retained experts, and most other observers. That surprises people who assume a deposition is private because it happens in a conference room. The witness-sequestration rule that keeps people out of a trial courtroom simply does not apply at depositions.¹ If you want someone excluded, you need either an agreement with opposing counsel or a protective order from the court.

Who Has to Be There

Three people are essential. Without any one of them, the deposition either cannot proceed or produces a record that can be attacked later.

The deponent is the person giving testimony. They may be a party or an outside witness, and if they are an outside witness their attendance can be compelled by a subpoena under Rule 45.¹

A presiding officer, usually a court reporter or notary, administers the oath, records the testimony, and certifies the transcript. The officer opens the proceeding on the record with a statement identifying the case, the date, and every person in the room.¹ That transcript becomes the official record and can be used as evidence at trial.²

Attorneys for each side ask questions, raise objections, and protect their clients. No rule explicitly commands their presence, but a deposition without opposing counsel largely defeats its purpose, and courts treat attorney participation as a baseline.

Parties and Their Representatives

The plaintiff and defendant have the right to attend every deposition in their case, even depositions where they are not the witness. Federal Rule of Evidence 615 — the sequestration rule used to clear a courtroom at trial — cannot be used to exclude a party, and in any event it does not apply at depositions at all.¹ A party’s attendance can only be cut back through a protective order based on good cause.³

When the party is a corporation, partnership, agency, or similar entity, it attends through a designated representative. Under Rule 30(b)(6), the deposing side identifies the topics, and the organization picks one or more people to testify on its behalf. That designee speaks for the whole organization about what it knows or reasonably should know, not just what they personally remember.¹ An entity party may also send an officer or employee to observe, the same way an individual party could sit in.

Expert Witnesses

Retained experts can generally sit in on the depositions of other witnesses, including other experts. This is one of the biggest practical differences between a deposition and a trial. At trial, any party can invoke Rule 615 to keep witnesses out of the courtroom so they do not hear each other testify.⁴ At a deposition, that tool is unavailable. Rule 30(c)(1) specifically carves Rule 615 out.¹

So your expert can listen to the opposing expert testify and refine their own opinions based on what they hear. Courts tend to allow it because expert preparation often depends on the full factual record. A party who wants to keep an expert out has to seek a protective order under Rule 26(c) and show a specific, concrete harm, not a general worry that hearing testimony might shape later answers.³

The Public, the Press, and Personal Supporters

Because sequestration does not apply, there is no built-in mechanism to clear the room. Depositions are presumptively open. Members of the public, reporters, family members, friends, and other supporters can all walk in and watch unless a court order says otherwise.

If an attorney wants somebody out, they have to move for a protective order and show good cause. Good cause means something concrete: potential witness intimidation, disclosure of trade secrets, or genuine harassment.³ Finding an observer annoying is not enough on its own, though the rule does list “annoyance” and “embarrassment” among the factors a court may weigh.

There is a trap worth flagging for anyone thinking about bringing a friend or family member for moral support. Having a non-lawyer third party in the room during a private conversation with your attorney can waive attorney-client privilege. Courts have held that privilege generally requires an expectation of confidentiality, and inviting someone who is not your attorney’s agent into the discussion can destroy that expectation. If you want a supporter present, raise it with your lawyer in advance. They may be able to designate the person as an agent, or they can simply have the supporter step out during any sidebar conversations.

Videographers and Interpreters

Depositions commonly include a videographer when the testimony is being recorded on video. Video recording is allowed under the federal rules as long as the noticing party states the method in the deposition notice. Video captures demeanor and tone in a way a written transcript cannot.¹

An interpreter attends when the witness or a party is not fluent in English. Federal law requires courts to provide certified interpreters, or otherwise qualified interpreters when no certified one is reasonably available, so that the person can meaningfully participate.⁵

How to Keep Someone Out

With Rule 615 off the table, there are two ways to control who sits in: an agreement between the attorneys, or a court order.

Stipulations

The easiest path is agreement. Under Rule 29, the parties can stipulate to modify discovery procedures, including who may attend a deposition.⁶ These agreements are usually in writing. No judge is needed. Stipulations work well when both sides share the concern, such as protecting trade secrets both companies want to keep confidential.

Protective Orders

When the attorneys cannot work it out, the side that wants someone excluded files a motion for a protective order under Rule 26(c). The court can issue any order “justice requires” to protect against annoyance, embarrassment, oppression, or undue burden or expense. One of the available options is ordering “that discovery be conducted with no one present except persons designated by the court.”³

Before filing, the moving attorney has to certify that they tried in good faith to resolve the dispute without court intervention. Courts want to see concrete evidence of potential harm: witness intimidation, likely disclosure of sensitive information, or a real risk that someone’s presence will distort the testimony. A vague “they might influence the witness” rarely succeeds. The burden sits on the person seeking exclusion, not on the person trying to attend.

Who Cannot Preside

Not everyone can serve as the officer administering the oath. Rule 28(c) disqualifies the officer from being:

A relative, employee, or attorney of any party
A relative or employee of any party’s attorney
Anyone with a financial interest in the outcome of the case

These rules protect the integrity of the record. A court reporter employed by the defense firm, for example, cannot preside over a deposition in one of that firm’s cases. A deposition taken before a disqualified officer can be challenged, and the transcript may be thrown out.⁷

Remote Depositions

Depositions taken by video or telephone follow the same attendance rules, with one wrinkle: verifying who is actually in the room with the witness. Under Rule 30(b)(4), a remote deposition is considered to take place wherever the deponent is physically located, and the officer still identifies every person present on the record at the start.¹

The real concern is off-camera coaching. Someone just out of frame can whisper answers, hold up notes, or send messages during questioning. Courts treat all of that the same as in-person coaching: prohibited, discoverable, and sanctionable. Deposing counsel often asks the witness at the start to confirm no one else is in the room and to pan the camera around. If you are being deposed remotely, assume any private communication during testimony, whether by text, chat, or hand signal, will eventually surface and cause more trouble than whatever answer it was meant to shape.

1
Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 30 – Depositions by Oral Examination
2
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 USC 753 – Reporters
3
Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 26 – General Provisions Governing Discovery
4
Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Evidence Rule 615 – Excluding Witnesses
5
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 USC 1827 – Interpreters in Courts of the United States
6
Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 29 – Stipulations About Discovery Procedure
7
Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 28 – Persons Before Whom Depositions May Be Taken