Remote depositions under Nevada rules: the stipulation, the oath, and where the deposition takes place

The short version

A Nevada deposition may be taken by remote means on the parties' stipulation or on a court order after a motion (NRCP 30(b)(4)). For the purposes of Rule 30 and of Rules 28(a), 37(a)(2) and 37(b), the deposition "takes place where the deponent answers the questions." The officer who swears the witness must be authorized to administer oaths under federal law or the law of that place, or be court-appointed, unless the parties stipulate under NRCP 29(a) to any person (NRCP 28(a)). A Nevada certified court reporter's oath authority comes from NRS 656.315.

What no Nevada rule, statute or standing order says is that the officer may be in a different location from the witness. The only authority that ever said so was a pair of Clark County COVID-era administrative orders, and that provision lapsed on April 29, 2022. The practice that has grown up instead is simple: counsel put the officer's location and the remote oath into the Rule 30(b)(4) stipulation, and the deposition proceeds.

If you take one thing from this guide: the stipulation is where the remote oath lives in Nevada. Write it down before the day, and the reporter will read it into the record.

NRCP 30(b)(4): stipulate, or move for an order

The whole of Nevada's remote-deposition rule reads: "The parties may stipulate - or the court may on motion order - that a deposition be taken by telephone or other remote means. For the purpose of this rule and Rules 28(a), 37(a)(2), and 37(b), the deposition takes place where the deponent answers the questions." It is identical in substance to the federal rule.

There are two doors: the parties agree, which is how nearly every remote deposition in Las Vegas happens, or one party moves and the court orders it. The rule makes neither remote nor in person the default; it requires one of the two.

The second sentence does the legal work. A videoconference has no single place, so the rule supplies one: the deposition takes place where the deponent answers. That fiction controls which officer may swear the witness under NRCP 28(a), and it anchors motions to compel and for sanctions under Rules 37(a)(2) and 37(b). A witness answering from a kitchen table in Henderson is being deposed in Nevada, wherever the attorneys sit.

Everything else in Rule 30 still applies: "not less than 14 days' written notice to every other party" stating the time and place (NRCP 30(b)(1)); the method of recording stated in the notice, with the noticing party bearing the recording costs (NRCP 30(b)(3)(A)); the officer's opening statement under NRCP 30(b)(5)(A), including "the officer's administration of the oath or affirmation to the deponent"; and the 1 day of 7 hours of testimony under NRCP 30(d)(1).

Who may be the officer: NRCP 28(a) and NRS 656.315

NRCP 28(a)(1) provides that within the United States a deposition "must be taken before: (A) an officer authorized to administer oaths either by federal law or by the law in the place of examination; or (B) a person appointed by the court where the action is pending to administer oaths and take testimony." NRCP 28(a)(2) adds that the term "officer" in Rules 30, 31 and 32 "includes a person appointed by the court under this rule or designated by the parties under Rule 29(a)."

For a deponent answering in Nevada, the "law in the place of examination" is Nevada law, and NRS 656.315 is the provision that qualifies a court reporter: "A certified court reporter may administer oaths and affirmations without being appointed as a notary public pursuant to chapter 240 of NRS." That is why a Nevada certified court reporter is the ordinary officer at a Nevada deposition, in person or remote.

Two further rules shape who sits in the officer's chair. NRCP 29(a) lets the parties stipulate, unless the court orders otherwise, that "a deposition may be taken before any person, at any time or place, on any notice, and in the manner specified - in which event it may be used in the same way as any other deposition." NRCP 28 disqualifies anyone "who is any party's relative, employee, or attorney; who is related to or employed by any party's attorney; or who is financially interested in the action." And a reporting firm may supply the officer only through a certified court reporter or certified court reporter-voice writer (NAC 656.280(2)).

Notice what none of these provisions says. NRCP 28 and NRCP 30 never state where the officer must be, NRS 656.315 says nothing about location, and neither NRS 656 nor NAC 656 uses the words "remote," "audio," "video," "physical presence" or "location."

The remote oath: the honest state of Nevada law

Here is where third-party guides tend to say more than the sources support. Checked against the official rule pages, the Supreme Court of Nevada's site and the Eighth Judicial District Court's administrative-order index, the position is this: no Nevada rule or statute speaks to a remote oath at a deposition.

NRCP 28 and NRCP 30 are silent. SCR Part IX-B, the Supreme Court rules on appearance by audiovisual transmission equipment, governs court appearances and has no deposition provision. NRS 240, the notary chapter, allows electronic notarial acts by audio-video communication but contains no deposition or testimony provision. A 2025 bill, AB 189, would have let a notarial officer's oath be given "orally or by any other equivalent communication mode" including for testimony in a deposition; on the record checked it was not enacted, and NRS 240 as revised in 2025 carries none of its text. No Supreme Court order on remote deposition oaths was found.

The only Nevada authority that ever addressed the officer's location was local and temporary. On April 16, 2020, the Eighth Judicial District Court entered AO 20-13: "Deposition by alternative means may proceed as provided in NRCP 30(b)(4). The Court interprets NRCP 28(a)(1) and NRCP 30 to allow the deposition officer to be in a separate location from the deponent." AO 21-03, dated March 11, 2021, continued that interpretation "During the period this order is in effect." AO 22-07, dated April 29, 2022, superseded the COVID series and contains no deposition provision at all. The separate-location interpretation ended that day, and nothing replaced it.

A word about the "March 27, 2020 Supreme Court order" that some online guides cite. It does not exist as described. The Eighth Judicial District Court order filed that day is AO 20-12, which concerns juvenile court operations. The deposition language those guides paraphrase comes from AO 20-01 and AO 20-13, Clark County district-court orders, not Supreme Court orders, both superseded by April 29, 2022.

So the practice rests on NRCP 30(b)(4) for remote means, NRCP 28(a)(1) and NRS 656.315 for the officer's authority where the deponent answers in Nevada, and NRCP 29(a) for a stipulation that fills the gap on location. Whether a Nevada certified court reporter sitting in Nevada may swear a deponent sitting outside Nevada without such a stipulation is a question the sources do not answer. Ask your attorney; the reporter will not pretend to know.

As of October 2026 there is no Nevada rule, statute or standing order permitting or forbidding a remote oath at a deposition. The Clark County orders that once addressed the officer's location lapsed on April 29, 2022.

What the stipulation should cover

Because the rule is silent, the stipulation carries the weight. NRCP 29(a) is broad: the parties may agree that a deposition be taken "before any person, at any time or place, on any notice, and in the manner specified," and such a deposition "may be used in the same way as any other deposition." A written stipulation served before the deposition and read into the record by the reporter at the start settles what the rules leave open. The checklist at the end of this guide lists what it typically covers.

The waiver rules in Rule 32 explain why to settle this early rather than argue later. Under NRCP 32(d)(2), an objection "based on disqualification of the officer before whom a deposition is to be taken is waived if not made: (A) before the deposition begins; or (B) promptly after the basis for disqualification becomes known or, with reasonable diligence, could have been known." Under NRCP 32(d)(3), an objection relating to "the oath or affirmation" or "the manner of taking the deposition" is waived if it could have been corrected at the time and was not timely made. A party who sits through a remote deposition without objecting to the remote oath has a difficult argument afterward; a party who stipulated has none.

A stipulation is the parties' agreement, not the reporter's. The reporter will read it into the record and follow it; drafting it is counsel's job.

Clark County: in person by default, remote by stipulation or good cause

In the Eighth Judicial District Court, Administrative Order 22-08, the Clark County deposition-behavior order dated May 9, 2022, adds a layer the statewide rules do not have. It applies to all civil and family division actions in that court whose discovery disputes are heard by a discovery commissioner or discovery hearing master, and as of October 2026 it is listed on the court's administrative-order index with no amending order. Our separate guide covers the whole order; the remote-deposition provisions are these.

"Normally, a deposition will take place in person. The parties may stipulate, and the Court may order for good cause shown, that a deposition 'be taken by telephone or other [including video] remote means.'" The good-cause factors come from Okada v. Eighth Jud. Dist. Ct., which the order cites. The order also sets default locations: a plaintiff's deposition generally in the District, a defendant's where the defendant resides, and a corporate defendant's Rule 30(b)(6) designee's where the corporation has its principal place of business. For an out-of-state defendant that default is one reason remote depositions are so often stipulated in Las Vegas cases.

Most useful for anyone running a remote deposition are the document rules: "During a deposition taken remotely or by audio/visual means, the examiner must contemporaneously provide all participants with electronic copies of any document used at the deposition. Further, the examiner must display a document on the video feed during a remote video deposition while questioning the witness about the document." Any document to be used as an exhibit must be disclosed prior to the deposition; first-time disclosure at the deposition "constitutes gamesmanship and may warrant sanctions." From the reporter's chair, these rules are the difference between a clean remote exhibit record and a transcript full of "the document on the screen."

Disputes about a Clark County deposition go first to the discovery commissioner under EDCR 2.34, and a motion based on deposition behavior requires an EDCR 2.34 meet-and-confer record. Washoe County has no counterpart to the order: the Second Judicial District Court's rules contain no deposition rule, WDCR 24 refers all discovery proceedings automatically to the discovery commissioner, and WDCR 12(6) requires a certificate of consultation on discovery motions. A remote deposition in a Reno case rests on NRCP 30(b)(4), 28(a) and 29(a) alone.

Recording a remote deposition: video, distortion and the officer's duties

A remote deposition can be recorded stenographically, by audio, by audiovisual means, or by more than one method at once. NRCP 30(b)(3)(A): "Unless the court orders otherwise, testimony may be recorded by audio, audiovisual, or stenographic means. The noticing party bears the recording costs." Under NRCP 30(b)(3)(B) any other party may, with prior notice, add a method at its own expense. Nevada licenses no deposition videographer; the court reporter statute reaches only stenographic and voice-writing reporting.

When a deposition is recorded nonstenographically, NRCP 30(b)(5)(B) imposes two duties that matter more on a video feed than in a conference room: the officer "must repeat the items in Rule 30(b)(5)(A)(i)-(iii) at the beginning of each unit of the recording medium," and "The deponent's and attorneys' appearance or demeanor must not be distorted through recording techniques." Camera angle, framing and lighting are a rule-level concern on a recorded remote deposition, and a legal videographer who captures the feed knows how to keep the recording within it.

The officer, not the videographer, certifies the record under NRCP 30(f)(1) and, under NRCP 30(f)(3), retains "a copy of the recording of a deposition taken by another method" unless stipulated or ordered otherwise. The 2019 Advisory Committee Note to Rule 30 adds that if a recorded deposition is later transcribed, "any dispute regarding the accuracy of the transcription or of multiple competing transcriptions should be resolved by the court or discovery commissioner." A stenographic record taken live by a certified court reporter, with video as the additional method, avoids that dispute.

Pressing the platform's record button is not a method of recording under the notice unless the notice and the stipulation say so, and it produces no officer's certificate. If you want usable video, notice it and retain a videographer.

Out-of-state counsel, out-of-state cases, and the out-of-state reporter question

The common Las Vegas pattern is an attorney in another state deposing a witness who sits in Nevada, in a case pending in a Nevada court. Nothing special is required: the deposition is deemed taken in Nevada because that is where the deponent answers, a Nevada certified court reporter is an officer authorized by the law of the place of examination, and the stipulation covers the remote arrangements. The attorney's location is irrelevant to the officer question.

The second pattern is a case pending in another state whose party needs a Nevada witness. Compelling that witness runs through Nevada's Uniform Interstate Depositions and Discovery Act: under NRS 53.170 the foreign subpoena goes to the clerk of a court in the county where discovery is sought, who issues a Nevada subpoena incorporating its terms; in Clark County, EDCR 2.80 adds a cover sheet and fee. Our guide on deposition subpoenas in Nevada covers the procedure. The Nevada reporter may act even though the ordering firm is not licensed here: NAC 656.320(2) permits a court reporter or firm to practice on behalf of an unlicensed firm "in any proceeding conducted in this State as a result of an action commenced or maintained in a foreign jurisdiction," provided Nevada's rules are otherwise followed.

The third pattern is the unsettled one: a reporter outside Nevada reporting, by remote means, a witness who sits in Nevada. NRS 656.030(10) defines the practice of court reporting as reporting "in this State," NRS 656.145 makes it unlawful to practice without a Nevada certificate, and NRS 656 contains no exemption for out-of-state reporters. At the same time NRCP 30(b)(4) says the deposition takes place where the deponent answers. No provision and no Board opinion reconciles the two for a remote reporter, and the question is flagged for counsel. We will not tell you it is permitted or forbidden; a Nevada certified court reporter avoids the question entirely.

From the reporter's chair: what a clean remote record needs

Western Reporting Services has reported Las Vegas depositions as an independent firm since 1990, and our stenographic and voice-writing reporters, all certified by the Certified Court Reporters' Board of Nevada, now handle remote and hybrid depositions as a matter of routine. The legal framework above translates into a short list of things we ask for before the day.

• The signed stipulation, or the order, so the reporter can read it into the record at the opening along with the items NRCP 30(b)(5)(A) requires.
• Where the witness will physically be, so the record states the place the deposition is deemed taken, and which other participants are remote, including a hybrid arrangement with the witness and the reporter in one of our conference rooms.
• The method of recording in the notice, whether a legal videographer will record the feed, and the exhibit plan, which in a Clark County case must satisfy Administrative Order 22-08.
• Whether an interpreter is needed; we arrange interpreters by referral and they are sworn on the record like any other.

For the technology side, the setup checklist, and what happens when a connection drops, see our companion guide on how remote Zoom depositions work. This guide is about the rules; that one is about the room.

Currency of the rules cited

This guide reflects the Nevada Rules of Civil Procedure as amended through October 31, 2025. Rules 28, 29, 30 and 32 were last amended effective March 1, 2019, under ADKT 0522. NRS 656 is cited as revised in 2025; NAC 656 as of the Legislature's page revision of April 13, 2026; EDCR and WDCR as amended through October 31, 2025; the Eighth Judicial District Court administrative orders as read from the court's own index on October 1, 2026. The remote-oath position in particular could change by rule, statute or standing order at any time; confirm the current text before relying on any of this in a filing.

Common questions

Can a Nevada deposition be taken by Zoom?

Yes, on the parties' stipulation or on a court order after a motion. NRCP 30(b)(4) allows a deposition "by telephone or other remote means" either way. In Clark County, Administrative Order 22-08 states that a deposition normally takes place in person and that remote means are available by stipulation or on good cause shown.

Where does a remote deposition legally take place?

Where the deponent answers the questions. NRCP 30(b)(4) fixes that place for the purposes of Rule 30 and Rules 28(a), 37(a)(2) and 37(b), which is what decides whose law qualifies the officer to administer the oath.

Can the court reporter swear the witness remotely in Nevada?

No Nevada rule, statute or standing order says yes or no. A Nevada certified court reporter has oath authority under NRS 656.315, and NRCP 28 and 30 do not say where the officer must be. The Clark County orders that once allowed the officer to be in a separate location lapsed on April 29, 2022. The settled practice is to provide for the remote oath in the Rule 30(b)(4) stipulation; whether it is valid without one is a question for your attorney.

Was there a Nevada Supreme Court order on March 27, 2020, allowing remote oaths?

Not as described. The Eighth Judicial District Court order filed that day, AO 20-12, concerns juvenile court operations. The remote-deposition language came from Clark County district-court orders AO 20-01 and AO 20-13, which were superseded by AO 22-07 on April 29, 2022.

The attorney taking the deposition is in California and the witness is in Las Vegas. Does that change anything?

Not for the officer question. The deposition is deemed taken in Nevada because that is where the deponent answers, so a Nevada certified court reporter is an officer authorized by the law of the place of examination. The stipulation should still cover the remote arrangements.

Can we use a court reporter in another state for a witness who is sitting in Nevada?

The sources do not answer that. NRS 656.030(10) defines the practice as reporting "in this State" and NRS 656 has no exemption for out-of-state reporters, while NRCP 30(b)(4) deems the deposition taken where the deponent answers. No Nevada provision or Board opinion reconciles the two for a remote reporter. Ask your attorney; a Nevada certified court reporter avoids the question.

What are the exhibit rules for a remote deposition in Clark County?

Under Administrative Order 22-08 the examiner must contemporaneously provide all participants with electronic copies of any document used, must display the document on the video feed while questioning the witness about it, and must disclose any document to be used as an exhibit before the deposition. First-time disclosure at the deposition may warrant sanctions.

Is recording the videoconference the same as a video deposition?

No. A recorded deposition is one whose notice states audiovisual recording as the method under NRCP 30(b)(3)(A), or that a party has added as a method under NRCP 30(b)(3)(B). The officer then has duties under NRCP 30(b)(5)(B), certifies the record under NRCP 30(f)(1) and retains a copy under NRCP 30(f)(3). A platform recording nobody noticed and nobody certified is none of those things.