Legal videographers are typically the first professional that shows up at a deposition and has the job of configuring the room for the court reporter, witness, and attorneys.  The legal videographer has to take into consideration space, windows, and the table shape.

I have traveled the country to report depositions, and in some regions it is typical for the videographer to shoot down the table and have the court reporter sitting to the left or right side of the witness with the questioning attorney next to the court reporter.  This is my very least favorite configuration, and when I walk in the room and see the camera on the other end of the table, I am not happy.   If the videographer is hired by our company, we insist the shot be across the table, “over the shoulder” of the questioning attorney with the court reporter at the end of the table between the witness and questioning attorney.

There are two reasons why I prefer the shot across the table.  One, the witness is looking into the camera, not looking at the attorney with the camera focused on the side of the witness’ face.  Two, as the court reporter, I can watch the mouths of the witness and attorneys as they speak and physically face both speakers without twisting my body.  Sitting in a twisted position after a couple of hours is incredibly hard on the neck and lower back.

Because the steno machine needs to be in front of the court reporter, the reporter has to be three or four feet away from the table, and if the reporter sits next to the questioning attorney, the reporter is either behind the questioning attorney (so the court reporter has to lean forward trying to see the attorney’s mouth and hear) or sitting alongside and having to twist to see/hear the attorney. (Typically court reporters choose to face the witness rather than the attorney.)

I believe the CLVS training by NCRA teaches the down-the-table method to videographers.  I wish they would reconsider their teaching.  Our clients have been educated and prefer the over-the-shoulder method.  The only time we would shoot down the table is when there is no choice because of the room and/or table, which is about .0005% of the time.

The videographers around the country that I have had the pleasure to work with are always very considerate of the court reporter, and I salute them.   Whether shooting across the table or down the table, I look at the legal videographer as an ally and respected professional in the world of depositions.

@rosaliekramm  Twitter

Once a realtime court reporter goes wireless and sends their realtime feed to an attorney’s computer, it is hard to go back to wires.  Carrying the little bag around full of tangled wires with the little box is not efficient.  AND YET twice in the past three months my firm has had the situation in which the client made it clear using a wireless connection to be unacceptable and demanded wires.

Wires were demanded in one situation because the subject matter of the job was “top secret” and the client was worried that someone could pick up a wireless feed in another room…  I know court reporters reading this will be rolling their eyes, but as the saying goes, “The client is always right.”

Another law firm we work with won’t allow wireless realtime for their attorneys because once, four years ago, a court reporter’s feed stopped, and testimony was dropped on the attorney’s screen.  The firm does not allow wireless realtime and won’t allow the necessary drivers to be loaded onto the computers.

Chris Jordan is always a part of every buying decision my court reporting firm makes when it comes to computers and technology.  When I need to buy a new laptop as a court reporter, Chris insists I purchase the laptop from my CAT vendor so it is built for the job.  I spend more money than a reporter buying a laptop from a Fry’s or BestBuy, but I have a serial port, a PCMCIA card slot, as well as USB ports.  Many would argue PCM cards and serial ports are outdated technology, and they would be right, but in our world, we need serial ports.

I love using Stenocast.  If I can get a driver loaded on an attorney’s computer, it is so much easier to have a successful hook-in, not having to deal with USB-to-serial dongles and their drivers.  BUT if an attorney needs to use wires, I have to be ready.  My advice:  Don’t throw away or lose your realtime wires/box.  One day you might get the GREAT JOB because you can write as a retro-realtime court reporter.

@rosaliekramm  Twitter

As a follow-up to my last post regarding Steve Jobs and his message to the Stanford graduating class of 2005 (and court reporters), I did some research on job happiness and came across an article in the Harvard Business Review, “The Happiness Dividend” by Harvard Teaching Fellow Shawn Achor, founder of Good Think, Inc.

Achor begins his article with statistics from the Conference Board Survey and CNNMoney that 84% of the working population is unhappy with their jobs and that employees are the unhappiest they have been in the past 22 years since the Board started tracking job happiness.  He goes on to state, “the single greatest advantage in the modern economy is a happy and engaged workforce.  A decade of research proves that happiness raises every business and educational outcome:  raising sales by 37%, productivity by 31%, and accuracy on tasks (important for court reporters) by 19%, as well as a myriad of health and quality of life improvements.”

Given Achor’s research, the question is not whether happiness should matter to firms, but what can a firm do to raise the level of happiness of their staff and court reporters/videographers?

“The first thing for everyone to do is recognize that happiness is an advantage at work.”  As Achor states, “This will encourage you to seek happiness in the present instead of waiting for a future success.”  And he goes on, “You can literally train your brain for higher levels of happiness at work by creating habits to increase job satisfaction.”  Here are five suggestions on how to change your happiness factor:

1. Write down three new things you are grateful for each day
2. Write two minutes a day describing one positive experience you had over the past 24 hours
3. Exercise for at least ten minutes a day
4. Meditate for two minutes, focusing on your breath in and out (breathe from stomach)
5. Write one quick email first thing in the morning thanking or praising a member on your team

From reading Achor’s article, I have come to the conclusion that happiness can become a habit, and one of the keys to success is becoming conscious of the good things in your life and appreciating others around you.  I don’t believe anyone wants to be miserable at work or on the job.  Sometimes things come up that are beyond your control (tough witness that speaks with a heavy accent about new technology) or court reporters turn in their work with wrong dates or email addresses, and the production team has to send it back and/or re-print a job.  But I bet during those days when things seem to be extra difficult or jobs come in with lots of little mistakes, there is probably a positive thing that happened as well, and that is what needs to be focused on.  (Another suggestion is to play happy music when it is an extra tough day.)

As Achor writes, “investing in happiness pays great.”  I wish for all court reporters, legal videographers, and court reporting staff a happy 2012 and thus much prosperity.

@rosaliekramm  Twitter

I love watching videos of inspirational people who tell their truth.  Yesterday I watched the Steve Jobs’ 2005 commencement speech at Stanford.  Because court reporting is my thing, while I listened to Steve’s words, I thought about how what he knows for sure applies to court reporters and our profession.

At one point in the speech Jobs states, “You’ve got to find what you love.  And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers.  Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work.  And the only way to do great work is to love what you do.  If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking.  Don’t settle.  As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it.  And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the yeas roll on.  So keep looking until you find it.  Don’t settle.” 

It is easy to find the court reporters who love their profession.  They can be found at court reporting conferences; they belong to their state associations and NCRA.  The court reporters that love what they do are CSRs, RPRs, CCRRs, CRRs, RMRs, et cetera.  They are always working towards being better and being great.  Those court reporters are excited to go to work and make very good money.

As a firm owner I get resumes from reporters weekly.  I find it puzzling when I meet a court reporter looking for work, and I ask what steno machine they write on and what version of their CAT system, and they tell me they plan on retiring in the next five years or so and therefore have decided not to upgrade their equipment and software.  And already their equipment/software is five to ten years old. 

The court reporters who have old equipment, outdated software, in my mind, have settled.  Court reporters who have not gone to a court reporting seminar or class since they got out of court reporting school need to find a job that they love, like Jobs recommends.    I doubt those court reporters enjoy going to work most days.

I think the speech by Jobs is worthy of watching once a year.  He talks about life, death, and how life’s lessons often lead to great things.

As a court reporter, there is no better feeling than writing realtime for a room full of lawyers, taking down the words of a witness who might talk about securities, science, or any subject on the planet, and you knock it out of the park!  Your fingers are flying at 250+ wpm and your tran rate is fantastic. 

It takes years of practice, hard work, and talent to be great.  And as Jobs says, “it just gets better and better as the years roll on.” 

My 2012 wish for all court reporters everywhere is to be great.   I believe being great will bring you joy.

Happy New Year!

@rosaliekramm  Twitter

1.  Stenocast while streaming to the Internet – Always have your Stenocast box connected to a power source when you are simultaneously streaming text via the internet.  99% of the time it is not necessary, but if your computer for even a microsecond does not send power to the box, your screen might freeze or blue screen.  My laptop would freeze at the end of a break when everyone was ready to go back on the record.  The experts tell me it happened then because I was not sending any steno out, and the computer decided to take a nap to save energy.  Being proactive and having constant power going to the Stenocast unit can save your day.

2.  Letting counsel know streaming is occurring – Our firm has had occasions when attorneys have asked the court reporter to stream without the knowledge of other counsel.  Our policy is to never secretly stream text, video or audio.  We put counsel on notice before a streaming deposition that the court reporter will make a statement before swearing in the witness that streaming is taking place.  If there is a videographer, the statement regarding streaming will be made in the legal videographer’s read-on.

3.  Court Reporter + Legal Videographer streaming in unison – It is all about bandwidth.  If possible, have the legal videographer connect via a CT5 or CT6 cable. 

4.  CT5 versus CT6 – I found out the hard way that some older buildings do not work with CT6 cables.  Once we switched out cables and used a CT5, the streaming worked perfectly.  It has nothing to do with the building’s bandwidth, but, according to the experts, the older wiring only works with CT5 cables.

5.  Antivirus Software – Last year I purchased a new laptop that came with free 30-day Norton antivirus software.  When trying to stream, the Norton software would not allow me to send out a feed.  Once the Norton software was deactivated, the streaming worked perfectly.  Now I use AVG antivirus software.  As Chris Jordan says, “Norton is a computer hog.”

6.  Stream logs – Make sure your streaming vendor gets you the logs of anyone that logged on so you can add those names as being present via stream on your appearance pages.

7.  Skype – Use an external microphone and speakers as a best practice to provide superior voice pickup and audio.

 8.  Streaming with a vBrick or Digital Rapids box – Have a speaker phone at the deposition since there is a 7 – 8 second delay with the audio stream.  For remote counsel to participate and object, they will need to participate via speaker phone.

These eight tips are the only scenarios I can remember when something went wrong and my streaming wasn’t working.  Realtime court reporters have a tremendous skill being able to stream the spoken word out to the world simultaneous to when it is spoken.   I wish everyone, court reporters and legal videographers, good streaming.

@rosaliekramm   Twitter

Court reporters as well as lawyers have been hurt by the great recession.  There are surprising mergers of law firms and court reporting firms and the filing of bankruptcies (Esquire and Howrey).   With this recession comes less litigation, fewer deals, and non-payment of fees.  BUT as my mother always says, “This too shall pass,” and I know it will. We will have a day soon in the future when there will be too much work, and a lot of the workforce will be “weeded” out because during these tough times there will only be survival of the fittest.

Now is the time to sharpen the saw.  I have been reading a lot of law and business blogs that push networking and marketing.  People don’t want to spend money because they are not sure of the future.  The experts are advising us in the B2B market, “This is the time to work on your networking skills, become an expert in your area of practice, and put energy into your profession.”  Living in the age of technology and information, being “low on funds” is no excuse for not being great.  There are free powerful digital platforms (LinkedIn and Twitter) where a businessperson can get information, share knowledge, and study their niche.  With LinkedIn and Twitter, we can network and create new relationships with like-minded people. 

Bottom line, everyone is in the same boat.  We all need to connect and learn.    

I don’t know about everyone else, but I truly am sick and tired of worrying about stuff out of my control (i.e., the economy) and want something new to focus on.

I love using Twitter for my personal education.  I follow brilliant people and read their suggested articles/blogs.   I advised my niece who is studying graphic arts at Long Beach State, “Find people in your chosen profession whom you admire and then follow them on Twitter.  Read what they have to say, study how they think.  When you get a chance, become a part of their conversation.  You never know what might happen.”  She has connected with the CEO of a large graphic arts firm in New York letting him know she reads and admires his blog. He wished her well in her studies.  My golden rule re Twitter:  “Always be authentic, sincere, and pay it forward.” 

I don’t want to spend my time playing Angry Birds and worrying about the recession.  I believe this is the time to become stronger and the time to think, think, think.  There is plenty of opportunity to be better.  If there is one thing I know for sure, the recession will one day be over, and I plan on being ready for that day!

@rosaliekramm  Twitter

I am visiting my dear friend Jan Ballman of Paradigm Court Reporting in her beautiful city of Minneapolis this weekend.  Most of our conversations turn to the subject of court reporting and court reporters.  While having lunch in St. Paul, Jan made the statement, “Good is the enemy of great.”  I started thinking about the statement and realized the danger of being good.

I remember back, circa 1989, one of my court reporters came back from a seminar in Los Angeles and told me that court reporters were writing and sending their raw notes feed to attorneys’ computers so that the attorneys could follow along and read the testimony.  I thought that was the craziest thing I had ever heard.  There was no way I would ever allow anyone to ever watch my writing.

I was a good reporter in 1989. I wrote about 2500 pages a month and got my work out timely.  I enjoyed court reporting.  BUT THEN I started to hear about my competitors offering realtime to their clients and rough drafts.  I knew being a good court reporter was not going to be good enough any longer.  I had to become great.

 I went to an NCRA realtime seminar and a DRA realtime seminar and focused on cleaning up my writing (conflict free) and forced myself every week to work on a different “problem” with my writing.  For example, I had a conflict with all words beginning with a, i.e., a part/apart; a piece/appease…  At one seminar I learned to use a long A when I wanted it to be stitched to the next stroke.  That cleaned up so many of my problems, and it was an easy fix, it blew my mind.

My advice, don’t let being a good court reporter get in your way from being a great court reporter.  There is always room to be better, whether it means how you present yourself, how you write, how fast you get out your rough drafts…  Let’s all be great because being a court reporter is the greatest profession ever!

@rosaliekramm  Twitter

I have previously written a post about where court reporters and videographers could park in Los Angeles.  Court reporters, legal videographers, and attorneys working in downtown San Diego have similar issues of where to park, find the entrance to parking garages, and find the best rates.  I found a great website that takes away the worry or wonder of where to park at www.sandiegobestparking.com.   If you choose San Diego and insert the zip code you are traveling to, you will find a map populated with parking lots, pricing, and location.

As a court reporter, it is important to be as stress-free as possible before you get to a job.  There are enough things to worry about with attorneys’ names, identifications, organizing exhibits, and writing FAST.  Parking should not be an issue, and being late for a deposition, arbitration, or hearing because of parking issues is never a good excuse, and one that will probably have the client calling your firm asking that you not be sent back.

Legal videographers need to be on location at least an hour before the job is to begin, and court reporters need to be at a deposition 30 minutes early if they are writing realtime and at least 20 minutes early to set up for the deposition.

Being a freelance court reporter and legal videographer in downtown San Diego doesn’t have to be stressful or too expensive when looking for a place to park.

@rosaliekramm Twitter

Having been a court reporter in San Diego since 1981, I have seen changes in writing styles by court reporters who want to “save time” or write fewer strokes.  One of the habits I have seen lately is court reporters leaving out punctuation.  I assume the goal is to be able to write testimony faster if you don’t write in the punctuation.  Leaving out commas, semicolons, and paragraphs is a dangerous habit to get into, because sooner or later a court reporter will need to pass a speed test, certification test, or write realtime.

One trick I use is to global punctuation into phrases.  If you global , in fact, (including the commas) and hit the phrase in one stroke, voila, you are saving three strokes.  FAICT can be the brief.  A court reporter can do the same thing with (no space); is that correct or (no space); is that right?   

One of the brilliant tricks is to write a brief for dashes A. Yes. Q. dashes.  For instance,

Q.  Were you at the house when –

A.   Yes. 

Q.  – the people came in?

I have a client that constantly says:  Strike that.  Let me start over again.  I write SLAIG.  (And that includes a new paragraph in the brief.)

I used to write everything out.  I was wasting energy and time.  I never left out punctuation, but I would get exhausted after writing 250+ pages (more exhausted than I do now anyway). 

My advice to all court reporters, keep working on saving strokes and writing cleaner.  You will have a much better life.

@rosaliekramm  Twitter

I just attended the STAR (Society for the Technological Advancement of Reporting) conference  in Savannah.  Many highly respected and important court reporting firm owners were there from all over the USA and Canada.  What I heard over and over again was, “I need another court reporter, not a regular court reporter, but a realtimer that can get out quick rough drafts and expedites.”   The firm owners were describing talented, clean writers that could hook up realtime.

When I hear from a reporter trying to find work, I look at their resume, how long they have been in the field and what version of their CAT software they are on.  I find out what model of machine they are writing on.  I ask the reporter to send me their raw transcript before any editing so I can see if they write clean.  I find out if they have taken the CCRR or CRR and/or if they’ve passed any speed tests or gotten advanced certifications. 

Some people are trying to make court reporters out to be another commodity implying, “All court reporters are the same.  Let’s make a deal at these low rates, and whatever court reporter we send you, or machine we set you up with, will be good enough.”

As my mentor Tony Hsieh says, “Good enough is not great.”  The survival of our profession depends on great court reporters.  I would hope no one strives to be “good enough.”  Being good enough is not going to cut it in the future.  We have to be great.

@rosaliekramm (Twitter)