Many of my attorney clients come to depositions with an iPad, a laptop, and boxes of documents/exhibits.  Lately some attorneys are leaving their laptop at the office and bring their iPad, but still have boxes of documents/exhibits they cart around.  I believe it is time to start losing the paper and using technology to be more efficient and save energy.

With our new Case 24/7^TM app, attorneys can access their transcripts and exhibits on their iPad.  They can view their deposition calendar with Mapquest directions embedded on the page as well as witness name(s) and starting times of depositions.  It is the KRAMM app found in the Apple App Store.

Here are some of the other apps that I believe attorneys should not live without:

PDF EXPERT ($9.99):  Great for reading, annotating, and emailing PDFs or portions of PDFs.

Goodreader (free app):  This is the perfect application for reading your pdf transcripts.  Open your pdf transcript from your email and start reading.  You can annotate, copy, paste, and distribute your comments right from your iPad.  I find the annotating and cut/paste features to be cumbersome and difficult.  This app is best for reading PDFs.

 Evernote (free app):  Evernote is the perfect solution for writing notes, organizing them, and syncing them with your notes on your mainframe.  You can attach images.  I suggest using a BlueTooth Apple wireless keyboard to help facilitate the typing of your notes.

iAnnotate PDF ($9.99):  This app has five star reviews.  It was built to read, annotate, organize, and send PDFs.  I have not tried it out yet, but will be researching this app over the next couple of weeks.  From my reading of tech forums, iAnnotate is great for annotation (seems logical) while GoodReader is great for reading PDFs (once again seems logical).

 With all of the new apps available, perhaps it is time to think twice about carting boxes of documents to depositions.  There is a lot of redundancy in the legal profession, and if there is any opportunity to reduce stress, back strain, and be more efficient, that is what I want for my clients and court reporters.

I was asked to speak on a panel for the students of Sage College Court Reporting School in San Diego a couple of months ago about freelance court reporting opportunities and what firm owners look for when bringing new CSRs into a firm.  The other panelists were a CART reporter and a freelance firm owner in Orange County.  It was interesting to me how many of the students were really focused on going into CART or captioning for their professional career.  (I would say 90% were interested in CART/captioning.)

Times have changed, thank goodness.  When I went to school (so many years ago) there was no realtime and hence no captioning or CART.  Because of innovation and technology, court reporters have careers that were not even imagined in the ‘80s.  I will state it once again, the reason there is new opportunity for court reporters is realtime.  What sets us apart from machines is the ability to hear, think, and write what someone says – and include speaker identification and punctuation.  There is new technology that is available, but that technology can’t think.

If a group of people are able to speak in staccato voices with no accents, they enunciate every syllable, and use language that is not unique (no IP or patent-type terminology), and there is no need for speaker identification or Q and A, great!  A machine might be the ticket. 

BUT if a group of people speak with accents, speak at the same time, whisper, or if someone needs a transcript with Q and A and speaker identification, you need a human being who can think.  I believe the skill of a court reporter can never be replaced by a machine. 

The question is:  Will court reporters step up and become great realtime writers?  Will they keep improving their skills and look for opportunity to grow as professionals?  It is up to us as a profession to fight the machines.  We have an ability and skill that no thing can reproduce.  We have the trust of the legal community.  The people of the world are in awe of what court reporters are able to do.  (Tell anyone you are a court reporter and right away they will ask you, “How do you do it?  It is amazing…”)

I am proud of the students I met at Sage College and court reporting students everywhere.  I know they are working hard to bring up their speed and accuracy.  I am proud of my colleagues in this fabulous profession who go out there and take down the spoken word.  I look forward to hearing about the next great job opportunity that will be available to court reporters that we can’t even yet imagine.

Our skill is unique and powerful.  Let’s celebrate what we can do and do it better than ever!  Court reporters ROCK!!!

@rosaliekramm  (twitter)

I have a colleague/friend in Chile who is a stenographer, court reporter that uses her stenography machine to write Spanish realtime.  We found each other on Twitter.  Isabel uses a Mira and writes Spanish CART.   An example of how her talent is used is, let’s say Microsoft needs to present a new operating system to their employees in Santiago.  The Microsoft technicians who are presenting the operating system traveling from the United States only speak English.  They hire an English-Spanish translator.  The translator does simultaneous translation and sends Isabel an audio feed of everything that is said in Spanish.  Isabel writes Spanish realtime on a big screen so the audience participants can follow what the Microsoft personnel are presenting.  BRILLIANT!

I believe writing clean realtime is one of the most exciting skills court reporters can show off.  Strong realtime court reporters will not lose their jobs to voice-activated translation software.  I use the words “strong” and “clean” on purpose.  I have met reporters who believe they can write realtime within the first year they get out of court reporting school.  I do know of one individual who passed the CRR and CCRR in his second year of reporting.  He was passionate about passing the tests to prove to himself and the world he was a strong, clean writer/realtime court reporter.  I believe he is rare.

Once someone becomes certified as a court reporter, either on a state or national level, there is still work to do to improve writing and gain speed.  Being a court reporter is incredibly challenging and fun.  People who don’t work to be better or be the best are going to have a tough future.  As my mentor Tony Hsieh writes, “Good enough is not great.” 

Court reporters all over the world are doing amazing things.  Our skill is incredibly unique.  Isabel has created a wonderful business writing Spanish CART.  We are all court reporters of the world and represent our profession.  Let’s all be super great!

@rosaliekramm Twitter