A Good Court Reporting Relationship Is Critical to a Law Practice

/in /by

Legal practices today rely heavily on having a quality relationship with a reliable and dedicated court reporting service. Court reporters are not just quiet stenographers on the sidelines anymore. They now have the ability to hugely impact the outcome of case, whether it is won or lost. Just as important, the relationship a personal injury law firm has with its court reporting service can benefit the firm’s clients. When building relationships with one or more court reporting services, it is very important that each relationship is founded in integrity, mutual respect and a mutual sense of ownership over client outcome.

All parties must understand that the court reporting service relationship must be at its best. To build that relationship, a law firm should work with a court reporting service that understands the following points:

Transcripts hold the power to make or break a case.
During a deposition, attorneys are tuned into specific points and objectives that must be covered during the limited time period with the deposed individual. In the process, the deposed party may say things that are missed or skipped over at the time of the deposition. These things may be discovered in the transcript when that document is being reviewed by the legal team at a later time. Because lawyers are human and may miss small details at first, it is critical that all of the details are captured in the court reporter’s transcriptions.

Travel to witnesses may be required.
Travel restrictions placed upon court reporters by their service will make some cases more difficult to navigate, as not all witnesses are local to the law office. It is important that the court reporting relationship specifies how out-of-town, interstate and international travel will be handled and that the service is included in the court reporting relationship.

Translation services may be needed upon short notice.
A quality court reporting service will have the ability to provide translation services when the witnesses and clients are not as comfortable conveying their points in English. Language cannot be the barrier hindering the outcome of a case.

Lawyers cannot rely upon court provision of a court reporter anymore.
Courts no longer provide reporters for each and every case. Quite often, court reporters are contracted by parties in the case and not the court, itself. A local court reporting service will know that there may be times that their law firm client needs their reliability in the court during hearings.

Knowledge and use of emerging technologies can be important.
Basic transcription is not the only service provided by quality court reporting services today. Video, audio and other technologies allow for consultation among case parties without everyone being in the same room. Such consultations can make or break a case, making important information, document reviews and other activities possible across multiple geographies. Because of regulations regarding secure transmission of personal information, the court reporting service must understand associated regulations and provide these services accordingly.

Maintaining the Quality Court Reporting Relationship

Maintaining a quality relationship with a court reporting service comes down to mutual respect among the parties. Our respect of court reporters is based in understanding of the valuable service they provide. We understand:

  • Sometimes court reporters must work long hours with few breaks and they often do so with a genuine desire to meet client needs;
  • When attorneys are hard at work on a case, there are many things they must focus upon and court reporters enable that focus with diligent service that protects and captures records critical to the case;
  • Using the equipment court reporters use is not as easy as it looks, these services at times being taxing on the court reporter’s mind and body while they must keep up with live interactions of high importance with accuracy;

To ensure we maintain the best possible relationship with our court reporting services, we work to adhere to the following guidelines of this mutually respectful relationship:

  • We try to communicate as fully as possible with the court reporting services regarding our needs in advance, such as for real time transcripts, expedited work or rough drafts;
  • We are as courteous to our court reporters as we are to any other key member of our staff, always knowing we must forge a quality relationship before it may be at its best;
  • We speak as clearly and succinctly as we can, reading other documents with the knowledge that these readings must be captured accurately and allowing the court reporters adequate time to note exhibits;
  • We understand the court reporter is consistently performing focused mental and physical work that often involves translation of accents and adjustment to varied patterns of speech while others in the room may be merely listening or speaking, with our attorneys thus providing consistent breaks for court reporters to rest, regain strength and ready for continued deposition or other activities;
  • We work to consider our court reporters’ personal needs before making decisions to abstain from meals or skip breaks;
  • We understand that court reporters schedule their personal lives around work hours and that if we are going to run later than expected, we need to coordinate this with our court reporters along with other affected parties;
  • We appreciate the service court reporters provide for us and we always strive to be grateful and courteous in our appreciation of their long hours and hard work.

The staff of Cantor Crane injury lawyers understands the importance of the relationship we have with our court reporting services. We use services we trust and this trust enables us to focus on the details of your case, not whether all details were accurately captured.

__________________________________________________

Special thanks to our friend Aaron Crane, of Cantor Crane Personal Injury Firm, for providing some insight into the benefits of building a lasting relationship between law firms and court reporting companies.