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Courts Nationwide Are Requiring Depositions Be Taken Remotely.

The current uncertainty of the Covid-19 pandemic is not relenting.   Stay-At-Home orders, while relaxing in some jurisdictions currently, are predicted to be phased in and out throughout 2020 and beyond depending on expected subsequent waves of the virus.

Courts nationwide have entered orders rejecting extending deadlines and are now requiring that depositions be taken by remote means.   It is time to move forward accepting that our current circumstances are going to be here for a while.

Federal Rule 30(b)(4) provides that “[t]he parties may stipulate—or the court may on motion order—that a deposition be taken by telephone or other remote means.”  Arizona RCP mirror this language.

As discussed in our article Momentum: Use It or Lose It, it is predicted that dockets will be backlogged for months.  One must now seriously consider the devastating domino effect that any further delay in taking depositions will cause to their client’s matter, and their reputation.

There are practical considerations a litigator will face when taking a remote deposition.  Instead of hoping you’ve read the right article, let us do our job.

We walk counsel and their staff through these logistical nuances each and every day.  Our platform is encrypted, password-protected, and is FedRAMP (Moderate) and SOC2 rated.

Obviously, remote depositions require integration of various audio and video equipment.   Not to worry, we’ve got your back.  Whether there are 3 parties or 30, at no additional charge we reach out and conduct practice runs with you, opposing counsel, and the witness to test technology, share best practice, and answer questions.

As impartial officers of the Court proficient with video conference technology, we help ensure the propriety of the process.   There are best practice protocol that you MUST require be carried out, such as the certified court reporter having control of all hosting functions, disabling any chat function, monitoring band-width and audio integrity in real time, simultaneously marking exhibits, and video recording only on-the-record testimony, just to name a few.   There is also a plethora of experience we bring, contributing to the confidence that you are geared up and on point for remote depositions.  These are standard functions that our elite team welcomes providing to ensure the integrity of each proceeding.

Please, do not be intimidated or put off by this technology.  This is what we do.  This is what we’ve always done.  We are your certified technical support assistant from end-to-end for all your remote video conference proceedings.

Bring it.

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Mentorship: Cloning Your Work Ethic, Vision and Values

Mentor

Leadership: Building Leaders of Tomorrow

Did you start as a clone of an excellent leader from your past? ?We all have that one mentor that completely changed the landscape of our career path.? Have you run with that assistance and become an average or excellent leader?? Which do you believe will bring you the most success?? What defines the two?? Quickly the conversation turns to mentoring.

Excellent team members, (future leaders) are no accident.? They are also?not the result of being led by tyrants, bullies or self-serving misogynists.? The strongest team members are groomed by those who take the time to be excellent leaders.

Rising stars are rarely created by senior leadership that is too vested in barking out directives, duties and deadlines week after week, but rather by superiors who invest the time to engage in an interpersonal relationship with a team member’s professional success.?? You’ve seen it time after time, a leader that rules without positive reinforcement and coaching falls short of his peers, is unliked, and often miserable.

If your objective is to lead a dynamic team of successful rising stars, like yourself, start with the objective to clone yourself, one person at a time. ?Define your own strengths and gifts, what you bring to the table, as well as the pitfalls that you’ve had to maneuver through to get to where you are today. ?Focused talent development is an efficient and effective tool to drill down on each teammate’s strengths, and takes a selfless leader, willing to care about those he is charged with leading.

Bringing 35 years/4000+ proceedings to your team: Marty Herder, CSR, CCR,

President Az Litigation Support, LLC.? [email protected]

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POTUS Delivers 6th SOTU. Thanks Official Court Reporter For His Service

President Obama used his sixth State of the Union address before Congress to reiterate his call for political compromise.?

Reactions to the SOTU were predictably partisan and non-productive.??

It is difficult for the American people to see where?anyone on either side of the aisle?is listening to “We The People.”

The 10% extreme fringe of each side of the political spectrum continues to drown out the majority in the middle.

To quote Dave Ramsey, “If you are waiting on the President or Congress to fix your life, your life will continue to suck.”

For a full transcript of tonight’s 2015 SOTU address, go to:
http://www.cnn.com/?/state-of-the-union-2015-tra?/index.html

Provided live in real-time, thanks to professional court reporter Ed Johnson, RPR, CRR, U.S. House of Representatives.

SOTU 2015 Realtime reporter thanked by President Obama

SOTU 2015 Realtime reporter thanked by President Obama

U.S. House of Representatives Official Court Reporter, Ed Johnson, RPR, CRR, being thanked by President Obama

U.S. House of Representatives Official Court Reporter, Ed Johnson, RPR, CRR, being thanked by President Obama

Court Reporting:? Moving forward with technology, not backwards.

 

 

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U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit to Hold Oral Arguments in Arizona

The Ninth Circuit Oral Arguments come to the University of Arizona

The Ninth Circuit Oral Arguments come to the University of Arizona

 

Here is an exciting opportunity!

As part of its statewide public education effort,

the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit

will hold oral arguments during an upcoming visit to University of Arizona,

James E. Rogers College of Law, Ares Auditorium, January 29, 2015

This judicial visit will include arguments in 3 cases:

Adobe Systems v. Joshua Christenson,

Arizona Libertarian Party v. Ken Bennett,

Mauricio Margain v. Elsa Ruiz-Bours.

Join us.???Don’t miss this chance of a lifetime to see the very finest of the legal profession argue.

http://www.law.arizona.edu/events/court_of_appeals_us/court_of_appeals.cfm

 

 

In Arizona, locally-owned, community active, with all the litigation-support services a national agency offers;?Arizona?Litigation Support, LLC. National certification and experienced, with personalized owner-operated service.??http://www.courtreportersaz.com/

Conference rooms, experienced certified reporters and videographers throughout Arizona.??? We are your cost-containment specialists.

 

 

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Passing The Torch

Passing The Torch:?? Get In The Game

 

I was blessed that when I graduated school, I had a dynamic, successful, no-bull mentor, Al Holiday. Al cared enough about our industry, and me, to selflessly take the time to sit down this know-it-all, recent court reporting graduate, and drill into my head the opportunity that I was potentially missing. ?For 35 years I have shared this story with every intern, young peer and industry friend. ?Although these are from the freelance experience, the same required tenacity and work ethic applies across the board.?? I?ve also updated this presentation to include the technology explosion that has taken place, as these “Keys To Excel” apply to many professions and careers.

 

Continue To Grow: ? Never rest on your accomplishments. Keep current on cutting-edge technology and continue to reach career milestones. ? Do not let up on attaining your next certification, whether it be RPR, RMR, RDR, CRR, writing successful bid proposals, or whatever your industry offers as the next milestone.

Get involved in your state association, leadership committees, and plan on being a resource to others. It won?t happen overnight. Take baby steps and get your toe in the water early in your career. Now. Today.

?If not now, then when??? If not me, then who??

 

Get Organized: ? Before your first?depo, project or meeting know how you’re going to organize and label, produce and archive your files, whether testimony, legal writings, solicitations or otherwise.?? These are in your toolbox for your entire career.?? And, ? backup, backup, backup. ? ?Do NOT trust yourself or your hardware, get self-starting update software, (a separate self-executing hard drive backup (like?http://www.seagate.com), or better yet $8 a month online backup with?http://www.carbonite.com.)

 

Feed Your Pipeline:?? Always keep things moving into, and out of, your production “Pipeline.” ? Write, edit, print. ? You’re never standing still, you’re always moving, producing. ? If you’re not writing or working on a project this afternoon between 2 and 6, you are not ?off.? You are always available, (no matter what the call-in) while editing/proofing and vice versa. Your personal time is predictable and scheduled, and all other time is devoted to servicing your clients and/or firm.

 

Real Time or Wasted Time: Never write a job without setting up for?real time. ? Never. Even if you don’t use it. ? You are investing in your own productivity and future by fine tuning your writing each hour, each job, each day. ? These dividends add up fast. ? Two years from now you’ll be absolutely amazed at what translates perfectly, even during miserably challenging expert testimony.?? Plus, technology keeps improving. You’ll need a good lead time to build a solid foundation of tech knowledge.

Elite reporter’s dictionaries rock because of this practice. ? Also, when real time is requested, it’s one more step that is common and comfortable to you. ?You are already dialed in, able to have complete focus and enjoy?writing. Yes, I said it: ?NJOY writing. ? It is a very rewarding endeavor knowing you are knocking it out of the park, writing real time clean with a respected and professional audience depending on you. ? You are at the top of your industry, and everyone in the room knows it.

 

Superior Work Ethic: Every?successful?freelancer/owner?that I know, has been the type of reporter that I describe below. ? All of these respected peers and friends came right out of school and hit the ground running (sprinting) with a superior work ethic and level of professionalism. ? They smoked other reporters’ productivity with a higher level of determination and diligence. ? Right from the starting gate, these “A” players had the foresight and vision to recognize opportunity, and were abundantly rewarded not only monetarily, but with a quality of career that many can only dream of.

 

Working For A Freelance Firm

 

1) ?Balance: Never let your pipeline get so backlogged and loaded with notes that you can’t keep a promised deadline; but ensure that you have flexibility to put a transcript a day (or two) out of rotation.?? To do this effectively you must be adept at communicating with each client about exactly what they need and expect. ? Communicate, communicate, communicate.

Keeping your worries, questions and hands in your pockets, afraid to have a friendly, detailed professional discussion with each and every counsel about their expectations does NO ONE any good. ?How do you relay your non-communication back to the firm owner? Additionally, non-communication is a red flag to attorneys. ? They will appreciate that you are taking the time to inquire precisely what their parameters are. ? ? If you are timid, afraid or shy, build a bridge . . . and get over it.

 

2) ?Optimize Your Skills: Do not be the reporter that continually gets walked on accepting weak and infrequent workload from a firm for an extended period of time, getting so few assignments that your pipeline is always empty, as you constantly are waiting around begging for notes, like a dog in a kennel waiting for scraps from the big dogs. ? If this situation exists, your skills and commitment are not being optimized and respected. ? Let others sit in that kiddie pool. ? The water smells there anyway.

3) Perform Like An Olympic Champion: ?Respectfully eclipse your competition (other reporters in your same pool or firm) simply by outperforming them. ? Just like in sports, actions and results speak louder than words. ?There is no need nor place to gloat or boast, just surpass the crowd and get it done. ? Everyone will see your consistent dedication, sacrifice and superior performance. ? Some can hang, some can only hang on. ? You decide which you want to be.

 

4) Availability: If you say you’re ?available? to work Monday to Friday 8:00 to 6:00, then you are completely ready and available to that agency each and every minute of that time, not making excuses, or moaning?about the assignment, or turning down work because you’ve just scheduled an unplanned?mani/pedi?with?Monique?for 2 hours. ?It pays off when the quality job comes, and the owner is looking at the pool and wondering who is going to be rewarded…the productive workhorse….or the bellyacher with the fabulous toes.

 

You can catch up, edit, print, etc., on your own time, in the middle of the night and on weekends. J ? We firm owners really don’t object to when, as long as it?s not on our time. ? Just as long as you make yourself available for the impossible task that we have of covering/juggling multiple jobs, firms, proceedings, venues and personalities each and every day. ? Sorry for the tough love, but we cannot build a business which will ultimately feed you better and more frequent work if we can’t depend on you.

 

It’s your career. ? Ask yourself, “How do I see my career playing out?”??? Do you want to be the “A” player, the go-to person that the coach relies on in tough situations, who is always in the game on each key play???? Or, do you want to be the casual floater your entire career, sitting on the bench,?pouty-lipped murmuring,?”How come they never throw ME the ball?”

You are our future, our new heroes, our Steno Olympians. Now, suit up, get in the game, and GO FOR IT!

We are all counting on you to carry the torch to others in the years to come.

 

 

Bringing 35 years/4000+ proceedings to your team:
Marty Herder, CSR, CCR,
President
Az Litigation Support, LLC.
[email protected]

Court Reporters Arizona

 

 

 

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Important Changes Govern Court Reporting and Their Impact on Arizona Attorneys

The Supreme Court Adopts Strict Guidelines to Hiring a Court Reporter in Arizona

The Supreme Court Adopts Strict Guidelines to Hiring a Court Reporter in Arizona

Overwhelming support of the Bar at:

Important Changes to the Arizona Code of Judicial Administration

Our deepest respect and appreciation to membership of the Arizona Bar, the Court Reporting Board, the Committee on Superior Court, The Task Force on Certified Court Reporting Regulation, the Arizona Judicial Council, and the Arizona Court Reporters Association.?? The recently-approved revision of ACJA 7-206 goes a long way toward the goal of protecting the public by now registering reporting firms, mandating demonstration of true equality in billing, prohibiting the reporting profession from facilitating or engaging in advocatory activities and defining protocols for increased security of the record.

 

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