How Can a Realtime Reporter Benefit You?

Once an attorney has used realtime, they quickly realize they don’t want to attend a deposition, arbitration or trial without it because they have everything right there, at their fingertips, easily searched, marked and retrieved. Without it, they feel as if they are at a disadvantage, like being without their cell phone, because they have no opportunity to review previous testimony, mark issues, or to search forward or backward in the transcript.

David Feldman’s blog post offers a quick demonstration of what a realtime feed looks like, and in that feed, it should be noted that the proper names are translating correctly. Proper names will only translate correctly if they are programmed into the court reporter’s dictionary. Counsel can assist by providing the agency or court stenographer with a list of proper names and matter-specific vocabulary prior to the proceeding.

The benefits of a live realtime feed or streaming realtime text are many, and include the following:

• With a live realtime feed, counsel may read back the witness’ response and determine whether or not the witness actually answered the question or danced around it. If the witness was evasive, counsel can immediately address the issue at that moment, and press the witness for a responsive answer.
• Subject matter experts in off-site locations may receive streaming realtime and provide input via secure instant messaging (IM), alleviating expert travel costs and allowing for superior team collaboration.
• The realtime feed may be searched, marked, annotated and reviewed by associates and support staff during the proceedings to ensure important follow-ups are not overlooked.
• Non-examining counsel may mark issues to be addressed in their examination and use the realtime feed to determine whether a question was objectionable or needs to be clarified or expounded upon.
• At the conclusion of the proceeding, counsel walks away with a rough, uncertified but very usable transcript to utilize in preparation for the next day’s proceedings.
• The ability to attend depositions remotely, eliminating travel costs
• Using the marking and annotation features reduces the time it takes to summarize transcripts

Daryl Teshima’s article in Los Angeles Lawyers Magazine offers more information and advice for counsel considering whether to begin using this technology. Free realtime viewing software (CaseViewNet and Bridge) now allow counsel to receive the realtime feed on an iPad or iPhone. The free realtime viewing software is simple to use and requires no training.

Litigators interested in using realtime for the first time, as well as those who prefer not to travel with their own laptops, are advised to request that the court reporter bring an extra laptop or iPad with the free realtime software installed, as this will avoid any technical difficulties or delays in the start of the proceeding.

While the English translation of the reporter’s strokes appear within a second or two of the words being spoken, counsel should note that the realtime feed is an unofficial, unedited transcript, and will, therefore, have no title or signature page, table of contents or certificate page associated with it. Instead, the transcript will have a disclaimer stating that it may not be quoted from or filed with the court, as it is uncertified. The certified transcript will be delivered to counsel subsequently, as determined by the delivery instructions by counsel.

When realtime is being requested for a proceeding, it is imperative that counsel informs the reporting agency of their desire to receive realtime so that a properly trained and/or certified realtime reporter is assigned.