The certified court reporters of Omega Reporting strive to ensure our clients have the ultimate experience with us at each deposition we attend. When I arrive at the depo and after introductions with all parties present, I request the caption of the case if one wasn’t provided to me previously. I then proceed to use the camera functionality on my iPhone to take a snapshot of the pleading.

Attorneys often comment how that is such a cool way to capture the information versus the usual pen and paper method. The act of that one simple step, I feel, elevates and highlights me as a proficient and highly skilled court reporter which, in turn, may bring my name to the forefront of their minds when booking their next deposition. The legal landscape is constantly changing and we, as court reporters, need to keep abreast of changes in order to stay relevant as time and technology leaps ahead!

Upon completion of the deposition, I use the tethering option on my phone to then connect my laptop to the Internet where I am able to immediately upload my files to Dropbox as a great backup option. Of course, Dropbox is not my main backup option, as I view it more of a collaborative tool; but it’s in the cloud just in case something would happen between leaving the job and arriving back at the office.

Once I arrive back to my office, I simply have to retrieve the caption from my camera app and print directly to my wireless network printer (HP LaserJet 600 M601). If you don’t have a wireless network printer, there are apps, of course, you may use to print directly to your supported printers as well.

As I’ve said many times before:

Technology is great!

“An e-mail signature is a block of text appended to the end of an e-mail message often containing the sender’s name, address, phone number, disclaimer or other contact information.”

There are several reasons why it is important to add more than just your name at the end of each email.

• Conveys willingness to be contacted via different methods
• Customers have the ability to research your company if you provide links to your website and social media
• Reflection of who you are
• Opportunity to promote your professional skills and company
• Build brand recognition
• Cost-effective marketing opportunity

Basic email signatures should contain the following:

• Name
• Title
• Business Name
• Telephone Numbers
• Physical Address
• Website Address
• Email Address
• Logo
• Your most important Social Media Connections (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Blog)
• Confidentiality Statement

When creating your email signature, it is wise to keep it as brief as possible. One method to ensure brevity is to use hyperlinks for your contact information and Social Media connections. I attach a vCard that contains the bulk of my contact information. With the use of a vCard, the recipient of each email merely needs to click on the attachment and save it to their address book.

With today’s technology and the widespread acceptance of Social Media networking, we need to include those forums as well. We’ve been given these tools to work with that allow us to stand out from the crowd, so I feel you need to use them!

Because court reporters work and communicate with attorneys and legal professionals, the confidentiality statement is a must. I include one with every email I send.

Here is a sample of my Omega Reporting email signature without the confidentiality statement. Each of my Social Media icons are linked for easy accessibility at all times.

My next blog post will be focused on how to create an effective email signature for court reporters. Stay tuned!

My iPhone and iPad have revolutionized the way I do business and increases my efficiency and productivity immeasurably. There are almost limitless application options available for the different operating systems of any smartphone and/or tablet. I have a recommended list of applications for the iPhone and iPad on my website for legal professionals, and you may view my top choices here.

Skype is a software application that allows users to make voice and video calls and chat over the Internet.  The latest version of Skype offers the clearest, crispest, sharpest quality video calling and high-definition capability.

The benefits of using Skype rather than the traditional videoconference and/or telephone deposition are many.  My top reasons for why legal professionals should consider using Skype for upcoming depositions and/or client meetings are listed below.

1. Skype is free — there is also an upgraded account available at an affordable price
2. Eliminates long-distance telephone charges one would incur in a traditional telephone deposition
3. Eliminates costly airline travel and extra expenses associated with air travel
4. Cost-effective method to use when your client may be budget conscious
5. Viable option when you cannot conveniently meet in person
6. Gives legal professionals a face-to-face experience with potential witnesses
7. Skype gives you the ability to gauge reactions and facial expressions of all participants

Adding and installing the Skype application to your technology toolbox is fast, easy, and affordable (free).    Just click the Download Skype button and follow the prompts. When you book a Skype deposition with Omega, we have the capability of bringing a computer with the Skype application already loaded.  Just ask at the time of booking.

What you’ll need to get started:

• latest version of Skype
• webcam
• fast Internet connection

Below is a list of my top ten ways that you can be a Google “Search Ninja” for those spellings so you can get your transcripts out the door faster, easier, and more efficiently.

1. Type the word “define” before the word you want to look up in the search bar. Example: define ninja
2. Type in a word followed by “~glossary” to find glossaries, term lists, and dictionary entries for that word. Example: ninja ~glossary
3. To find the weather in a particular city, type “weather” followed by the name of your city or zipcode.
4. To find the geographical location for any U.S. telephone area code, type in the three-digit area code and then hit Enter.
5. Put double quotes around a set of words to alert Google to consider the exact words in the exact order without any change. Keep in mind, though, that you may miss some good results by using this search method. Example: “John Kennedy” will miss pages that refer to John F. Kennedy.
6. The wildcard, *, is a powerful tool. When you include * within your search query, Google uses that as a placeholder for any unknown terms and then finds the best match. Note that the * works only on whole words, not parts of words.
7. Type in the + sign before your search query to eliminate synonyms and use your words only.
8. To see flight status for arriving and departing U.S. flights, type in the name of the airline and the flight number into the search box.
9. You can use Google to convert between many different units of measurement of height, weight, and volume. Just enter your desired conversion into the search box. Example: 1/2 cup to tablespoons
10. Google Scholar provides a simple way to broadly search for scholarly literature. From one place, you can search across many disciplines and sources: articles, theses, books, abstracts and court opinions, from academic publishers, professional societies, online repositories, universities and other web sites. You can limit search to legal opinions and journals in several ways. From the Homepage, you can select the option marked legal opinions and journals. From search results pages, you can use the first drop-down menu, which allows you to select collections to search, to make this choice.

According to Nielsen’s projections last year, it was predicted that one in two Americans would own a smartphone by Christmas 2011. While no one really knows how many total phones are sold, the reality is that a huge number of people will experience the Internet on a mobile device.

With that background in mind, it became apparent and important to me that my clients, legal professionals, and my court reporter colleagues visiting my website would benefit greatly by having a mobile website. I know I personally am looking to get important content easily, at my fingertips, and have access virtually everywhere.

So I am proud to announce that Omega Reporting now has a mobile website! Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

The best course of action is to always hire your next reporter based on their skill, ability, and credentials.  Our reporters have been certified by testing and hold some of the highest certifications offered by NCRA.  The commitment to education and certification by testing also ensures our clients that the highest level of professionalism is consistently met.

The Ethics First program was created as a positive and proactive effort to encourage reporters, firms, and the clients they serve to promote the impartiality and the neutrality of the reporting profession and avoid inappropriate gift giving and gift acceptance. When used correctly, the Ethics First trademark is designed to instill public confidence in and support for the court reporting profession.

The National Court Reporters Association has recently published a video to educate the public and legal professionals regarding how gift giving may impact your firm, and it is included below for reference. Legal professionals and attorneys adhere to and uphold their own ethical obligations.

By attorneys and/or their staff accepting gifts and incentives from court reporters, there may be unintended consequences for your case:

• attract attention of the Internal Revenue Service
• jeopardize the victory of your case
• possible ethical violations of attorneys

I have to admit that I readily and enthusiastically committed to the iPhone and its multiple features from the device’s inception. I feel it is an essential tool to aid me in my day-to-day business with paralegals and attorneys alike.

As we all know, technology is great when it works. Today I experienced an outage of my Internet service with my carrier that lasted for most of the day. Did I let that stop me from continuing on with the production of transcripts and uploading of my files to the Secure Online Repository? Indeed not!

When I upgraded to my iPad 2 a few months ago, I elected to add the feature of a personal hotspot (sometimes referred to as Internet tethering) on my mobile phone plan. So rather than bemoan the fact that I had no Internet this afternoon, I immediately decided to tether my iPhone with my MacBook Air! It worked like a charm and I was able to continue with my production of transcripts and uploading of my files. I was also able to continue answering my emails and Google some proper names for production of accurate transcripts. Taking advantage of technology is great!

Click on the image below for a short video tutorial on how to tether your iPhone with your computer. If you need help troubleshooting your personal hotspot, click here to review an article from Apple’s website.

How to Tether Your iPhone With Your Laptop

Teamwork – noun, “work done by several associates with each doing a part but all subordinating personal prominence to the efficiency of the whole.”

As a freelance court reporter, it is sometimes easy to forget about the importance of teamwork — especially in today’s ever-changing technology-driven environment. Our profession has become (and viewed by many)  a cottage industry (by definition, working at home with your own equipment).  Sure, we go to the job and do our magic on that “little machine”, but rarely interact much with the participants.

When I started my company late last summer, I associated myself with a local videography firm, Law Media Productions, to handle videotaped deposition requests. They were the natural and logical choice for me because they provide Certified Legal Video Specialists (a must!). Nearly 50% of the depositions I handle are videotaped.

The roles of the court reporter and videographer are intertwined, and there’s significant synergy and teamwork between myself and my videographer from start to finish!

Our teamwork begins by the videographer arriving approximately an hour prior to start time. This enables him to set up his equipment and do any necessary testing prior to my arrival, which is 30 minutes before the deposition is scheduled to begin. My arrival after the videographer allows him the opportunity to set up at his leisure and no worries about anyone hovering. It’s then my turn to set up. Setup is quick and easy for the court reporter: boot up the computer, attach your tripod to your machine. The videographer then provides a direct audio feed to my computer and we’re ready to go!

Once all the parties, attorneys, and witness are situated and before we go on the record, I always make a quick check to ensure that everyone has their microphone clipped on their lapels. A quick acknowledgement by myself to the videographer lets him know that we’re ready to go on the record. Our teamwork is like a well-oiled machine and the process works smoothly throughout the day.

Once the deposition is concluded, our teamwork continues through the production phase. At times video-text synchronization is requested. Video-text synchronization captures the witness’ testimony via videography along with the certified court reporter’s transcript.  A trial-ready CD or DVD allows you to show the witness’ words appearing on screen as they are being spoken.  Adding a video component to the deposition process brings the written words “alive”! Video depositions capture the witness’ facial expressions, pauses, change in tone, demeanor, and mannerisms that will never be captured with the written word alone.

In an effort to aid the videographer in his production role, as the court reporter, I can provide him with a timestamped transcript for the process of synching and/or editing of the deposition. The videographer and court reporter, doing two different functions or tasks, working in cooperation with each other, can create an excellent multimedia tool for later use in the courtroom. Some of the benefits of video-text synchronization are as follows:

1. view video on a computer screen alongside the written transcript
2. perform search with keywords to find exact testimony you need (saves you time)
3. playback at trial to engage a jury more effectively

The videographer and the court reporter are a cohesive unit working together (teamwork) to provide attorneys and legal professionals a value-added multimedia tool/product that’s essential to the success of their trial or arbitration. Call or schedule online to book your next video deposition with Omega Reporting, your Memphis court reporters!

“Alone we can do so little.  Together we can do so much.” – Helen Keller

Innovative – adjective, “Using or showing new ideas, methods, etc.”, according to thefreedictionary.com.

Omega Reporting (your Memphis court reporters) embrace and thrive on technology and find innovative ways to implement it every day. A lot of hard work, experience, and persistence goes into all aspects of our business; and the result impacts positively for our clients. The ability to have the cool technology is one thing; but being innovative is a high priority for us and, in turn, for our clients. Omega uses technology tools to solve everyday tasks and real-world problems today in order to help make your job easier.

The focus of Omega is clearly our clients and how we can provide the ultimate experience and value to them. Our website, of course, highlights the advantages of working with us and offers information and resources to assist in daily tasks. Click here to view our Client Center.

Online repositories have been available and widely used for several years to access transcripts at the click of a mouse. i-Tran, Omega’s secure online repository, is innovative in that it is a cross-platform tool that may be utilized in any browser of your choice.

Gone forever are the days of returning home with the intention of catching up on deposition preparation, only to be frustrated that you can’t get on the repository because of downtime and/or you’re forced to use a PC and Internet Explorer! i-Tran is the product of many development hours using web standards versus platform or browser standards. Again, being innovative in order to solve a specific user-identified issue encountered with other repositories. Feel free to use a PC, Mac, Google Chrome, Firefox, Safari, or any other browser of your choice to help you with your deposition prep at work, at home, or wherever your travels may take you!

Stay tuned for future blog posts that will highlight other innovative ways Omega uses technology to help you; such as, working with transcripts on your iPad.

“The value of an idea lies in the using of it.” – Thomas Alva Edison