Don’t Throw Away that Battery Tester Just Yet!
As a court reporter and deposition videographer, I watched this YouTube video sent to me today by email and thought, wow, that’s great, no more tossing half-used batteries! So, after turning the office upside-down trying to find a few dead batteries to test, and giving it that old court reporter try, it just goes to show, you can’t believe everything you read or see on the Internet.
Don’t believe me? Try this for yourself, just don’t try it on the job! #soconvincing
Write it Down!
Court Reporters, Get it Right! 
After the deposition, a court reporter usually asks, “Would you like a large transcript, condensed, E-transcript, E-Transcript only, or would you like all of the above?”
The first attorney may say, “I’ll take a large transcript, a condensed transcript, and an E-Transcript.”
The second attorney may say, “I’ll take a large transcript only, but call my assistant, Gina, and see if we take an E-Transcript, too.”
That’s just the first two transcript orders and you’ve got three more orders to go. If you want to save yourself a few calls later for “clarification,” or because your memory “just isn’t what it used to be” – WRITE IT DOWN!
If an attorney tells you he’s changed firms or he has a new address, don’t rely on your memory. By the time you get around to scoping and proofing the deposition transcript, there’s a good chance you’ll have forgotten what was said and then you’ll have to spend (waste) time researching the answer. If you want to save yourself time and aggravation, WRITE IT DOWN!
Let’s say there’s a trial date at the end of the month, but there’s a mediation in two weeks. They’d like the transcript by the 10th. You think you’ll never forget that date because you’ve got a lot of work to do between now and then, sync the video to the text and upload the video and synced transcript to your online repository. Keep yourself on track as the days zip by, know the date its due – WRITE IT DOWN!
In these days of information overload, rush transcripts, and production demands, it’s easy to forget something, but there is one way to cut down on errors, and it’s easy enough – WRITE IT DOWN!
Court Reporting – The Joy is in the Journey
As a court reporter and deposition videographer with Taylor Court Reporting Kentucky, our clientele is diverse. I often find myself on the road, traveling more miles than I care to think of. I don’t mind too much though, I really enjoy the freedom that comes with being a working freelance court reporter or deposition videographer. I just pack up my car with my machines, soft drinks, snacks, and if need be, lunch. I have my radio, CDs and GPS to keep me company
I live and work in Kentucky. As a matter of fact, our office covers all of Kentucky so, as I said, I’m on the road for miles and miles at a time. I’ve got a Toyota Camry Hybrid and that does help the cost of filling up my gas tank, but the road is always before me, I’m either coming or I’m either going.
Kentucky is a beautiful state, the Bluegrass State they call it, and it’s no wonder, when the tall grass of horse country blows in the cool breezes of spring and summer in waving fields of blue and green. Kentucky is a diverse state, big ciities, small towns and miles and miles of state roads surrounded by woodland and farmlands. Deer Crossing and Falling Rock signs abound, so you have to keep an eye out. But that’s not what this court reporter and deposition videographer keeps an eye out for. This Kentucky court reporter keeps an eye out for barns, quilted barns, to be exact.
If you don’t know, or have never seen one, a quilted barn is not a fabric barn, or even a barn covered by fabric, it’s a barn, typically an older or historic barn with a square-shaped sign that’s been painted in the pattern of a quilt block, and made for display on the side of a barn. They’re typically colorful, geometric, and eye candy to anyone driving on a country road.
“There, there’s one,” I’ll say to my videographer or court reporter companion as we drive along the winding back roads of Kentucky on our way to take a deposition, hearing, or arbitration. We make a mental note of where we spotted the quilt barn and hope there’s still enough daylight left as we leave the deposition to stop, get out, and take a picture of our hidden treasure, or treasures, if we’re lucky enough to spot a few that day. Yes, I’ve gotten out in the rain, pulled up in a stranger’s drive, to get the picture of my artwork on a barn.
My court reporting firm, Taylor Court Reporting Kentucky, covers the entire state, and most drives are good, but some are better than others. There’s nothing like seeing one, two, three, or a whole trail of quilted barns to bring a smile to my face and make the ride an adventure.
If you’d like to learn more about my travels and Kentucky quitled barns I see, please watch these youtube videos to see some of what I’ve been lucky enough to see as I travel the back roads as a Kentucky Court Reporter.
Barn Quilts Dot the Bluegrass
Kentucky Barn Quilts
Thirty Minutes Early or You’re Late
That my husband is an attorney makes sense. If he were a doctor, I might be a nurse. But my husband is not a doctor, he is a litigator, and as such, he attends depositions regularly, mostly starting at 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m., but this past week he had a doctor’s deposition set for 5:00 p.m. He arrives to this deposition in plenty of time to read over and highlight a previous deposition in the case and say hello to plaintiff’s counsel, the scheduling attorney, and the court reporter. By now it’s 5:00. The nurse says the doctor’s ready. Counsel and the court reporter are ready, but where, oh, where is the videographer?
The doctor says he’s got some dictation to do, and since everyone is there, and with a trial date looming, they agree to wait fifteen for the videographer. The court reporter, who hired the videographer, is now red-faced and on the phone frantically trying to find out where he is. She can’t reach him, and she says, “Doesn’t he know,” meaning the videographer, “if you’re not fifteen minutes early, you’re late?” My husband didn’t say anything as he thought to himself, “That’s not the way my wife runs her court reporting & video deposition firm.”
Well, the videographer never did show, so plaintiff’s counsel decided to proceed with just a written record of the deposition and forget about the videographer. I’m sure glad I’m not that videographer right now. Things happen, don’t get me wrong. I don’t know enough of the facts to place blame anywhere, but once a trust like that is broken; it’s mighty hard to get back.
Taylor Court Reporters Kentucky has a different policy about when our court reporters arrive on the job. Our policy: Court reporters arrive thirty minutes prior to the scheduled start time of any deposition, earlier if necessary and our videographers arrive sixty minutes early. Both court reporters and videographers arrive early in hopes of getting into the deposition room so they can assess their surroundings and set up their equipment in an orderly and unrushed fashion. Court reporters and videographers work with many electronic components, all having wires, plugs, ports, and switches, and each one requiring on-site troubleshooting from time to time.
So next time you set a deposition with Taylor Court Reporting Kentucky at any of the locations we cover, expect to see us on the job thirty or sixty minutes early, and if you don’t see us, ask the receptionist. Chances are we’re already in the deposition room setting up, running a test and getting ready to begin.
Schedule with Taylor Court Reporting Kentucky – we’re there and ready to go when you are.
Video Depositions – Best Shooting Practices
Kentucky Court Reporters & Video Depositions Statewide
A professional deposition videographer is likely to be the first person to arrive at your scheduled deposition. Taylor Court Reporters Kentucky videographers arrive an hour prior to the scheduled start time of any deposition in order that we might assess the video deposition space for size, lighting, seating capacity, electrical outlets, and table size.
Some depositions are easier to shoot than others. We all have been jammed into a doctor’s small examination room with several attorneys, a court reporter, witness, videographer with all their equipment, and a seven foot examination table. Videographers do the best they can, given the circumstances, and by showing up early, arranging chairs, lighting, and setting up camera and microphones, running a few tests, things should go smoothly. A professional videographer comes equipped with several tricks in their bag to make the most of any situation.
Shooting configurations can vary depending on the circumstances, lighting, windows, table size, number of participants, but what is the ideal shooting configuration, and why? Taylor Court Reporter Kentucky videographers are instructed to shoot across the table, with the questioning attorney to the immediate right or left of the camera, with the court reporter at the end of the table between the witness and questioning attorney. Using this method, the witness is looking at the camera or slightly off to one side or the other. We choose this method of shooting rather than shooting down the length of the table.
Why not make everyone comfortable and shoot down the length of the table with counsel lining both sides of the table? The problems with shooting in this fashion are many. Consider this: The questioning attorney is sitting directly to the right or left of the witness, the camera is focused on the witness alone. The picture you get is one of the witness constantly in profile answering questions and not appearing to speak to the jury. The jury is more engaged when the witness appears to be speaking to them directly instead of looking off camera, speaking to an unseen person.
Another problem with shooting the length of the table is a cluttered picture. Coffee cups, files, and hands get in the way of a long shot. The framing of the witness in this configuration is wider than the across-the-table shot, allowing more opportunity for the distraction of stray water bottles and tissue boxes.
So the next time you attend a video deposition, bear with the videographer as they ask you to sit here or there. They are the professionals and are trying to get the best audio and video record of the proceedings possible with the end result being a video record with which everyone will be pleased.
About Kentucky Court Reporters
Kentucky Court Reporters & Video Depositions has a longstanding history of excellence serving the legal community for almost forty years. Our court reporters and legal videographers travel throughout the state, as well as the country, taking …