Court reporting services are being offered all over the internet by large numbers of court reporting agencies. As the owner of a court reporting agency which was one of the first to go internet, I am fascinated by the twists and turns internet technology has brought to our court reporting profession.
New court reporting firms pop up every day on the internet due to the ease of putting up websites and getting exposure through paid advertising. The incentives being offered to book depositions is frightening because simple logic dictates that the money to pay for all this, ie, advertising and incentives, has to be generated somewhere.
The somewhere, ie, the generation of profits that I am told about almost on a daily basis is as new as the technology used to broadcast the incentives.
The National Court Reporters Association has guidelines for ethics which involve gift-giving and many states are now dictating transcript formats. Our profession like many others have individuals and firms which every day come up with new gimmicks to fleece the client. Luckily, our new internet technology has also allowed us to share information among our community about business practices which are contrary to the standards set by many states and our professional organizations.