New York Court Reporters Blog

There are several different types of court reporters in New York City courts. There are court reporters working in workmen’s compensation, in the grand juries, in family courts, civil court, etc. These jobs come under the category of court positions, civil service positions, and are salaried positions with many benefits. Your employer is either New York City or New York State. These positions are held both on a temporary and permanent basis. Usually, the benefits are different for temporary and permanent employees. Sometimes court reporters are given an assignment on a temporary basis with the understanding that the court reporter will take the test for the position when the test is given and upon passing the test, they will be put in the position on a permanent basis. Some of the benefits of these court reporter positions in the New York City court system include health insurance, pensions, many sick and vacation days, the ability to sell transcripts, etc. The benefits would vary in each position.

Certified Legal Video Specialist, CLVS, is a certification given by the National Court Reporters Association of successfully passing an exam given by the National Court Reporters Association, written and technical, hands-on, exam, which means that you have the necessary knowledge and skills to do a video deposition. The test is given several times a year throughout the United States. There are also other certifications given by various legal video associations. These also would attest to one’s knowledge of how to conduct a legal video deposition. At the present time there are no state requirements for certifications to videotape depositions. However, there are numerous requirements that must be adhered to in recording a videotaped deposition to be admissible for trial which is usually the ultimate purpose of videotaping a deposition. Each state has different requirements and anybody interested in pursuing the profession of a legal videographer should do in-depth research on the requirements in the state they wish to work in.

Court reporter firms need a staff of court reporters to report all different level of depositions, hearings, meetings, et cetera. There are various certificates given by both government and professional organizations acknowledging reaching a certain level of competence in the court reporting field.

Each state has what is called a Certified Shorthand Reporter test which when passed you will be certified as a CSR in that state. Many states, such as California, has very strict CSR laws. These laws govern the type of court reporting assignments you are able to take with and without being a certified CSR. The California CSR exam has always been known to be difficult to pass. California is very strict what you can report with or without a California CSR. New York State, on the other hand, has a much more relaxed CSR law. You can court report any type of proceeding in New York without being a New York Certified Court Reporter. However, having the ability to pass a CSR exam will give a court reporter a certain level of status. As court reporters pass more and more difficult examinations, the type of work which will come their way will increase.

Court reporters have many different job opportunities. The basic division within the court reporter community is freelance court reporters and court reporters working within the court system. There are also opportunities in television captioning. Toby Feldman Inc. is a freelance court reporter agency. Freelance court reporters usually work for one court reporter agency regularly. Freelance court reporter firms differ in many different respects. They have different pay scales, different types of work and different work policies. We will discuss the main difference within the freelance court reporter community and we will also discuss the different government court reporter positions available. There is always a great demand in any of the various court reporter fields for competent court reporters.

Video depositions have a variety of uses by an attorney both in preparing for a trial and during the course of a trial.

Video depositions are used by attorneys in preparing for a trial to see and analyze a witness’ demeanor in terms of how this witness would relate or not relate to a jury or a judge. In reviewing the video deposition, using various different types of software, an attorney can search the video deposition for specific areas of testimony he is most interested in.

During the course of a trial, an attorney can also select certain portions of the video deposition to present to the jury in the context of other visual presentations he will be making. He can also select a frame to create a still shot of a witness that he wishes to show the jury.

A video deposition can be used during the course of the trial if the witness is unavailable to appear due to geographical or health issues. Sometimes getting to trial will take so many years that there can be a queestion whether the witness will still be alive or alert enough to testify down the road.

A video deposition is a valuable part of an overall litigation strategy used by attorneys in lawsuits in preparing for the trial and during the actual trial itself.

The percentage of video depositions taken over the past 10 years has grown tremendously. In the past, the main purpose to take a video deposition was if there were a question about the availability of the witness to testify at trial. A video deposition of the witness’ testimony could then be offered at trial in lieu of the witness actually appearing due to geography or medical reasons

Video depositions are still taken if there is a quesiton whether the witness will be available to testify at trial. However, the real rise in the number of video depositions taken today is a function of being able to videotape depositions in digital format. The digital format of the video deposition allows the legal videographer to use a variety of softwares to prepare the video deposition to be introduced as part of an overall trial presentation strategy.

The growth in the popularity of taking video depositions in New York, California, Illinois, Texas, Florida and many other states nationwide has forged a new and very important partnership between court reporters and legal videographers in the past few years.

A video deposition is when a court reporter in a legal deposition or court deposition takes down sworn testimony and a certified legal videographer records the proceeding. The video deposition can then be burned onto a CD-ROM or DVD.

Synchronization of a video deposition is a technology used to synchronize the testimony taken down by the court reporter and the video shot by a certified legal videographer.

A video deposition occurs when a deposition is being recorded simultaneously by a court reporter and a legal videographer. The written product produced by the court reporter is called a transcript, and the videographer produces a video which visually records the witness testifying. In addition, the audio of the other parties speaking on the record, ie, attorneys present, court reporter, et cetera, is heard. Synchonization of video depositions occur when the text of the video deposition recorded by the court reporter is synched to the video recorded by the videographer.

This sychronized video deposition now shows not only the witness and the audio of the other speakers, with a clock showing the time elapsed, but also the court reporter’s written text. This written text can now be searched for specific testimony given during the course of the video deposition. The ability to search a video deposition enables an attorney to immediately get to testimony which he is interested in.

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