Tag Archives: witness instructions

Five Tips on How to Get the Most Out of Your Court Reporter

Every attorney has their own style when it comes to taking depositions. Mostly all are equally effective in soliciting the information needed to argue their case, however, few are court reporter friendly.

To get the most out of your court reporter, we recommend the following:

1. Upon scheduling the deposition, provide all pertinent information, including a full case caption. The fastidious reporter will have this loaded into their document files and ready to go as soon as they boot up their laptop. In essence, a well prepared reporter is an effective reporter.

2. Provide any names that may be tricky or even products, brands or companies that may come up and that could cause interference of your flow. Trust us, we HATE to interrupt during your deposition, but it is our duty to have full and accurate information and spellings. This is especially important with realtime. The job where “Shores, Inc.” constantly translated as SURE/STINK was a real concentration-breaker for all parties involved!

3. Never skip instructions to the witness! Yes, we know it gets monotonous for you to say them day in and day out; and yes, the witness said he was deposed before; and yes, you want to get to the meat of the examination, but please, please, please give full instructions anyway! Again, our goal — at least here at Ace Reporters, Inc. — is to be seen and not heard. We DREAD interrupting!

4. Please note that your turnaround requests are paramount for reporters. Please let them know as soon as possible if you need a daily copy or even expedited. Reserving this upon scheduling is ideal. Anything other than normal turnaround time (which should never be more than 10 business days) affects the court reporter’s whole world! Oftentimes, they will need to be taken off the schedule for the next day, line up their scopists and proofreaders and even cancel dinner plans!

5. And last, but positively not least, don’t forget that we can’t do ANYTHING with our hands while you are talking, unless it is off the record of course! This includes marking exhibits, reading back and even eating lunch! We are trained to be fast in the bathroom, eat on the go and be as silent as possible, but following these tips will keep us proficient and loving our jobs, so thank you in advance!