Realtime court reporting has been around now for 30 years, but never has it been so easy to get hooked up to the court reporter at a deposition.  There are so many alternatives to the costly, propriety, bloated Livenote realtime browser.  I personally prefer the FREE realtime browser software (Bridge) offered by Advantage Corporation through its EclipseCat website.  The two features that make this realtime browser stand out in a crowd are the fact that it allows the court reporter to REFRESH the realtime feed, allowing all parties to view immediate updates to the reporter’s rough transcript.  This may not sound like a big deal to you, but ask ANY reporter and they will tell you that this is the Holy Grail of our industry.  As a working reporter myself, I can’t tell you how frustrating it is to be outputting the realtime stream to a room full of attorney, raw as it is, especially when the same unfamiliar term or name comes up over and over, only to be left as an untranslate in the attorneys’ realtime browsing software.  Well, with Bridge realtime browser, I can now in a split second reach up to my keyboard, make a permanent definition in my steno dictionary, and instantly refresh every realtime browser window in the conference room with instant readable English!

As an attorney, you may look to the realtime screen to quickly review the last answer before asking your next question.  If that answer has a conflict or untranslated steno outline, the court reporter can reach quickly to their laptop keyboard, make the correction, and what you are reading will flash instantly into perfect English in the blink of an eye – no more trying to make sense of the untranslated steno outline on your screen!  I can’t emphasize what a big deal this is for our industry.  Many times on a particularly difficult day, the reporters will skip their breaks, shorten their lunches, forgo restroom breaks, to clean up a difficult transcript during those precious 10-15 minutes.  Well, when the attorneys return back to the conference room, their laptop realtime browser windows will be magically updated to reflect the editing that the court reporter has done.  It’s awesome.

The number two advantage to the Bridge realtime browser is as groundbreaking as the realtime refresh and that is the ability for this realtime browser to be run on a network.  Now, all realtime browsers will run on a bluetooth network using the wireless rs-232 standard protocol offered by companies like StenoCast.  The difference is that with Bridge, I can literally ‘write’ the realtime file “jones-gary.brt” to a “Public” directory on my laptop, log into the same wireless network that all parties in the room are using, and everyone involved can quickly open their Bridge browser, navigate to my laptop’s “Public” folder, and select the day’s realtime feed.  Your session will start immediately and will remain active throughout the deposition, as long as you are still connected to the same wireless (or wired) network – even if you leave the conference room with your laptop!!

If your company provides laptops that are locked down and cannot install new software unless approved by the IT geek squad, then Bridge solves that problem as well, as it will run off of any thumb/flash/USB drive!!!  Let me give you the scenario.  I was in a deposition in San Francisco a couple of weeks ago, providing a realtime feed to a client and a couple of other attorneys.  The witness’s attorney came in at the last minute, pulled out her laptop and asked if she could join the realtime connection as well.  She had no software installed, it was not even her own laptop, and she had not hooked up to realtime before.  As I always do, I had a couple of small USB flash drives with Bridge pre-loaded on them.  I plugged one into her laptop, connected her to the office wireless network, opened Bridge from the flash drive, and instantly was connected to my laptop’s “Public” folder for file selection.  The flash drives that I offer already come configured to FIND my “Public” folder on any network, so the hookup was near instant.  Wow!

There’s one more nasty catch to the whole “Bridge” browser scenario, and that is that if a wireless network is not readily available, such as it is in a hotel or law office, then the court reporter had better have a suitable router access point available to provide the wireless functionality.  I use a high-end Cradlepoint router that allows not only wireless realtime transmission, but also provides all attendees FREE wireless internet thanks to my AT&T broadband card.

Have you got a question?  Don’t hesitate to call us any time at (800) 830-8885 or visit our website at www.depobook.com.

Overview
Realtime technology allows our Sacramento court reporters, stenographers and certified shorthand reporters to instantly convert their stenographic notes into English text.  The text is then displayed on laptop computers or large projection screens placed around the event or conference arena.  The stenographic machines used today by our Sacramento court reporters are fully computerized. The realtime software translates the stenographic symbols and language into readable English, and allows court reporters to keep instant records in a digital format.  This technology is the nucleus of computerized deposition proceedings and lets court reporters deliver transcripts within hours, or even minutes, after the deposition or meeting adjourns.

Realtime Technology Skills
To perform realtime writing, court reporters must learn a “conflict-free” theory. Court reporters continuously build their software translation dictionaries so that possible words, names, places or events that may be mentioned will translate correctly.  They also need to build and customize their software dictionaries to translate homophones (for example, three separate and distinct entries for their, there, and they’re).  In addition, another important element of realtime writing is speed skills.  Court reporters generally take down testimony at an average speed of 180 or more words per minute.  To be certified nationally as a realtime writer, court reporters must be able to take down testimony at speeds up to 225 words per minute.

If you need a court reporter to provide instant realtime translation at your next deposition or public meeting, please call us now at 800-830-8885 and we will schedule you in.

Depobook Court Reporting Services is a national leader in court reporting and litigation support services and has been serving the Sacramento region and beyond for over a dozen years.  Our network of professional court reporters live in the area and are all state certified, some nationally certified, and many of our certified shorthand reporters even hold certified realtime certifications and elite national status as premier court reporters in our industry.

Our professional staff is available to support your litigation team 24 hours a day, as your needs demand.  Our downtown Sacramento court reporting office and conference center is conveniently located just blocks from the Sacramento County Courthouse, and is available to our clients free of charge to hold depositions, meet with clients, prepare for trial, or whatever your needs may be.

If we can be of service to you and your staff in the Sacramento area, please don’t hesitate to call us at any time at 800-830-8885.  We are here to serve you, and our court reporting services are unmatched in the industry.  You, your staff, and your clients will be handled with personalized service and attention.  That is our guarantee!

Give us a call today and see how we can work for you.