Don’t Be Left Behind - Catch the TRAIN!

Members of the Massachusetts Court Reporters Association met in Worcester on April 6, 2013, for their spring seminar.  The highlight of the conference was learning about TRAIN, our National Court Reporters Association’s initiative to Take Realtime Awareness and Innovation Nationwide.

Many reporters write realtime for themselves, but the push is on for them to transition to providing realtime for attorneys at every deposition or hearing.  This involves writing with a minimum of 97% accuracy, having software and hardware that allows you to send files serially or wirelessly, and for greater success in promoting realtime, purchasing iPads or netbooks for counsel.  Stenocast (serial wireless) and CVNet with a Linksys router, MiFi or Connectify are the preferred wireless routers used by court reporters.  Stenocast allows you to send wirelessly to many different interactive realtime products such as CaseViewNet, LiveNote, Summation and Visionary.  CVNet can be sent to CaseViewNet only but has Instant Refresh.  As the reporter edits the transcript during the day, counsel sees the benefit of those corrections. Reporters also have a serial connection option, if needed.  

Only professional court reporters can provide instantaneous realtime to counsel.  Reporters who provide this service, along with accompanying rough drafts at the end of the day, are the best this profession has to offer.  Since this is a premium service, reporters who deliver this service have the potential to increase their income above the usual transcript sales.

Massachusetts is currently at the forefront in moving this effort forward.  There are TRAIN groups in Boston, the North Shore, and in the western part of the state.  A new group will be starting up soon on the South Shore.  This seminar gave those in attendance a taste of what joining a TRAIN group would be like through a rotation of four mini-sessions covering different but related topics.

Members owe a debt of gratitude to Jill Shepherd, Jodi Ohnemus, Sue Garvin, Kathy Silva, and NCRA Speed Champion Ed Varallo for their time and effort, advice and encouragement during the TRAIN seminar.  They gave brief tutorials on what equipment to buy, how to set up, how to provide the cleanest roughs possible, and how write “short” for better translation rates and less wear and tear on the hands.

The Society for the Technological Advancement of Reporting (STAR) is another wonderful resource for those reporters who want to move forward and invest in their career.  Their emphasis is always on the latest technology and is suitable for reporters at all levels.

Doris O. Wong Associates, Inc., is celebrating its 46th anniversary!!!

Doris O. Wong Associates, Inc., is celebrating its 46^th anniversary this month!  Listed below are some of the major Supreme Court decisions of 1967, the year we first opened our doors: 

Whitus v. Georgia, 385 US 545 (1967)

Held that Georgia’s jury selection process employed unconstitutional racial discrimination tactics.

In Re Gault, 387 US 1 (1967)

Held that juveniles accused of crimes in delinquency proceedings were entitled to the same Fourteenth Amendment Due Process protection as adults. 

Afroyim v. Rusk, 387 US 253 (1967)

Held that the federal government cannot strip a person of his or her citizenship. 

Loving v Virginia, 388 US 1 (1967)

Landmark civil rights case that declared Virginia’s Racial Integrity Act of 1924, which prohibited interracial marriage, unconstitutional.  This overturned the 1883 Supreme Court case Pace v Alabama, (1883) and invalidated all race-related legal restrictions on marriage. 

Katz v. United States, 389 US 347 (1967)

Extended Fourth Amendment protection against unreasonable search and seizure to include warrantless wire-tapping. 

All of us at Doris O. Wong Associates, Inc., extend our sincere thanks for your loyal patronage and look forward to being of continued service in the years to come. 

Source:  http://wiki.answers.com

NCRA TechCon Convention to be held in Scottsdale, Arizona

From April 19^th through the 21^st, the National Court Reporters Association will be holding its third annual TechCon conference at the DoubleTree Resort by Hilton-Paradise Valley in Scottsdale, Arizona.

The emphasis of the TechCon conference is technology as it relates to the legal services industry, specifically professionals in deposition and courtroom settings.  It will focus on the lastest advancements and applications.  Registrants from around the country will include court reporters, Certified Legal Video Specialists, trial presentation professionals, lawyers, and legal technology professionals.  All will share information and network in these three days of concurrent seminars and workshops. 

Technology is constantly evolving, and it is imperative for legal professionals to stay abreast of the latest improvements so they can become more efficient, more effective, and better serve their clients.  Court reporters in particular need to continue to sharpen their skills and use the most up-to-date technology to provide the highest quality transcripts, often in realtime.  Hard copy transcripts are increasingly being replaced with digital and electronic files, and counsel are now using iPads and tablets to manage their cases.  So much has changed in recent years.  Rest assured this will continue to be the case in the years ahead. 

Take advantage of these workshops and seminars that focus on the technology available today, how the legal and court reporting professions are evolving, and what we can do now to prepare ourselves for the future.  Registration is now open!

Click here for more information.

STAR CONFERENCE TO BE HELD MARCH 7- 9, 2013

The Society for the Technological Advancement of Reporting (STAR) will be having their mid-year conference in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.  Linda Fifield, Vice-President, will be attending in her capacity as a STAR board member and member of the Liaison/Technology Committee.

STAR is an organization comprised of court reporters and key vendors, such as Stenograph, who share the common goal of developing and implementing the latest technology to advance the field of court reporting.  In addition to Case CATalsyt training, the conference presents a unique opportunity for working reporters and firm owners to meet with the actual developers of the software they use to produce their transcripts and ancillary litigation support products.  This exchange of information and ideas is directly responsible for the progress reporters have made to date and is critical if the profession is to continue to grow and evolve.

Realtime is always promoted at every court reporting convention, local and national, but providing realtime really takes center stage at STAR conventions.  STAR’s president, Rosalie Kramm, is making realtime the focus of her term.  To be able to provide this service, a reporter not only must possess the talent that comes with practice and experience but needs to know how to connect, serially or wirelessly, with the various devices attorneys bring with them, such as laptops, iPads, or tablets.  Reporters who have earned the coveted CRR, Certified Realtime Reporter, designation are this profession’s elite.  To be able to provide almost error-free, instantaneous voice-to-text translation is our profession’s gold standard.  The National Court Reporters Association and STAR are doing all they can to help more reporters become certified as realtime writers.

This meeting will offer business owners sessions, realtime sessions, Case CATalyst training sessions, networking opportunities, and access to many vendors in the exhibition hall.  If you wish to attend this convention, go to www.staronline.org and register.

iCVNet Training Video now Available for the iPad

Stenograph LLC’s channel on YouTube has a new video available called “Using iCVNet.”  This short video will show you how to securely receive an instant feed wirelessly from the reporter directly to your iPad using Stenograph’s free iCVNet iPad app.  In an easy-to-follow demonstration, the video will teach you how to:

• Connect to a reporter’s WiFi router
• Choose a reporter’s network
• Connect to the realtime server
• View the realtime transcript with Rapid Refresh updates
• Annotate, navigate and save the transcript
• Mark and unmark testimony
• Search for words, phrases and marked lines
• Email the transcript (if you permit) for use with the full CaseViewNet application for saving in a variety of file formats for use with it and other applications.                

When you need a realtime reporter who can provide this service, call 

Doris O. Wong Associates, Inc.  Our seasoned professionals will provide you with the cleanest realtime feeds possible and make your experience a positive one.    

        

 

COURT REPORTING AND CAPTIONING WEEK 2013

The National Court Reporters Association has announced that National Court Reporting and Captioning Week will be celebrated February 17 through 23, 2013. Its purpose will be to recognize the efforts and contributions of its 19,000 members who provide vital services as court reporters, captioners, and CART providers. Court reporters work hard every day in various settings all across the country. They provide lawyers with transcripts and the deaf and hard of hearing with access to education and TV broadcasts. They undergo rigorous training, participate in continuing education conferences, and invest in the latest technology to provide their constituents with the products and services they need.

All of us at Doris O. Wong Associates, Inc., are proud to play such an important role in the judicial process. We are mindful of the great responsibility placed in our hands every day, and we renew our pledge this week to promote our profession in the most positive manner by providing timely transcripts of the highest quality.

Court Reporting is More High Tech than Ever!

Gone are the days when all a court reporter needed to take to an assignment was a steno machine and a pad of paper.  Today if you see a reporter en route to an assignment, you will see the reporter with a large case on wheels along with other ancillary luggage, briefcases and/or back packs.  Technology has its advantages, but it also has increased the load reporters must carry to be able to supply attorneys with the most accurate transcripts possible, sometimes on an instantaneous basis.  Demand for faster delivery has grown, especially on high profile and time-sensitive cases, and so it is the reporter’s job to not only keep his/her skills in top form but also to keep abreast of the latest innovations in this progressive profession.

Computers entered the picture in the early 1980s, and it changed the court reporting field forever.  The technology keeps evolving, and the learning curve continues to climb.  The mantra heard in all other industries rings true with reporters as well:  Embrace technology or be left behind.

Reporters who provide realtime services to attorneys are at the top of their game, and they have the credentials and experience to prove it.  They have an impressive ability to write long hours almost error-free on a wide variety of topics while under incredible pressure.  As if that weren’t enough, they must be knowledgeable about their software and versed in counsel’s equipment so that successful realtime connections can be made.  Attorneys have different types of devices – laptops, iPads, and tablets -- and there are different ways to provide connections:  serially, USB, or wirelessly.  In this digital age, the amount of information reporters need to absorb is enormous and constantly evolving, so much so that the National Association of Court Reporters has developed a program called TechCon to specifically connect reporters and other professionals in the legal field to discuss current technologies and evaluate growing trends in the marketplace. 

The next time you need a certified court reporter, call us!  Our reporters continue to invest in their skills, education, and equipment to provide the verbatim transcripts you rely on to try your case, and staying abreast of the latest technology is their priority.  Our reporters attend national and regional conferences to keep up with all the latest advancements.  The Society for the Technological Advancement of Reporting, or STAR, on which Linda Fifield from this office is a board member, liaisons with software developers who are directly responsible for the programs court reporters use nationwide to edit and produce their transcripts. 

Time and time again research has shown that a certified court reporter bests all other methods of capturing the spoken word.  We are so proud to be a part of this elite group that plays such a vital role in deposition and courtroom settings.