Tip for Attorneys: Don’t Be Like Dennis—Plan Ahead and Order Your Court Reporter Early

Posted bystenoimperiumPosted inCourt ReportingTags:, , , , , , , , ,

Attorneys have a lot on their plates. Managing cases, meeting deadlines, drafting briefs, attending hearings, and dealing with clients can quickly add up to a whirlwind of responsibilities. However, one area where many attorneys tend to fall short is planning ahead for court reporting needs. While it may seem like a small detail in the grand scheme of things, not ordering a court reporter in advance can lead to unnecessary stress, scrambling, and even delays—ultimately jeopardizing the efficiency of your case and your reputation as a lawyer.

Imagine a scenario where an attorney—let’s call him “Dennis”—waits until the last minute to order a court reporter for a deposition. The deposition is scheduled for 9:00 a.m., and Dennis has a flight booked for later in the afternoon. As the day draws closer, Dennis realizes that he hasn’t confirmed whether a court reporter will be available. He scrambles to make calls, only to find that all of the reputable reporters are booked up. Dennis is left with no choice but to settle for a less-experienced reporter who is available, but that comes with its own set of challenges. The witness is late, and the deposition starts behind schedule. This throws off Dennis’s carefully planned day, and now he’s worried about missing his flight, not to mention the quality of the transcript.

This scenario is all too common, and the frustration it causes can easily be avoided with a little foresight. Here’s why planning ahead and ordering a court reporter early is not just a convenience, but a necessity for attorneys.

The Benefits of Planning Ahead

  1. Ensuring Availability
    Court reporters often have full schedules, especially during busy times. Depositions are scheduled well in advance, and reporters typically block off their time to accommodate these requests. If you wait until the last minute to order a reporter, you may find that everyone you trust is already booked. Having a court reporter lined up early ensures you get the professional you need, and it leaves you with peace of mind that your case won’t be delayed.
  2. Quality Control
    Court reporters are an essential part of the legal process. The accuracy of the deposition transcript is critical to the outcome of a case, and having an experienced, reputable reporter is paramount. If you delay in scheduling, you might end up having to reschedule the deposition until you can have a court reporter in attendance.
  3. Avoiding Stress
    Last-minute scrambling is stressful for everyone involved. When you fail to plan ahead, you increase the risk of creating chaos for yourself, your client, and the court reporter. As in Dennis’s case, the stress doesn’t end once the reporter finally arrives. Now you’re pressed for time, worried about getting your questions answered in the deposition, and scrambling to make your flight. This is a perfect storm for frustration and mistakes.
  4. Better Coordination with Other Parties
    Scheduling a deposition often involves coordinating with multiple parties: opposing counsel, clients, experts, witnesses, interpreters, and videographers. If you wait until the last minute to order your court reporter, it becomes much harder to ensure that all parties are available at the same time. Early scheduling of your reporter also allows everyone to adjust their schedules accordingly, reducing the risk of last-minute conflicts.
  5. Managing Your Time Effectively
    By ordering your court reporter well in advance, you give yourself the flexibility to manage your day more effectively. Instead of worrying about logistics, you can focus on preparing for the deposition, strategizing with your client, or getting in some extra work before your flight. Being proactive helps you avoid the constant tension of having too many things to do in too little time.

The High Cost of Last-Minute Decisions

Dennis’s story illustrates just how disruptive last-minute decisions can be. When attorneys fail to plan ahead, they create a domino effect of chaos that affects not just their own work, but also the work of everyone involved. If a court reporter isn’t confirmed in time, it can lead to delays that can’t be easily recovered from. Depositions may need to be rescheduled, witnesses might be unavailable on the new date, and time-sensitive court filings could be missed.

Moreover, rushing to find a court reporter at the last minute could end up being more expensive. Availability constraints can drive up prices, and you may not have the luxury of shopping around for the best rates. In some cases, attorneys end up with a reporter who isn’t the best fit for their case, resulting in not getting the services you need, such as realtime and expedited transcripts.

Conclusion

The lesson here is simple: don’t be like Dennis. Planning ahead when it comes to scheduling your court reporter is not only a way to reduce stress, but it also ensures that you are prepared to handle your case effectively. By booking your court reporter early, you ensure their availability, maintain the quality of your deposition transcripts, and eliminate unnecessary stress as you juggle multiple responsibilities. Attorneys who are proactive in their planning will have more time to focus on winning their cases, not scrambling to find a reporter at the last minute.

So, the next time you schedule a deposition, remember Dennis’s cautionary tale. Give yourself ample time to order a court reporter, and take one more worry off your plate. Your case, your clients, and your reputation will thank you.

Published by stenoimperium

We exist to facilitate the fortifying of the Stenography profession and ensure its survival for the next hundred years! As court reporters, we've handed the relationship role with our customers, or attorneys, over to the agencies and their sales reps.  This has done a lot of damage to our industry.  It has taken away our ability to have those relationships, the ability to be humanized and valued.  We've become a replaceable commodity. Merely saying we are the “Gold Standard” tells them that we’re the best, but there are alternatives.  Who we are though, is much, much more powerful than that!  We are the Responsible Charge.  “Responsible Charge” means responsibility for the direction, control, supervision, and possession of stenographic & transcription work, as the case may be, to assure that the work product has been critically examined and evaluated for compliance with appropriate professional standards by a licensee in the profession, and by sealing and signing the documents, the professional stenographer accepts responsibility for the stenographic or transcription work, respectively, represented by the documents and that applicable stenographic and professional standards have been met.  This designation exists in other professions, such as engineering, land surveying, public water works, landscape architects, land surveyors, fire preventionists, geologists, architects, and more.  In the case of professional engineers, the engineering association adopted a Responsible Charge position statement that says, “A professional engineer is only considered to be in responsible charge of an engineering work if the professional engineer makes independent professional decisions regarding the engineering work without requiring instruction or approval from another authority and maintains control over those decisions by the professional engineer’s physical presence at the location where the engineering work is performed or by electronic communication with the individual executing the engineering work.” If we were to adopt a Responsible Charge position statement for our industry, we could start with a draft that looks something like this: "A professional court reporter, or stenographer, is only considered to be in responsible charge of court reporting work if the professional court reporter makes independent professional decisions regarding the court reporting work without requiring instruction or approval from another authority and maintains control over those decisions by the professional court reporter’s physical presence at the location where the court reporting work is performed or by electronic communication with the individual executing the court reporting work.” Shared purpose The cornerstone of a strategic narrative is a shared purpose. This shared purpose is the outcome that you and your customer are working toward together. It’s more than a value proposition of what you deliver to them. Or a mission of what you do for the world. It’s the journey that you are on with them. By having a shared purpose, the relationship shifts from consumer to co-creator. In court reporting, our mission is “to bring justice to every litigant in the U.S.”  That purpose is shared by all involved in the litigation process – judges, attorneys, everyone.  Who we are is the Responsible Charge.  How we do that is by Protecting the Record.

Leave a comment