Exhibits placed in with transcripts...anyone offer this to atty's??

[Rhoda Collins]

Do you scan 'at' the job or bring them home? Do you then scan or copy? How do you charge them for this service? I would like to suggest it to our firm, but want to go in with a presentaiton of expenses/time it takes/etc.

Any info you can share will be wonderful!

Also, anyone offer online trannys?? Any info on that? Thanks!!!

Rho

[Judy]

Rho,

What makes you think your firm isn't already offering these services?

Judy

[Rhoda Collins]

My boss and I have discussed it. She thinks it would be 'too much work'....but I notice there 'are' some firms doing it, and would just like some info on how others do it/etc to present it to her.

[Sue Baker]

Most agencies I work for here in Houston offer that service or farm it out. I don't see how they can afford not to do it. More and more clients are asking for it. You must be a real asset to the firm, trying to talk your boss into better service for the clients!

[Rhoda Collins]

So if everyone can 'explain' how they do it?? Scanning each document? I had a HUGE exhibit yesterday....how much charged per page for this? I would think a bit more? or is the client charged the same page 'rate' per page of exhibit? I scan pics and do slideshows for people, and it can take a LOT of time to scan.....or do you just run it thru a copy machine??

Isn't there a thing about farming out the scanning/copying, since it is 'private' info?? I also know there are small 'scanners' I could have with me at the job and just do it then.

[Sue Baker]

Don't know pricing. Yep, they just scan the pages in. Just call an agency in your area and ask, is what I would say. I'm only a lowly reporter and don't know the actual fees charged, sorry.

[Judy]

Rhonda,

I scan all my exhibits and file them on my server in a folder that's sorted by date. That's for my benefit.

I've just started to burn them to CD with an E-Tran and am giving that to my client -- hold on, nobody scream at me yet -- because of the way I'm now binding my transcripts. I used to just Velo, but I've gotten tired of opposing counsel ripping apart my originals and copying them, so I'm now putting a glue seal on every tript. Well, if I do it to one, I have to do it to all. That means I'm also glue stripping my client's copy, which I know they're not going to be too pleased with, so I'm including an E-Tran with exhibits so they can print it up for their own use or for their experts, etc. I'm including that for no charge bundled in with the cost of their O&1.

Now, we just took four experts' depos and every one of the experts had at least a three-inch notebook filled with color copies, geological surveys and CDs. Two of the experts have a Bankers Box filled with exhibits, each. For that client I scanned all the exhibits and gave her the option of having me print and bind at a great cost, or burn to DVD for a reduced cost. Why? Because burning to DVD takes a lot less time and I'm a one-person operation and don't have time to print that many exhibits (I shouldn't even be lurking on this board!). Luckily she opted to save her client money and took the DVDs. There's so many exhibits the burning is taking two hours for each copy (and that's just the first expert). She's still getting charged a bundle, but probably 1/3 of what it was going to cost her.

I do have a quote in my possession from '06 from another CR firm for scanning exhibits: B/W .50/page and Color 2.25/image for what they term electronic output, and then CD-ROM generation $25/depo. Hyperlinking is $2/link. OCRing is .05/page.

And now that I'm really looking at some of these quotes from other firms, I see that I'm not charging enough for rough drafts! Dang, I hate that.

Hope this helps.

Judy

[Corinne Dupuis]

I worked in two firms in Phoenix doing production. One firm placed the exibits in the same binder behind the transcript (unless there were a lot or just one with a lot of pages). I left to have a baby before they started scanning things and going more digital, so I'm not sure what they do now if it's an e-tran and a nonpaper transcript.

The other firm I worked for made copies too and put them in a separate binder (unless it was 25 pages or less, then they'd use a pocket/folder thing in the back of the transcript). We always scanned the exhibits and saved them so if an attorney called later to order or someone only wanted an e-tran and the exhibits, then we'd have a digital copy of them and just put the e-tran and exhibits on a disk or e-mailed them. We had the huge copying machine that also scanned. We also had another copier that was a color copier.

On the really big jobs, we had a copying company that would do the huge jobs for us at the second firm.

They both charged an exhibit fee. I don't know the exact price, but I think it was something like 25 cents a page for black and white and more (maybe $1.00????, depending on the cost to the firm) for color copies. Of course, large exhibits, like architectural plans, etc., had to be sent out and were charged accordingly (they're expensive). Sometimes Kinkos has a runner who will go to the busness and pick stuff up and drop it off. You just need to give them time.

It's seems odd to me that CR firms don't handle exhibits because both firms I've worked for did (unless retained by the attorney). Some attorneys don't want the exhibits because they already have a copy, but the original exhibits should usually go with the original transcript, right? At least in AZ that's how it's usually done, I think. (In some big cases where they have binders that are used for all the depos, it may be different, but that's the only situation that I can think of or where the attorney/witness retains the exhibits.)

I honestly hated jobs with exhibits. Especially huge amounts of exhibits and they weren't sent out for someone else to copy/scan. To copy them and to scan them took a lot of time. I really hated it when an attorney didn't want the 600 pages of exhibits and then, just as I finished copying them for the others who did want them, called in and said, "Oh, I want copies of the exhibits now." GRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!! Of course, they weren't scanned yet either so I couldn't just push the print button.


I hope that gives you an idea or answers your question. I'm glad I'm not in the firm any more. I prefer working at home a lot more. :)

[Rhoda Collins]

Thanks everyone. I will have to think out a presentation. Seems like a LOT of extra work!
Rho