One More for Realtime

[Janet]

I had a realtime patent depo. today with three attorneys.  Two of them wanted realtime.  The third attorney said, "No, I don't need that."  I could tell he didn't think much of realtime, thought he had no use for it. 

When it came his time to ask questions, he moved to the seat with my netbook set up with the realtime.  Every once in a while, he'd look at the screen.  Before you know it, he was scrolling up and down, reading almost every answer.  Yes!   I love winning them over.  I think his answer will be different the next time a reporter asks if he wants realtime. 

[Janet]

The attorney who was questioning for most of the day paid for the realtime feed.  When it came to Cross, that's when the other attorney moved into his seat, with the realtime netbook still set up.  They didn't take the time to move everything around.  If Attorney A wants to come back and say he's not paying for Pages X to Y, then I'll deal with that.  It will be my loss.

When I posted, I was happy to have changed someone's mind about the benefit of realtime.  I still am.

[Lisa Moskowitz]

Oh, for God's sake people.  I've learned enough, in my infrequent time here, that Janet is the ultimate professional and a realtime proponent.  She is not going to just leave a netbook up for people to get free realtime all day long.  I can't believe the inquisition that's gone on here over her initial post.  I've had attorneys do the switcharoo for cross and redirect, and nobody drags the computer with them and nobody nickels and dimes the pages either.   Often the examining attorney will switch back into his chair for redirect and he has his computer again.  He pays for it all.  

Nice job on perhaps turning another attorney into a future realtime customer.  

[Janet]

 

Thank you, Lisa.  You'd make an excellent defense attorney.  :) 

 

I've never had anyone nickel and dime in this circumstance, either.  I think I've had two occasions where I provided realtime where the attorney said he didn't order it.  After seeing that it happens to other people more frequently, I consider myself lucky that I don't have to deal with that.

[Marge Teilhaber (TILE hobber)]

My perception, Mary Ann, is that the "Oh, I might look at it once or twice today" was a ploy to get you to say, "Aw take it.  No problem" or some other "you don't have to pay" language.  I can hear you very calmly and in a gorgeously crafted no-nonsense way, ""Do you want realtime today, sir?  There is a charge for it."  I LOVE IT.    Head down he says, "Yes, ma'am, I want it."  hahahahahahaha!!!    I'm seriously LOLg at this!!

[Mary Jo Cochran]

Although I know what realtime is, I have very limited knowledge about the billing concepts. Janet just mentioned the main person paying for the realtime feed.  I guess the others pay a service charge.  I wasn't intending to cause an uproar with my thoughts. 

I have worked as a legal assistant for many years.  I spent days on end with attorneys in their offices.  You all see them when they are trying to impress you.  I see when for what they are.

[Janet]

No uproar here.  Mary Jo, each attorney pays the same page rate for a realtime feed.  There were two netbooks in this case, one paid for by Attorney A, one paid for by Attorney B.   Attorney C used Attorney A's netbook during his cross in the afternoon.  If Attorney A decided he's not paying for certain pages, then I'm out.  This all happened in a split second when they switched off.  They all had planes to catch. 

[Quyen]

I understand, Janet. I have done the same as you. In my case, it was one hookup. The witness's attorney moved over (they switched seats) for direct for a few pages, and he used the RT. I'm certainly not going to make/ask that he pay for RT for those few pages. That, I think, would just look like we're nickel-and-diming, and I think that's tacky. I just think to myself that, if he likes it, maybe the next time he will ask for RT -- mission accomplished.

[mary nelson]

What does everyone do when they just come and stand behind you and read your realtime for an extended time?  Annoys the crap out of me.  Also, when you finally get a break and one clown expects you to spend it finding spots in the transcript.

[Lisa Moskowitz]

I remember one time specifically this happening in a very small room with easily ten attorneys.  Teh one next to me kept reading and quoting from my screen while asking his questions.  I was getting more more pissed.  I would shift the computer towards me more, and he'd move over more!  Finally when he leaned over one time to read back a question, I said, "I'm sorry, Counsel.  I'll have to ask that you stop reading from my screen.  This is my work product, and you are getting a service that I charge extra for.  If you want realtime, we can stop and I will set up a computer for you, and ethically I am required to offer realtime to everyone else if you're receiving it."  Of course, he didn't want it.   So then I closed my laptop and read back from my Diamante screen the rest of the day.

[Kelli Combs (admin)]

Wow, I don't know that I would have had the nerve to do that.  Good for you, Lisa!!

[Lisa Moskowitz]

It took me a while before I said it, but the guy was really pissing me off.  When I moved the computer away from him, he was literally leaning over into my lap over my writer to look at it.  No way I was going to let that happen all day. 

[Mary Ann Payonk]

Hi, Mary.  I edit from my writer, so when I find someone is trying to use my screen as their realtime screen, I just page back to the previous page or flip around in the transcript.  I try to do it j-u-s-t as they're reading the part they want to read.  Sometimes they are ballsy enough to ask me to go back to where I was ... and I'll do it one time, then take the opportunity to ask if they want realtime.  When they say no, I make the font very tiny so they'd have to get up in the screen to read it, especially the old guys, and continue to flip them off via flipping the screen  Ha!  M.A.