Guidelines For Attorneys...Enjoy!

[Sue @ The Brief Zone]

1. Give the court reporter vague or incorrect information about the location of the deposition. This will get you off to a good start with this professional problem-solver.

2. Rush through the door at the last minute and start the proceedings without introducing yourself. Everyone knows who you are and appreciates that you were able to make it at all.

3. Don’t bother to enunciate or project. Court reporters are issued bionic hearing when they graduate court reporting school.

4. For similar reasons, continue speaking while the court reporter is marking exhibits, changing paper, etc., as it makes him or her feel ambidextrous.

5. Talk as fast as you can, preferably out-shouting others. This makes you seem more important.

6. Ignore the reporter when asked to repeat or spell a word. If you know what you said, the reporter should too.

7. Do not aggravate your court reporter by asking if her or she needs a break or a drink of water. These things are not necessities, since court reporting duties are mostly automatic, like the functions of a robot.

8. Don’t mistake the reporter’s lifeless gaze as an indication of boredom. He or she is actually absorbed by the intricacies of your 10-minute hypothetical.

9. Read extensive medical reports into the record at breakneck speeds to give your court reporter an invigorating workout. To add to the effect, do not identify those reports or exhibits.

10. If your court reporter bolts out the door as soon as the deposition is over, he or she is simply eager to get home and relive the experience while transcribing and proofreading your mess.

[Trisha]

This doesn't happen so much where I live now, but when I worked in downtown Manhattan and Brooklyn for several years, you can imagine the screaming matches that ensued. I've seen attorneys throw legal pads at one another, rip exhibits out of someone's hands, I've seen conference room tables flipped over (divorce case), I've had a fist fight at a deposition before (reputed mob guys) - you name it.

Someone taught me this years ago and so far it's worked fine for me. When the talking on top of one another gets out of control, I hold out one hand in the "stop position" and blurt out very quickly, "One at a time. One at a time." Then I break into song and starting singing, "Stop ... in the naaaaame of loooove." okay, just joking there.

Of course, it only works for so long. When things get out of control again and people are talking on top of each other, I take my hands off my machine and hold them straight over my head and blurt out, "I am not writing this. One at a time." Only works for so long again. The third time I stand up from behind my machine and announce "I am not writing this. One ... at ... a ... time."

I feel like we're dealing with children sometimes, which is why I use short phrases and always make eye contact with the worst offender. I completely agree with Kelli by not interrupting constantly because it makes us look incompetent, but I have found great results with that little method. By taking your hands off your machine the attorneys know you are not writing them and reality sets in. Whether someone thinks it's professional or not, that's fine - it's something that's worked for me.

Kelli, sounds like you need to bring a ruler with you on some of your depos and start smacking hands. Either that or start putting them in time-outs. haha

[Trisha]

And I forgot to add one of my favorites... I had a room of five attorneys, literally all carrying on arguments at the same time in different directions. The one attorneys shouts that he's calling the judge. Then he turns to me and says, "I want you to read back every bit of colloquy to the judge when we get him on the phone."

My reply was: "How many of the three separate screaming matches do you think I was actually able to take down?" Then, without hesitation, I started reading back. About every second word I said, "Interruption, Mr. So-and-so," read another two words, "Interruption, Mr. So-and-so," and kept going until one attorney said, "This record is going to be a mess."

So I was thinking, Really? What on Earth gives you THAT idea?

Ahhh, screaming NJ & NYC attorneys, how I miss it so. NOT!

[Lisa O'Sullivan]

Kelli! Yikes. :) If you are feeling that you were disrespected and not liking it, you're in good company. I don't like that feeling either. I don't even like it when I see others being disrespected! And then I go and open my mouth and offend people who think I should stay out of it. :) I would feel disappointed in myself for not speaking up in those cases, though.

Anyway, I for one think Adam was not actually disrespecting you. Not that I'm some sort of oracle. But I think he was genuinely trying to look out for a fellow reporter and for reporting in general. After all, he's very knowledgeable about these things, as an agency owner and a member of the NCRA board. Also, as a regular RT provider, I don't know how much workers' comp. he does. ;-)

[Trisha]

Adam,

You're a bit condescending in your reply to Kelli. She clearly is not talking about going to the bathroom or getting a sandwich. And I'm sure she's not talking about every single deposition in which this occurs. For someone who has been a reporter for over 20 years, it's quite obvious she's referring to a matter of several words and not several hours of lost testimony. She is not relinquishing any responsibility as you have accused her.

I do not believe it's a violation of any ethical duties to be human. I doubt very much a judge anywhere in this country would accuse Kelli or anyone else for being unethical and not performing their duties if he/she were to listen to an audio of 3, 4 or more attorneys engaged in a screaming match. We are not robots or machines, and I think a court would quickly recognize that.

You apparently have never been in the extreme scenario that she is describing. As she points out, you are also a male. Some of these bulldog/bully attorneys are so wrapped up in their case that they don't know when to "turn it off," so to speak. Attorneys have the power to enable us to profit tremendously in our profession. Likewise, they also have the power to end it by not using a particular reporter's service or request that she not return for another deposition because she was interrupting. We can be easily replaced by another reporter by one simple phone call. I would classify it as job protection and not relinquishing or violating anything. I would also venture a guess that these same attorneys do not care what NCRA's Code of Professional Ethics, General Guidelines, Section VII states.

If you're able to constantly interrupt all day long with shouting attorneys and they request you back, hooray for you. If your audio equipment is equipped with super features that can dissect and distinguish four people shouting at once, please let us all know what it is. I'd love to invest.

[Adam D. Miller]

Whoa, whoa, whoa! I see I've let this thread go unchecked for too long ;-)

Kelli, I did not mean to be condescending at all. And, you're right, my post reads kind of preachier than I intended.

I have no superdooperaudiogetter. That's why, when I have to, I interrupt pretty much in the fashion and escalating sequence that Trisha describes. That's my point: if I can't get it, I don't trust the audio to get it.

And I started my post by saying "while I appreciate the frustration..." because I do run into that sort of behavior in Delaware too (not in comp, which I don't take; and not usually from Delaware attorneys, the most civil practitioners of civil law I know) where half the corporations in America are chartered -- including your Silicon Valley firms. We see plenty of high-tech patent infringement work, often with attorneys from out of town and their imported bad behavior.

And I don't claim to live up to the standard I set out. I wish I could be more forceful and effective in controlling the proceedings. But I just don't want to accept that we accept it and rely on the audio and our scopists.

I don't know if being male helps that much. I spent my first five years reporting in Philadelphia (big city with an identity crisis, situated between New York and D.C.; saw everything that Trisha described in New York and more). I once slammed my hand on the conference room table -- totally lost my temper after dozens of admonitions -- and yelled at the participants. (Of course, they finished two questions later.)

Anyway, I think I'm too tired to write a cogent reply right now, I think. But I didn't mean any disrespect or condescension and apologize if it come across that way.

adm

Oh, and if your firm doesn't back you up (if an attorney calls and complains that you "interrupted too much"), if your firm doesn't say, "My reporter was protecting the record and you need to cooperate," you're working for the wrong firm.

[Trisha]

Adam,

You've only slammed your hand on a conference room table once, even while spending five years in Phila? I think my biggest hand-slammin' state has got to be Washington, D.C. - home of some pretty large egos. I think that's where I bent my favorite ring years back.

Thanks for the clarification, Adam. I was kind of hoping to hear you reveal your secret brand of audio equipment. I'm a little disappointed. I have a loooong deposition tomorrow with some of the worst interrupters in town. Guess I'll leave that favorite square ring home.

You make a very good point in saying that firms need to stand behind their reporters and not bow to certain attorneys. Most of the culprits know who they are anyway. I've always been fortunate enough to work for firms who truly stood behind us, and I do the same thing myself now having been in those shoes a couple of times.