Tag: court reporters

Columbus Attorneys Offer Tips on Work-Life Balance

Columbus Attorneys Offer Tips on Work-Life Balance

Recently I had the pleasure of attending a luncheon seminar put on by the Women Lawyers of Franklin County which featured a presentation by two Columbus attorneys, Stephanie Hanna (Carlile Patchen & Murphy) and Simi Botic (Dinsmore & Shohl).  In addition to her career as a healthcare attorney, Simi is also a holistic health coach at The Micro Harvest.

The subject was “How to Create a Healthy Work-Life Balance,” and the timing couldn’t have been better, with Thanksgiving only a couple weeks away and Christmas speeding towards me.

I felt this was such a fun presentation with great information that I wanted to share with others, so I got the permission of Stephanie and Simi to share some of this information in our blog.  They offered simple tips to start a practice of self-care in three areas of our lives that can wreak havoc on our health, our diet, and our sanity!  Here are a few of their great tips:

Relationships

Career

Health

With the holidays coming, everyone’s life gets a little more hectic, so don’t try to make a lot of changes all at once.  Pick one or two of these to focus on at a time and then gradually add another.  Thinking you need to change many habits all at once will set you up for failure.  One of my favorite messages is, “Forgive yourself for your inability to be perfect.”  Perfection cannot be achieved, but, rather, setting a goal to make yourself better than you were the day before is manageable.

You can also get some great recipes, inspiration, and tips by visiting The Micro Harvest.

Enjoy the holidays!

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Angie Starbuck is a court reporter in Columbus, Ohio, and the owner of PRI Court Reporting, LLC. Connect with her on LinkedIn and Google+.

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5 Things Your Court Reporter Needs To Prepare a Complete Transcript

5 Things Your Court Reporter Needs To Prepare a Complete Transcript

Whether you’re taking your first or 50th deposition, there are a few items your court reporter needs in order to prepare a complete transcript and make sure you get exactly what you need to assist you with your litigation preparation.

While you may be very focused on your outline for the deposition, please remember your court reporter is gathering this information because she is thorough and good at her job, which is probably one of the reasons you’ve hired her in the first place.

  1. Case Caption.  The court reporter needs this information for the title page of the transcript.  If you or your assistant can send this to the court reporter or her firm in advance of the deposition, it’s one less thing she’ll need to ask you for at the deposition.
  2. Appearances.  The name and contact information for all of the parties in the room at the deposition will also go on the title pages.  The court reporter will need the names of any nonlawyers that may be in attendance.  If you bring business cards to the deposition, that can save some time.
  3. Spellings.  Your court reporter may ask you or the witness for unusual spellings throughout the day, on breaks, or at the end of the deposition.  Please remember that you and the other parties may be very familiar with the medical or technical terminology involved in the case, or the proper names, but this may be the first time your court reporter is hearing some of them.  Be patient while she gets proper names and terms checked.
  4. E-mail addresses.  In order to ensure proper delivery of your transcript and for ease of communication, your court reporter will need your e-mail address.  Also, it may be very helpful if you provide her with your assistant’s e-mail so she can be copied on any correspondence.
  5. Transcript order.  At the end of the deposition, your court reporter will ask you about purchasing a transcript.  Please be patient as she asks about the format you’d like, exhibit copies, and delivery methods.  We understand you all want to get out as quickly as possible to get back to the office or on to another commitment, but she is gathering this information to ensure you receive the transcript in the most useful format for you and to reduce the need for repeated contact down the road to ask these questions.

As you can see, many of these items can be provided to the court reporter or her firm prior to the deposition.  That will allow you to spend more time preparing for the deposition and will reduce the number of questions from the court reporter, thus making both your jobs easier!

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Angie Starbuck is a court reporter in Columbus, Ohio, and the owner of PRI Court Reporting, LLC. Connect with her on LinkedIn and Google+.

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Attorneys: 3 Things to Delegate to Your Legal Assistant

Attorneys: 3 Things to Delegate to Your Legal Assistant

Many young attorneys are coming into the legal profession with increased technology skills.  This could be a double-edged sword in the legal office setting.  While it’s very helpful when an attorney can type and proficiently use word processing programs, there’s one important person that is being under-utilized:  your legal assistant.  Here are three things that you could delegate to her that will free you up to work on other tasks:

  1. Typing letters and other documents.  Most likely, your assistant has many, many templates for letters and other legal documents. Either dictate the letter for her or give her the basics of what the letter should contain.  Let her prepare the document for your approval.
  2. Deposition notices.  Again, your assistant has probably created hundreds of these and has the format set up on her computer.  Give her the details of the deposition and let her create the deposition notice for your signature.
  3. Proofreading/editing.  A second set of eyes is always a good idea on something you’ve written.  It’s easy for you to get lost in the ideas you’re writing about and overlook simple punctuation or grammatical errors that someone else could see.

Allowing your assistant to take on these tasks will free you up for other work, and probably please your client, since they won’t have to pay your hourly rate to create letters and basic legal documents.

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Angie Starbuck is a court reporter in Columbus, Ohio, and the owner of PRI Court Reporting, LLC. Connect with her on LinkedIn and Google+.

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Benefit From Your LOCAL Court Reporting Firm Relationship

Benefit From Your LOCAL Court Reporting Firm Relationship

There are many small, individually-owned court reporting firms in cities dotting the United States map.  Many of these firms are owned by a former or current court reporter themselves.  They understand the business of court reporting, how to keep a record of proceedings with a great degree of accuracy.  They build personal relationships with their attorney clients and the paralegals and assistants they work with.

Local court reporting firms have to fight to keep their business and to obtain new business, and the Goliath they are competing against are “national” court reporting firms.  These “national” firms hire outside sales representatives to market their firm and contract with insurance companies and offer lower rates and incentives in exchange for their business.  They entice you with the offer of having a court reporter in any city you may be traveling to.

In reality, these national firms do not employ court reporters all across the country, nor do they have offices across the country.  They will subcontract with local, independent court reporters, and even court reporting firms, in whatever city the attorney is traveling to.  Sometimes attorneys will call a “national” firm to cover a deposition in their hometown and the national firm will subcontract with local court reporters, whom the attorney could have hired himself and avoided the high costs of working with a national firm.

Many local court reporting firms can offer the same services the “national” firms provide, usually with better customer service and personal relationships.  In most cases, the reporters working with that firm are long-time employees.  Your local court reporting firm can save you time and money, while offering you the great customer service you’ve become accustomed to.  No matter what city you are in, if you want to build a relationship with individuals who are as interested in your success as they are in their own, please consider working with your local court reporting firm.

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Angie Starbuck, RPR/CRR, is a court reporter in Columbus, Ohio, and the owner of PRI Court Reporting, LLC. Connect with her on LinkedIn and Google+.

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Photo credit: Lancaster Chamber: http://www.lancasterchamber.com/article.aspx?page=thinklocal

Lessons Learned – by Angie Starbuck, RPR/CRR

Lessons Learned – by Angie Starbuck, RPR/CRR

As I left the blustery, cold weather of Columbus for the surfer-size waves and sunshine of Laguna Niguel, California, I anticipated all the knowledge I would gain at my first Firm Owners Conference sponsored by the National Court Reporters Association.  Little did I know I would make quick friends with other firm owners across the country and that they would be so willing to share their knowledge and experience to the newcomer.

I learned that a large networking event like Firm Owners can be like speed dating: Introduce yourself, exchange contact information and a little bit about each other, and move on quickly to another new contact.  However, during the keynote speech by Tommy Spalding, author of the New York Times bestseller, “It’s Not Just Who You Know,” I quickly learned that building actual relationships are more important than brief contact and superficial communications.  It was very energizing to hear him talk about truly getting to know someone, building a relationship, and how that can change your heart, change your life, and change your business.

I have many, many take-aways from my first Firm Owners conference, but here are just a few:

Wow, what a successful first Firm Owners Conference!  A huge thank you to Susie, Christy, Dawn B., Chris B., Dawn H., Greg, Shannon, Judy, Michelle, Gail, and Lori for sharing their experiences with me and welcoming me into such a fantastic group of business owners that I am proud to be a part of.

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Angie Starbuck, RPR/CRR, is a court reporter in Columbus, Ohio, and the owner of PRI Court Reporting, LLC. Connect with her on LinkedIn and Google+.

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