Huseby Inc. Court Reporting and Trial Services Blog | Global Litigation Support Providers

California report on access to justice touts importance of human court reporters, limitations of digital

May 17, 2013 – 10:54 am

Stenograph machine photo via Wikimedia Commons.

The California Official Court Reporters Association has updated its Preserving Access to Justice Task Force Report.

The report is a great resource to lawyers, judges, court reporters — anyone in the legal profession. It offers a brief overview of the importance of court reporters in the courts and lists what it calls the true costs to litigants and the judicial system where digital reporting is involved.

Among other things, it includes a rundown of “digital recording malfunctions across the nation” and a plea from a judge for for an accurate record. He writes:

“These are REALLY bad. We’re the judiciary.

Court reporters do realtime well. Your

machine is a failure.”

Read the entire report here.

Covering California
If you are in need of court reporters or other kinds of litigation support in anywhere in California, give us a call at 1-800-333-2082 to schedule services in The Golden State or at any of our locations worldwide.

Click here for a list and more information about Huseby’s California locations in San Diego, Los Angeles, Fresno, San Francisco, Sacramento, Fairfield, Napa and Dixon.

You can also click here to find a location nationwide and schedule a court reporter online.

By Paul Isom | Posted in Court News, Court Reporters, Court Reporting News, Court Stenography, Real Time Court Reporting | Tagged california | Comments (0)

Law roundup: High legal costs in the U.S., lawyers are more miserable, legal talent hard to find

May 15, 2013 – 11:00 am

Huseby continues to be deeply engaged in legal issues of our time. Through that engagement, Huseby can better serve all of your litigation support needs. Anywhere you need us in the U.S. or internationally, our schedulers are available and ready to assist.

Click Here to schedule with Huseby or call (800) 333-2082 to speak directly with a scheduler.

Cost of doing (court) business
The United States, the United Kingdom and Canada have the highest court and legal costs of the world’s countries, and a new study puts the blame on lawyers and the court system.

According to Forbes, the two factors most closely associated with higher liability costs are the number of lawyers and whether the country has a common-law system or a civil law tradition.

The three high-cost countries are all common-law countries. Read more.

Scales of justice image by stockmonkeys.com, via Flickr Creative Commons.

Misery loves (legal) company
Are you miserable?

If you’re a lawyer, you’re more likely to be, according to new book.

The theory goes like this, according to business insider: Many people go to law school because they want to become high-power trial lawyers. But big corporate law firms have become so focused on profits they don’t take the time to train attorneys and give them a chance to step inside a courtroom. Read more.

Business, commercial lawyers in demand
Business and commercial law are the practice areas that offer the most job opportunities in 2013, second only to litigation (22%), according to a survey.

The reason? Economic pressures are increasingly pushing corporate legal departments to handle matters in-house rather than spending on outside counsel, according to a story in Inside Counsel.

Respondents also indicated that their organizations have faced at least some difficulties finding legal talent. Read more.

By Paul Isom | Posted in Court News, Lawyers in the news, Legal news | Tagged business law, civil law, commercial law, common law, court costs, lawyer, lawyers, legal, legal costs | Comments Off

Flash from the past: Remembering Huseby’s old headquarters, The Oak House, in Charlotte, North Carolina

May 13, 2013 – 10:40 am

Over a span of 85 years and three generations of Huseby family court reporters, Huseby, Inc. has grown into one of the largest and most-recognized names in the litigation support industry.

Huseby sign in front of The Oak House in Charlotte. More photos below.

Today, the daily operations of Huseby Inc., is headquartered at 1230 W. Morehead St., in Charlotte, North Carolina, with many branches in the Southeast, nationwide and globally.

But many people remember that before moving to the office building on Morehead, Huseby’s home was affectionately known as The Oak House, at 1316 Harding Place in Charlotte, a freestanding former residential dwelling with 2,831 square feet of office space.

Scott Huseby recalls, “We renamed the house The Oak House because of that giant tree. We had to take that tree down eventually.”

Scott had the rock wall built around the property to attempt to alleviate erosion of the yard that occurred during rainstorms.

Meeting your litigation needs
From its beginnings 85 years ago, Huseby has grown to provide national and international coverage to service all of your litigation support needs. Anywhere you need us in the U.S.or internationally, our schedulers are available and ready to assist.

Click Here to schedule with Huseby or call (800) 333-2082 to speak directly with a scheduler.

The Oak House as it looked when occupied by Huseby.

The Oak House as it looks today.

By Paul Isom | Posted in Uncategorized | Comments (0)

Court reporting roundup: Portrait in Michigan courthouse, crowdsourcing for Bradley Manning reporter, alleged Illinois conflicts of interest

May 10, 2013 – 9:35 am

County honors court reporter with portrait
Lots of portraits hang in lots of county courthouses across the U.S. How many of them are of court reporters?

That’s the case in Corunna, Michigan where a portrait of Patricia Carmody, who spent 60 years working at the 35th Circuit Court, was honored with a portrait in April, the Argus-News reports

Ms. Carmody died July 13, 2010 after her long career, which included 30 years as a court reporter in Shiawassee County.

She was known as the only court reporter in the state who used a pen rather than a stenotype.

“She’s really almost a personification of this institution, and certainly of this court, with the history of what she has and the history of the court,” Judge Gerald Lostracco told the paper in 2008.

Read a profile of Ms. Carmody here.

Crowdsourcing for a court reporter
If you’re looking for a challenging court reporting job or want to make sure a government case gets a thorough public hearing, here’s your chance.

Politico reports the Freedom of the Press Foundation is launching a crowdsourcing campaign to raise $40,000-$50,000 to fund a court reporter to transcribe the trial of Army Pfc Bradley Manning.

Manning is the Army intelligence analyst who has been charged with leaking diplomatic cables to WikiLeaks. He has pled guilty to 10 of the 22 counts against him, though not the most serious, aiding the enemy, which carries a possible life sentence.

In a release Thursday, the organization said the stenographer will be credentialed by a media outlet, attend the trial and Freedom of the Press Foundation will make the transcripts available online.

Atlanta, Georgia’s Brown College of Court Reporting offers opportunity to learn about career choices at May 2013 open house

May 8, 2013 – 10:28 am

Steve and Scott Huseby married court reporters they met while studying at Atlanta, Georgia’s Brown College of Court Reporting.

Today, Scott oversees the daily operations of Huseby Inc., which is based in Charlotte, North Carolina, with many branches in the Southeast, nationwide and globally. Steve Huseby works as vice president and is a certified court reporter based in Atlanta.

We can’t promise you’ll meet your future spouse in court reporting school, but we do believe court reporting is a great career choice for many people. Find out more at Brown College of Court Reporting’s open house on May 18, 11 a.m.-1 p.m.

It will be held at Brown College of Court Reporting’s campus, which is located at 1900 Emery St., NW, Suite 200, Atlanta. The open house is free but attendees are encouraged to RSVP by calling 800-849-0703 or registering here.

“Court reporters play a critical role in the judicial system by creating a verbatim record of depositions and court proceedings that can be read back during trial and provide an official transcript,” said Marita Carey, director of admissions for Brown College of Court Reporting. “During the open house, attendees can meet faculty and students, and attend a presentation about financial aid. Additionally, a court reporter will discuss the legal profession and share career experiences. There will also be realtime demonstrations of voice writing and stenography.”

Huseby’s Atlanta offices
Huseby also has a presence in Atlanta, offering litigation services including court reporting, Web conferencing, video conferencing, video depositions, and more. Our offices in the Atlanta area are at these locations:

1230 Peachtree Street N.E., Promenade II, 19th Floor • Atlanta, GA 30309

555 North Point Center East, Suite 403 • Apharetta, GA 30022

Huseby hires only the very best reporters. Each reporter is screened before hiring to ensure his or her work meets the company’s high standards. When a reporter wishes to work for Huseby, an account executive follows a stringent reporter review process.

About Brown College of Court Reporting
Founded in 1972 by Forrest M. Brown, a leader in the field of court reporting, Brown College has launched many successful careers.

Over the years, Brown College strives to ensure its graduates have the educational, technological and professional foundation they need for success.

More information on Brown College can be found at www.bccr.edu or by calling (888)601-9018. You can also like Brown College on Facebook here.

By Paul Isom | Posted in Court Reporters, Court Reporting News, Court Stenography, Real Time Court Reporting | Tagged atlanta, Brown College, court reporting college, georgia | Comments (0)

As pooling begins, Huseby can assist legal professionals affected by Riverside County, California courtroom cuts, court reporter layoffs

May 6, 2013 – 10:06 am

Historic Riverside County Courthouse, built in 1903, was modeled after the Grand and Petit Palais in Paris, France. (Photo by Jeff Wright via Flickr Creative Commons.)

Pooling of court reporters begins today in Riverside County, California, a first step that will lead to layoffs in late June.

The Press-Enterprise in Riverside reports Riverside County Superior Court has sent letters to court reporters that say 25 will be laid off as the court eliminates reporter services for civil, family law and probate proceedings in a cost-cutting move.

Meet Shanna DeMichelle: Office manager and executive administrator with recently merged DeMichelle-Huseby in Fairfield, California

May 3, 2013 – 9:03 am

Shanna DeMichelle

Who: Shanna DeMichelle, office manager/executive administrator with DeMichelle-Huseby in Fairfield, California.

Where are you from? I was born in Gilroy, California and grew up in Napa Valley, the beautiful wine country.

Tell us about your family. Right now my family is my husband, Mike, and my cat, Izzy. Mike was honorably discharged from the Marines as a sergeant in 2007 and will be graduating from the University of California, Davis, this June majoring in business economics. We have had puppy fever for about a year now and are looking to adopt a German shepherd in the near future!

How long have you been with DeMichelle-Huseby? My mom, Susan DeMichelle, owner of DeMichelle Deposition Reporters, celebrated her 38th year in business. I worked for her a couple of times when I was a teenager and she ended up firing me both times — something we can all laugh at now! In August my seven-year anniversary will be coming up but I will technically have been with DeMichelle-Huseby for about a month since our merger on April 1st.

What is your role with DeMichelle-Huseby? I am the office manager/executive administrator. Right now we are in the middle of transitioning where I have a lot of different roles, but will soon be focusing on account management, event marketing and making sure that everything runs smoothly at the office.

What was your first job ever? I swam for the Terrapins Swim Team in Concord, California and during the summer when I was 14 I would go to swim practice in the morning and after, I would work the snack shop with other teammates at the pool while it was open to the public. At 3:30 we closed the snack shop and were back in the pool for the afternoon practice.

What’s your favorite part about working at DeMichelle-Huseby? My favorite part about working at DeMichelle-Huseby

Top, Shanna DeMichelle and her husband Mike. Below, their cat, Izzy.

is that we get to work with Huseby, a third-generation court reporting firm and its amazing team providing a combined 123 years of service focusing on corporate services, genuine customer care and family-business values!

What’s your favorite legal television show? “Boston Legal.” I own every season on DVD. Alan Shore always has the best closing statements!

What do you do when you are not at work? Right now, I go for runs. This is not a normal activity, but I am in the middle of training for my first marathon in November, the Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon in Las Vegas, Nevada. My husband is helping me train, which has been eventful in itself.

What’s your favorite restaurant? Hurley’s in Yountville, California. They have amazing service, exquisite food and are very reasonably priced. We never go there unless we have something to celebrate, which adds some fun to our dinner experience.

By Paul Isom | Posted in Employee profile, Huseby locations, Litigation Support | Tagged california, Fairfield | Comments (1)

Court reporter/stenographer ranked as 68th best job in 2013, dropping 16 places from last year on CareerCast.com’s list

May 1, 2013 – 11:02 am

Court reporting continues to drop in a list compiled by CareerCast.com of best jobs.

In the site’s 2013 rankings, court reporter/stenographer was ranked as the 68th best job overall. See the entire list here.

This year court reporter/stenographer dropped 16 places from last year, when it was ranked No. 52. The year before it was ranked No. 31 by CareerCast.com, which is a career and job-search website.

The list was based on four criteria: environment, income, outlook and stress. Much of the data CareerCast.com used to evaluate the jobs came from the U.S. Department of Labor and the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

According to CareerCast, the average salary for a court reporter is $49,254. According to the 2012 list, the average salary was $48,250 and in 2011 was $48,256.

Despite the drop, court reporter/stenographer ranked ahead of other legal professions such as judge (No. 78) and attorney (No. 117), but behind paralegal assistant (No. 41).

The Bureau of Labor Statistics says of a court reporter’s work environment, “Most court reporters work onsite for the government, in courts and legislatures. However, some work remotely in broadcast captioning from either their homes or a central office.”

In this year’s list, Court reporter ranked just ahead of recruiter, biologist and bookkeeper and just behind medical technologist. Actuary was ranked No. 1 and newspaper reporter was ranked last.

Huseby court reporters
Huseby strongly believes in the court reporting profession and offering its clients the best in court reporting and other litigation services.

The most experienced and technology-savvy certified court reporters work for Huseby, Inc. because we trust them, we respect them and we treat them as the professionals they are.

If you’d like to learn more about how court reporting can benefit you, please contact Huseby at 800-333-2082. Or schedule here: http://www.huseby.com/schedule.php

By Paul Isom | Posted in Court Reporters, Court Reporting News, Court Stenography, Litigation Support | Tagged career, Careercast.com, Court Reporting | Comments (0)

We at Huseby aren’t the only legal professionals interested in law-related documents in Raleigh, North Carolina

April 29, 2013 – 10:52 am

Wake County Courthouse on Fayetteville St., in Raleigh, N.C. Photo via Flickr Creative Commons.

Lawyers (and their families) who took their oaths in Wake County, North Carolina’s courthouse in Raleigh in the past 100 years now have access to those oaths, thanks to a superior court clerk with an appreciation of history.

Learn more below.

This is particularly interesting to us because Huseby has conference room suites in Raleigh and because we have a special interest in working with documents.

Huseby offices offer litigation services, including court reporting, Web conferencing, video conferencing, video depositions, and more. Our office in the Triangle is at this location:

3737 Glenwood Avenue
#100 Raleigh, NC 27612
(919) 831-8877

Looking for help in a different city? Call a Huseby scheduler and ask. We have more than 4,000 conference room suites worldwide ready for you to use today. 800-333-2082.

Bunches of oaths
Boxes of original copies of oaths were found recently and, rather than throw them away, the court clerk is working to find the lawyers whose names are on them – or their families – and give them the papers in exchange for recollections about their North Carolina legal careers, the News & Observer of Raleigh reports.

The history of lawyers’ oaths goes back to the Middle Ages, when church and state leaders in Europe began attempts to regulate the legal profession, according to Wikipedia.

In 1231 two French councils mandated that lawyers had to swear an oath of admission before practicing before the bishop’s courts in their regions, and a similar oath was promulgated by the papal legate in London in 1237, according to the website, citing ”The Rise of the Professional Jurist in the Thirteenth Century,” by James A. Brundage.

That was followed by a similar edict by the emporor of Sicily and culminated in a proposal at the Secon Council of Lyon of 1275 that all ecclesiastical courts should require an oath of admission.

The oaths found in Wake County aren’t that old, but they do date as far back as 1918, the newspaper reported.

Read more here.

By Paul Isom | Posted in Court News, Huseby locations | Tagged North Carolina, raleigh, Wake County | Comments (0)

Challenge of Arizona court reporting statute that impacts national, regional court reporting firms could have impact in other jurisdictions

April 26, 2013 – 12:47 pm

Huseby is watching with interest a lawsuit filed by Magna Legal Services against the Arizona Board of Certified Reporters that claims court reporting regulations amended by the state in 2011 are unconstitutional.

According to the complaint, Arizona adopted court reporting regulations that end or limit multi-case contracts typically used by national and regional court reporting companies.

Although the Arizona state statute is being challenged, the case is in federal court and will be compelling for other jurisdictions.

In 2003, all Arizona court reporters were required by law to be certified by the board. In 2011, the requirements were amended in a way that Magna claims prevent the application of multi-case contracts in Arizona, which led to Magna’s lawsuit.

The Arizona Board of Certified Reporters supported the regulations because it says multi-case contracts lower prices of court reporting and other services and allow national and regional court reporting companies to provide services in a way that harms the public and local reporting companies.

Magna says in the complaint it’s the regulations that “injure consumers and the public at large.”

In the complaint, Magna says prohibitions against mult-case contracts “injure consumers and the public … because they impermissibly burden interstate and out-of-state commerce without advancing a legitimate local need.” As a result, the complaint says the regulations violate the commerce clause of the United States Constitution.

The complaint also says the regulations “discriminate between consumers of court reporting services and court reporters in similar circumstances,” and as a result the regulations offend the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

The complaint says the regulations use state law to insulate local court reporting firms from competition, and were adopted to benefit certain local court reporting companies,and designed to maintain elevated prices for court reporting services.

A recent memo by the Arizona Court Reporters Association Board of Directors, says regulations protect consumers when an accusation is made against an Arizona court reporter alleging dereliction of duty or negligence. The Arizona Supreme Court offers an avenue of redress to victims that does not exist when an “unlicensed, out?of?state reporter” is accused, the memo says.

By Paul Isom | Posted in Court News, Court Reporters, Court Reporting News, Legal news | Tagged Arizona, Magna Legal Services | Comments (0)

California report on access to justice touts importance of human court reporters, limitations of digital

Law roundup: High legal costs in the U.S., lawyers are more miserable, legal talent hard to find

Flash from the past: Remembering Huseby’s old headquarters, The Oak House, in Charlotte, North Carolina

Court reporting roundup: Portrait in Michigan courthouse, crowdsourcing for Bradley Manning reporter, alleged Illinois conflicts of interest

Atlanta, Georgia’s Brown College of Court Reporting offers opportunity to learn about career choices at May 2013 open house

As pooling begins, Huseby can assist legal professionals affected by Riverside County, California courtroom cuts, court reporter layoffs

Meet Shanna DeMichelle: Office manager and executive administrator with recently merged DeMichelle-Huseby in Fairfield, California

Court reporter/stenographer ranked as 68th best job in 2013, dropping 16 places from last year on CareerCast.com’s list

We at Huseby aren’t the only legal professionals interested in law-related documents in Raleigh, North Carolina

Challenge of Arizona court reporting statute that impacts national, regional court reporting firms could have impact in other jurisdictions

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