Huseby Inc. Court Reporting Blog | Nationwide Court Reporters

We have seen a steady rise in demand from Huseby clients for legal videographers. Video is a powerful medium and the use of video depositions and video conferencing is becoming more popular. Industry analysts predict this trend will continue, making this a great career choice for anyone with video technology experience.

What Education Do You Need?

Unlike many other career fields, there is no standard educational program for legal videographers. Anyone interested in the field needs to acquire a certain skill set to be able to do the job well.

The most obvious requirement is in-depth knowledge of video equipment and technologies. People planning a legal videography career would be well advised to take courses in video and filmmaking to learn about concepts like camera angles, lighting and editing. Many of our videographers started out planning to enter the entertainment industry or make birthday and wedding videos for clients, and then moved into the legal field later.

A number of Huseby’s legal videographers have learned about forensics and criminology. While this education is not necessary, the more you know about the subject matter the better you can document it. Knowledge of the subtleties that go along with legal depositions and criminal investigations help videographers produce better presentations for our clients.

Certification Options for Legal Videographers

Huseby legal videographers are Certified Legal Video Specialists. The CLVS is offered by the National Court Reporters Association and is a mark of a videographer who demonstrates an exceptional level of skill and ethics.

Pursuit of the CLVS starts with a two-day seminar offered by NCRA. During the seminar, videographers learn about the unique needs of video depositions and get a background in court procedures and the Rules of Civil Procedure. In some cases experienced videographers may be able to skip some of the seminar, but those exceptions must be approved by the NCRA.

At the conclusion of the seminar, applicants demonstrate their knowledge of the subject matter on a written exam and then produce a mock video deposition.

What Do Huseby Videographers Do?

Our legal videographer assists attorneys by producing video depositions. When a witness can’t testify live at a proceeding, a deposition allows the witness’s statements to be entered into the record. Deposition services usually produce written transcripts but video depositions allow a judge and jury to experience the witness’s inflection and emotion during the statement.

Presentations created by legal videographers are accompanied by written transcripts, typically prepared by court reporters, so parties can use both text and video to examine the testimony. The transcript and video are indexed so someone looking at one can immediately find the same point in the other, using both text and video to get a comprehensive view of the information.

This exciting professional career is open to anyone experienced with video equipment or post-production who is willing to learn the proper procedures to produce a court-admissible presentation.