Realtime Court Reporters Can Help Win Your Case

Wed, 12/16/2009 - 15:30 — mark73

Today, highly skilled court reporters armed with sophisticated computer-aided technologies are linking legal professionals to courtrooms, boardrooms and other sites around the corner and around the globe. It’s court reporting in realtime, and it ranks as a genuine value-added component in legal and judicial proceedings.

Realtime is just in time

At the core of the computerized courtroom is a scalable technology that allows realtime reporters to convert stenographic notes into readable draft text. That means:

•Testimony and other oral proceedings appear almost instantaneously on individual computer monitors or large format screens;
•Those in the courtroom and beyond can monitor, annotate and organize the text as it’s created;
•Fully edited final copies of transcripts have same-day availability for disc or authorized online distribution.

Realtime melds the power of sight and sound

Team realtime-generated text with digitally synchronized video and you’ve created a compelling presentation for judges and juries and a powerful tool to spark case preparation:

•Multiple parties in different locations can participate in a deposition or hearing via secure Internet links – a significant savings in time and travel expense;
•The video and text record can be searched by keyword in seconds;
•Text/video files can be easily exported to pay back in court.

Realtime expands collaboration, research capabilities

In evolution and in complex legal proceedings, the race is often to the swift. Tapping realtime capabilities means moving faster and more efficiently to mine testimony, depositions and other court proceedings for specific information and references:

•Powerful search engine software can scan multiple documents and highlight key words, phrases and other data to speed case preparation;
•Realtime testimony can be organized according to issue or reference, eliminating hours of staff time;
•Transcripts, depositions, exhibits and videos can be compressed and bundled into manageable, on-line accessible discs that can be shared and searched by all members of a legal team.

Realtime levels the field for hearing impaired

The same technology that delivers live captioning for television is being used in courtrooms today to allow hearing impaired judges, jurors and litigants to participate fully in legal proceedings. Many have registered a preference for realtime text over interpretation of testimony through sign language.