PohlmanUSA, a prominent national court reporting agency with international reach providing technology-driven court reporting services, announces O’Brien & Bails, a preeminent provider of court reporting and related services in the state of Michigan, is now a division of Pohlman Reporting Company LLC.

Headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri, with offices in Missouri and Illinois, PohlmanUSA has provided court reporting and litigation services throughout the United States and internationally for over 27 years. Since 1957, O’Brien & Bails, headquartered in Kalamazoo, Michigan, with 11 offices throughout Michigan, has been providing the highest level of court reporting services to clients in and around the state of Michigan.

According to Deborah J. Walters, President and CEO of PohlmanUSA, “We are very pleased and proud to partner with O’Brien & Bails. As the court reporting industry has contracted, we believe that agencies built on integrity and ethics will continue to thrive. This partnership brings together two like-minded agencies with rich histories of providing stellar client-first services and positions us well for future growth.”

Clients of Pohlman may be wondering, “How does this impact our service from Pohlman?”

“Our clients will continue to receive the same level of attention and service they expect. The creation of this new division enhances Pohlman Reporting Company LLC resources throughout Michigan enabling us to better serve the court reporting needs of our clients,” says Deborah J. Walters, PohlmanUSA President and CEO. “PohlmanUSA’s experience with complex multiparty cases and state of the art records collection service pairs with the experienced team, skilled court reporters and 11 Michigan locations of O’Brien & Bails to form what we are confident will be a truly winning team for our clients.”

Dawn Houghton, CEO of O’Brien & Bails, stated, “As we have been working with Pohlman, we have found their staff, court reporters, and technology to be top notch. Their client-first mindset and culture is the same as ours. We look forward to working with the Pohlman team and are excited for the opportunity to work with their clients and to bring their infrastructure to our clients, providing more services and a farther reach in Michigan and beyond.”

PohlmanUSA provides court reporting, legal videography, trial services, and records collection services to law firms and legal corporate departments worldwide. Additionally, PohlmanUSA provides stenography services for arbitrations and captioning services for meetings, corporate events, and performances.

ABOUT O’BRIEN & BAILS

Headquartered in Kalamazoo, MI, with eleven offices throughout Michigan, O’Brien & Bails offers a true 21st century approach to court reporting: Give the best service, with advanced technology, and protect our clients at all costs. Integrity, service, providing a high level of value – that’s O’Brien & Bails.

To learn more about their services visit http://www.obrienandbails.com/.

ABOUT POHLMAN REPORTING COMPANY LLC

Headquartered in St. Louis, MO, with offices in Chicago and Edwardsville, IL, PohlmanUSA Court Reporting is recognized nationwide as the leading provider of technology-driven court reporting and litigation services. For over 27 years, PohlmanUSA has specialized in complex multiparty litigation by creating innovative products and customized solutions for our clients. We are committed to delivering exceptional customer service and anticipating our clients’ needs. Whether you require a talented court reporter or videographer for a deposition in an asbestos or mass tort case, MDL, or general litigation matter, we have a professional ready for your need nationwide.

We wish all of our clients from coast to coast a

Happy 4th of July!

Need to stay in town this summer? Don’t want to miss your kid’s next game? Plans on the 4^th of July but a deposition scheduled for the 5^th? Multi-platform Video Conferencing (MpVC) is PohlmanUSA’s solution for your busy schedule.

MpVC is part of PohlmanUSA’s lineup of high-tech litigation support services. It combines the convenience of telephonic deposition attendance with the benefits of appearing in person. MpVC is a reliable, secure, and cost-effective way to attend a deposition or meeting from the convenience of your home or office by allowing you to remotely connect from any device, anywhere!

When we initially offered this service in 2013, it was Pohlman’s technology solution to busy litigation attorneys looking for a way to save time and expense of traveling for depositions. In today’s environment, we realize that clients expect the ability to work from anywhere. As a litigation services partner to firms engaging in depositions from coast to coast, the option for attorneys to “appear” at depositions on their smart phone or tablet is appealing and expected. As the leading nationwide provider of technology-driven court reporting and litigation services we are proud to offer MpVC as a solution for busy litigators.

With MpVC you can even balance those tough summer schedules and back-to-back trial preperation. “Excellent job on arranging this service. I appreciate so much the time you spent doing this as it saved me that time as I am neck deep in many other trial preparation projects. I heard from one of the participants that it all worked flawlessly and that Pohlman’s person on the scene was fantastic,” attorney at a large litigation law firm.

Call today for more information on MpVC, to discuss how we add value to other areas of the discovery phase of cases, and to obtain pricing for your next out-of-town deposition. PohlmanUSA is available 24/7 at 877.421.0099.

Why do we celebrate Law Day in the United States? As a way to honor and reflect on the role law had in the foundation of our country. Also to recognize the continued importance and influence law has on the character of our country and on our society.

If you are looking for ways to celebrate Law Day this year check your local Bar Association website or the ABA list of events at: http://www.americanbar.org/groups/public_education/initiatives_awards/law-day.html

When most people think of March Madness the first thought may be of a basketball, a court full of crowds, cheering, or a trophy. Or, if you are like me, it is the fans’ game of “guessing” who will be better than any other team on any given day. But rarely do I think of the beginning of the season, or everything else that transpires before March Madness, leading up to the thrill of the Final Four. As I am looking forward to watching the end of the 2017 March Madness this weekend it occurs to me that March Madness is not that different from court reporting. “Have you lost your mind?” “You cannot be serious.” While that may be your response, let’s compare the two and see if you then agree that March Madness is a similar experience to what court reporters go through year-round.

Start with the idea of practice. Practice makes perfect, right? Well nothing but perfection is acceptable in depositions, where the court reporter’s job is to take down every syllable verbatim. Even an experienced court reporter is not ready to walk into a deposition without practicing their skills and speed. While it is not running sprints or making free throws, court reporters spend hours every week exercising their brains and racing their fingers across their stenography machines in preparation for their next deposition.

But before practice comes the initial training phase. This includes working on achieving speeds of over 225 WPM in the case of a court reporter. Learning first how to “read” the 22 keys on the stenography machine is much like the first shot a young child takes at the driveway hoop. It is the beginning of the training process, which can take several years for a court reporter to learn. A court reporter is not learning positions on the court, or the technical way to make a basket, but legal court terminology and legal dictation skills. And this too takes time and proper training.

No matter how much you practice your skills, if you don’t know your playbook, you will not achieve the best results. For a basketball player the playbook is literally each pre-drawn play that the coach could call upon the players to run during a game. But court reporters also have a playbook. The court reporter playbook may include their plan for depositions such as where to set up to achieve the best view of the deponent and attorneys, a predetermined process for responding to potential scenarios or disturbances during the deposition, as well as their pre-planned and rehearsed dictionary. Without this playbook the court reporter may lack the ability to perform as well as expected.

Know more than one play. Any good basketball player knows more than one shot, and that is true for an experienced court reporter. A good court reporter can do more than one type of deposition and knows more than standard stenography. Their other plays may include realtime transcription, or streaming of deposition testimony to participants across the country.

Just as on a basketball court a player would not be game ready without proper attire including athletic shoes and a fully aired basketball a court reporter needs the right equipment.  The court reporter’s equipment includes a stenography machine, and possibly a Polycom telephone, microphones, laptop or other gear, as well as back-up machines. Without the proper equipment the stenographer or basketball player will not be a top performer.

A basketball player cannot win the game on their own just as a court reporter needs to have a team off the court supporting their performance. Teamwork is key to basketball players, attorneys, and court reporters alike. None of these professionals can do their job alone. The same player cannot make every shot, take every dribble, and bring the ball down court for the entire 40 minute game. Similarly, while the court reporter is the “face” of their industry they cannot also handle the scheduling, production, billing, trial technology, and other important duties that make the court reporter’s performance possible.By all working together the court reporter and their team back in the office provide a seamless experienced for clients.

Just as a player on the court needs to listen for the plays being called by coaches and to their teammates for quick changes a court reporter’s listening skills are imperative.In a deposition the court reporter must differentiate numerous people speaking, sometimes over each other, and possibly in different dialects or accent. It may not be the roar of the crowd that players have to hear over, but the court reporter’s listening skills are key to their job performance.

Whether you are up or down in a game you may need to make adjustments to reach your full potential. Court reporting and basketball players alike need to be proactive and think on their feet making adjustments when necessary.

Fans don’t like to cheer for a team from afar. Centrality for fans is important. It would be hard to play a game and have the all-important “sixth man” scattered across the country, and it is also difficult to meet expectations and perform top-level customer service if the scheduling, production, and billing departments supporting your court reporter are not centralized.

Postgame matters too. The game does not stop at the final buzzer. It is then that the coaches and team review the tape and discuss what they can improve upon.  For court reporters the game may just be starting when the attorneys go off the record. It is then that the court reporter has to go full speed to complete their transcript and produce it to the client. Without the post-game rituals and review neither the basketball star nor star court reporter will have completed the game. 

For all of these similarities it does feel to a court reporter like they experience the Final Four year-round.

PohlmanUSA court reporters and our friendly, professional office team are always ready to perform in or out of court. We’re always listening.® PohlmanUSA offers traditional court reporting, realtime streaming, videography, videoconferencing, multi-platform video conferencing, trial support, records collection and more. To learn how our team can make you a winning team call us today at 877-421-0099 or visit http://pohlmanusa.com/our-services/.