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/.

When faced with the decision to collect your pertinent medical records internally or to partner with a vendor several factors must be considered.

Do you have the staff to handle the influx of work? Collecting medical records is a time intensive and sensitive process. Employing an in-house team is a considerable expense when you consider hourly rates, benefits, and taxes.  If you are staffed inadequately you risk delay in receiving the requested records and potentially lose billable hours that your staff could be dedicating to other work. The option of staffing up when the need arises may be problematic as well. Training takes time that you might not have if you are against tight deadlines. Also, if you decide to add staff for a medical record collection you risk needing to lay-off staff at the end of the collection.

Is your office secure? If your team is not HIPAA certified and your office not secure with adequate encryption levels you risk disclosing client personal information, and potentially jeopardizing your firm by breaking compliance laws and federal regulations.

Do you have medical record software or other up-to-date technology for collecting medical records? Using the most up-to-date or proprietary technology provides more efficient and timely collections.

Does your staff have the expertise to efficiently collect records? Vendors have perfected the workflow and follow-up necessary to compete medical record collections timely.

Utilizing Pohlman’s experienced team of record collection specialists provides you with a seamless collection process, 24/7 access to realtime status updates and your case records, and the customer service you are accustomed to receiving from PohlmanUSA.

MyRecordsRetrieval™ is Pohlman’s custom records collection, management, and online distribution service.  The full records collection service is HIPAA compliant and user-friendly to support the needs of large document cases and complex, multi-party litigation. Originally designed for the largest asbestos litigation dockets, MRR is now available for all of your cases such as pharmaceutical, medical device, medical malpractice, and beyond.  Our service provides convenient 24/7 access to order, track, and download your case records.

Learn more about Pohlman’s MyRecordsRetrieval™ service at http://pohlmanusa.com/online-web-apps/myrecordsretrieval/

Michelle Hill is the Video & Trial Services Manager at PohlmanUSA Court Reporting and Litigation Services. Michelle began her career at Pohlman in the Scheduling department where she spent more than nine years. For the past two years Michelle has also supervised the Video & Trial Services department. Recently she transitioned to work exclusively in the Video & Trial Services department as not only the manager but as a trial technician herself. While leading the Scheduling team Michelle formed valuable friendships with many of our 500+ nationwide court reporters. These relationships and the knowledge she learned from these court reporters transfer well into her new role. Michelle uses her previous knowledge of how depositions run, along with her 20 years of customer service experience, to drive the Video & Trial Services team to be proactive and customer service oriented. In addition to scheduling videographers and trial service professionals for depositions and trials across the country she also works with her team to develop new technology solutions to create additional efficiencies and increase trial presentation effectiveness for Pohlman’s clients. As a trained trial technician with expertise in Trial Director she works with Pohlman’s team of legal videographers to provide picture-in-picture videography services in depositions and courtrooms. While some of her co-workers may say that she is too detail-oriented, her clients would say that it is her concern for details that makes her so good and that she always works to exceed expectations whether as the trial technician in court or preparing for a deposition.

Michelle has always had a love for the law. As a young child she thought she would grow up to become a veterinarian.  Eventually her dreams evolved, and, after reading a significant number of John Grisham novels, she then decided she wanted to become an attorney instead. Michelle currently resides in St. Louis, Missouri, but was born in Sulzbach, Germany. She is the first of three children. Michelle’s father was a career soldier in the Army, and her mother worked for an organization supporting the Army. Michelle quickly learned that hard work and integrity were important characteristics for success. In addition to being passionate about taking care of her clients’ needs she feels it is very important to help her elderly neighbors. This includes mowing their grass and running errands for them whenever she can. In her little spare time she enjoys reading, watching Scandal, and visiting Germany to see family. Michelle holds a Bachelor’s degree in communications from Southwest Missouri State University but is most proud of her Master’s degree in business administration from Webster University, which she received while working full-time at PohlmanUSA. Michelle is active in the Missouri Court Reporters Association and is a member of the National Court Reporters Association (NCRA), Society for the Technological Advancement of Reporting (STAR), and the National Association of Professional Women. With her exposure to the court reporting industry she says, “PohlmanUSA is one of the most progressive court reporting agencies in the U.S.  I can say with confidence that PohlmanUSA has the ability to cover our clients’ needs anywhere, anytime.” To learn more about Michelle or the services that her team provides go to pohlmanusa.com/our-services/.

At this time of Thanksgiving we reflect on our year and are reminded of how lucky our team is to work with such amazing & loyal clients. Your business, support, and friendship mean everything to us and we are truly thankful for all of it. We offer warm wishes for you, your team and all of your families on this day and throughout the year. Happy Thanksgiving!

On January 22, 2016, the Illinois Supreme Court announced mandatory electronic filing (“e-filing”) for all civil cases for the Illinois Supreme, Appellate and Circuit Courts going into effect January 1, 2018.

What is e-filing? Electronic court filing, or e-filing, is the process of filing court pleadings over the internet using an automatic, electronic transmission.

Why is it important? As more courts and legal systems have or are currently converting to e-file applications, it is important to not only understand the system and what is expected as a practicing attorney but also the benefits of e-filing. In addition to limiting the paper in your office and in the courthouse, e-filing eliminates the hassle of taking pleadings to the court to file, it reduces the amount of time you wait for documents to be processed by the court, allows for easy searching of documents over the internet, and reduces the cost of paper, ink and other supplies necessary to paper file documents. E-filing is especially important for firms that have multiple locations or are involved in an out-of-state case.

As e-filing gains momentum there are tips to assist in the transition.

1. Learn it before you have to and train multiple people in your firm on the system.
2. Establish policies for your firm regarding the use of e-filing.
3. Discuss the change and any implications with your accounting department in regards to payment of statutory or other court fees.
4. Use a hard line or high-speed internet connection and if needed a high-speed scanner.
5. Set up your personal account to receive service and to perform necessary searches before you need them.

To learn more about the PohlmanUSA’s MyDocFileServe™ system currently in use in Madison County, IL, please visit http://pohlmanusa.com/online-web-apps/mydocfileserve/ or contact the PohlmanUSA Litigation Support Technology team at 877-421-0099.