Know the Risks to You, Your Client, and Your Case When Using Digital Recording for Your Depositions

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California Certified Shorthand Reporters

  • California Certified Shorthand Reporters are licensed by the California Department of Consumer Affairs and must pass a rigorous test, requiring 97.5% accuracy, administered by the Court Reporters Board of California before being granted a license to practice.

  • They have to follow laws and regulations that govern the legal industry and the court reporting profession or risk losing their license. If a Certified Shorthand Reporter discloses your client’s sensitive information, they can be disciplined and/or barred from working as a reporter.

  • Only transcripts of depositions certified by a Certified Shorthand Reporter are admissible in court every time and are objection-proof.

  • Certified Shorthand Reporters can provide instantaneous readback, realtime, rough drafts, and expedites.

  • They are highly skilled to decipher legal, technical, and medical terminology. They listen for ambiguities, overlapping speakers, and heavy accents.

  • For challenging or technical depositions, Certified Shorthand Reporters will spend hours researching the case and preparing case-specific dictionaries.

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Digital Recording

  • Only transcripts of proceedings by licensed California Certified Shorthand Reporters are objection-proof and always admissible in court. (CCP 2025.340(m))

  • If your deposition is digitally recorded, you still have to hire a California Certified Shorthand Reporter to transcribe it to be used in court. You could potentially be paying double. (CCP 2025.340(m))

  • There is no state-approved training, certification, licensing, for the machine operators who will have access to your client’s financial, HIPAA-protected, and other sensitive information. There is NO government exam at all.

  • If the machine operators are fired for incompetence, fraud, or unethical conduct, they can legally be hired by another firm and continue to record your depositions.

  • Audio files can be easily manipulated as shown here in a sneak peek of a new Adobe Audio Manipulator.

  • Recording equipment can malfunction, leaving you with the cost of having to redepose a witness, costing you and your client time and money.

How can you protect your client and their case?

  • When booking your deposition, be sure to request a California Certified Shorthand Reporter only.

  • When you get to your deposition, ask the Certified Shorthand Reporter for their license number. You can check their license here.

  • Ask to see the reporter’s stenography machine. If they don’t have one, they are not a Certified Shorthand Reporter.

  • If the court reporting agency tells you there are no Certified Shorthand Reporters available, ask about remote reporting services. Remote reporting is legal and easy to arrange and often an inexpensive alternative. (CCP 2025.310(a))

  • Doing your best to schedule a deposition at least two weeks in advance helps the agency secure a licensed and fully qualified California Certified Shorthand Reporter for your assignment.

  • Use local Certified Shorthand Reporter-owned court reporting agencies for your depositions, court hearings, and trials.

  • You do not have to stipulate to having a machine operator record your legal proceedings.





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