Susan Frye Court Reporting News

The COVID pandemic hit some industries harder than others. We are fortunate in the court reporting world that much of our work can be done remotely. While some aspects of our business have changed a bit, we have made necessary adjustments to enable us to deliver our same high-quality service during this time.

 

What Has Changed:

 

As a result of the pandemic, we have acquired a new skill set that we otherwise would not have had!  We have become adept at doing remote depositions via Zoom, and other platforms when requested.  Early on my reporters suggested that we offer Zoom training to attorneys explaining how to take depositions remotely.  We had a great response to this offer and have held many training sessions over the past several months.  This offer still stands!  If you would like to take depositions via Zoom but just don’t know how that would look, please contact us and we will schedule a 30-45 minute training session for you so that you will feel more comfortable doing this.  

 

We are currently doing multiple depositions via Zoom every day at SFCR.  I have become the Zoom scheduler at our office.  We have five Zoom rooms available every day, and I am happy to schedule for you when you need to conduct a deposition via the Zoom platform.

 

Due to the pandemic, we will now always have our Zoom deposition-taking capability in place.  All reporters at SFCR are comfortable with this new service that we offer.

 

What Hasn’t Changed:

 

The great service that we have always offered still remains solid.  You should feel confident when you contact SFCR that we will give you the same service you have come to expect.  In addition to doing Zoom depositions every day, we are also doing in-person depositions with the appropriate guidelines currently suggested in place.

 

We are experiencing a very busy schedule the last couple of months and are very thankful for the work; however, we are only able to handle a certain number of jobs each day.  Please call to schedule as soon as you are able.

In a court reporting agency, one of our top priorities is seamless communication between our agency and law firms who utilize our services. We know that time is valuable, and waiting for transcripts, exhibits, even invoices can put a hold on legal proceedings. This is one of many reasons why RepAgencyWorks (RAW) is a great tool!

RAW is essential to our court reporters to stay organized, schedule appointments and track various jobs, but it can also be a great tool for any lawyer or firm who utilizes our services.

At any time, we can provide a specific login for a lawyer or team to view the transcripts, exhibits, and/or invoices that pertain to them.  Perhaps the best feature of RAW is the repository. All transcripts and exhibits are uploaded to the RAW repository and are available for viewing and downloading. Users simply need to find the corresponding date on the RAW calendar to locate these items.

We find this agency software extremely user friendly and have heard from our clients who utilize RAW that they enjoy the features as it saves them valuable time.  We are able to give support staff login credentials as well if access is useful to a lawyer’s team.

While we are more than happy to send documents by email, having access to RAW removes much of the back-and-forth communication and allows direct access to the documents you need with just a few clicks!

If you are interested in getting set up with RAW and learning more about how it works, please contact us. We look forward to setting your firm up with the software and helping you utilize this tool to streamline the deposition process even more!

This month’s featured court reporter is Julie (Hand) McCurnin. Read her bio below:

I was born and raised on the south side of Des Moines, Iowa, and graduated from Lincoln High School in 1981. I then attended the American Institute of Business, becoming a Certified Shorthand Reporter in 1983.

Immediately upon graduation, I began working as a freelance court reporter, traveling the state of Iowa, gaining experience in a wide variety of settings: i.e., depositions in civil, criminal, and medical matters, hearings before State of Iowa professional examining boards, Iowa Supreme Court hearings, medical commitment hearings, hearings/ trials/grand jury proceedings in federal court for both the Southern and Northern Districts of Iowa, hearings before the workers’ compensation commission, and bankruptcy courts.

In 1991, I moved to New York and was a freelance court reporter throughout New York City and Long Island for approximately five years before returning to Des Moines.

My interests include dining out, trying to sample every different ethnic food Des Moines has to offer, as well as just trying to master the perfect macaroni & cheese at home; living vicariously through my children’s active lives: travel, school, activities, and attempting to learn the difference between an umpire and referee for my husband’s benefit.

I am so fortunate to have been working for Susan Frye and Associates, Inc., since August 1998. The past 17-plus years have been a court reporter’s dream. Susan is THE BEST boss and she has THE BEST clients. I love my job! I now live in Norwalk with my husband, two children, and dog.

Court reporting agency software is now at Susan Frye and Associates! Some of you have no doubt heard about our new agency software called RepAgencyWorks, or RAW for short. You know how court reporters love acronyms, right? Just kidding😊 Let me tell you a little about RAW and how it may be of interest to you. One of the most exciting things about RA...