Court Reporters

Court reporting isn’t glamorous or fun. But it’s a tremendously important part of the litigation and discovery process. We know how important proficient court reporting services are to you and your client. It’s more than a job to us; we’re dedicated to doing it well, accurately, expediently and professionally. Our mission is to meet your needs with superior client service – whatever, whenever and wherever you need. To that end, we employ industry best practices and advanced technologies.

What do you need?

Deposition – Conference – Arbitration – Hearing – Meeting
Realtime reporter (Real-time)
Stenographer
Instant rough draft
Daily copy or expedited delivery
A conference room
Videoconferencing
E-Transcript – Condensed/Compressed – Index
Videographer
The video deposition synchronized with the text ( video sync)
For the reporter to bring one or more printed sets of documents or exhibits to the deposition
PDFs of the exhibits delivered to you the next day
Exhibits linked in the E-Transcript or digital transcript (bundled transcript)
Integration with your case management software such as Summation

When do you need it?

Probably yesterday; right? Everything moves faster than it did 20-years ago. Ten-business-day delivery is now standard. Our skilled Louisiana court reporters can deliver a deposition or other type of transcript when you need it: today, tomorrow, in two days, next week.

Where will your deposition, hearing or meeting take place?

We have court reporters residing all around Louisiana. Of course, most of our reporters live in or near the large metropolitan areas: Lafayette, New Orleans, Metairie, Baton Rouge, Houma, Alexandria, Lake Charles, Shreveport and Monroe. We know most of your clients prefer not to pay reporter travel charges, so we endeavor to ensure we have one or more court reporters within a short drive of every part of the State. We frequently cover the following cities:

Bossier City
Alexandria
Monroe
Lake Charles
Covington
Hammond
Mandeville
Slidell
Abbeville
Baker
Bastrop
Benton
Breaux Bridge
Broussard
Belle Chase
Cameron
Carencro
Chalmette
Crowley

Deridder
Denham Springs
Duson
Eunice
Franklin
Gonzales
Gretna
Hammond
Harahan
Houma
Jennings
Jonesville
Kenner
Kinder
LaPlace
Larose
Leesville
Mandeville
Marksville

Marrero
Minden
Morgan City
Natchitoches
New Iberia
New Roads
Opelousas
Rayville
Ruston
Scott
St. Bernard
St. Martinville
Thibodaux
Ville Platte
Walker
Winnfield
Winnsboro
Youngsville
Zachary

And if you need to take a deposition out of state, we know and network with reporting firms and reporters all over the U.S. We even have connections with reporters and firms in Europe, and have provided reporters in places like Aberdeen, Scotland, Paris, France, Baghdad, Iraq and a drilling rig in the North Sea. Our experienced office staff can handle all your deposition arrangements wherever you are going.

The goDEPO firm provides many things solo court reporters and smaller reporting firms cannot:

A collective of competent reporters to serve you
Your choice of reporters, if you have a preference
Realtime reporters, if needed
An office staff always ready to serve you
A live staff member manning the phone
An unlimited archive should you need a transcript many years from now
30+ year history of providing service to thousands of clients.
A technical support staff with the know-how to get things done
In-house videographers and synchronization services
Conference rooms in our offices and the ability to arrange for them almost anywhere
Videoconference suites
Proprietary mobile videoconferencing designed for attorneys and courts
Industry-standard and cutting-edge software and tools

The practice of law is a demanding profession, and your time is valuable. Whether you’re the attorney, the paralegal, the legal assistant or the secretary, you’ve got a lot to do. We’re glad to handle many of those tasks for you, such as arranging a deposition location, court reporter and videographer in Colorado, or wherever.

So give us a call. Our court reporters, stenographers, office staff, videographers, technicians, transcriptionists, paralegals, translators and process servers are here for you.

Important Links

Laws and Rules Applicable To Louisiana Certified Court Reporters

Louisiana Board of Examiners of Certified Shorthand Reporters

Louisiana Code of Civil Procedure Rules pertaining to Freelance Reporters and Depositions
Note in particular the CSR Board’s explanation of CCP 1445 regarding reading and signing requirements.

Louisiana Administrative Code Rules, Title 46, Part XXI, highlighted by the CSR Board
Note Chapter 13. Code of Ethics on the lower part of the page.

Mandatory Deposition Format Guidelines:

Chapter 11. Court Reporting Procedures

§1101. Transcript Format Guidelines (Freelance Reporters)

Every freelance certified reporter shall use the following transcript format rules on every deposition transcript prepared by that reporter.
1. Transcripts shall contain no fewer than 25 typed lines on standard 8 1/2 x 11 paper exclusive of page numbers and footers.
2. Transcripts shall contain no fewer than eight characters to the typed inch.
3. The distance between the left and right margins shall be no less than 6 3/8 inches.
4. Each question and answer shall begin on a separate line.
5. Either of the following may be used.
  1. Each question and answer shall begin no more than five spaces from the left-hand margin. The text shall begin no more than five spaces following the question and answer. Carryover question and answer lines shall begin at the left-hand margins.
  2. Block Version. Each question and answer shall begin at the left-hand margin. The text shall begin no more than five spaces following the question and answer. Carryover question and answer lines shall begin no more than six spaces from the left-hand margin.
6. Either of the following may be used.
  1. Colloquy material shall begin no more than 15 spaces from the left-hand margin, with carryover lines commencing no more than 10 spaces from the left-hand margin.
  2. Colloquy material shall begin with the speaker ID on a separate line no more than 10 spaces from the left-hand margin. The actual text shall begin on the next line 15 spaces from the left-hand margin, with carryover lines no more than 12 spaces from the left-hand margin.
7. Quoted material shall be treated in the same manner as either question and answer (Subparagraphs 5.a or 5.b) or colloquy material (Subparagraphs 6.a or 6.b). Quoted material shall be single-spaced or double-spaced.
8. Parentheticals and exhibit markings shall begin no more than 15 spaces from the left-hand margin with carryover lines commencing no more than 15 spaces from the left-hand margin.
9. There shall be no numbered lines that are blank on a transcript page, excluding the last page of a transcript, title page, contents page, appearance page, stipulation page and certificate pages.
The board recognizes that technological advances in the court reporting profession may from time to time require the board to render advisory interpretations of the foregoing transcript format guidelines or may require modification of them in response to innovations and the evolving technology in court reporting. Technological advances are desirable and should be encouraged. The board needs a mechanism to accommodate technological changes while also maintaining enforceable standards to protect the profession from abuses in court reporting. The board hereby acknowledges its authority to issue advisory opinions on a case-by-case basis in response to petitions for declaratory orders and rulings in order to take account of technological innovation, customary practices, and unanticipated questions or ambiguities in the application of the foregoing transcript format guideline. Any interested person may petition the board for a declaratory order or ruling in writing no less than 30 days prior to a board meeting. If timely filed, the matter will be placed on the agenda for discussion at the board's next meeting and will be finally disposed of by the board within 90 days after the meeting. Further review of such final disposition by the board may be sought in the same manner as review of agency decisions or orders in adjudicated cases, as provided in R.S. 49:962.

Verbatim Reporters of Louisiana, Professional Association

Louisiana Court Reporters Association