Take Notice: Is the court reporter at your deposition table licensed properly… or licensed at all?
Here at WSG Reporting, we go to great lengths to make sure our reporters are licensed, current with continuing education, etc., every single year, and we keep a copy of their current Georgia license on file. The letter below was written to clients by a fellow firm owner in Atlanta, and it rings very true with situations I am hearing lately as well.
Always be vigilant and know that illegal takedown cannot be stipulated away by counsel. Georgia has a license procedure for our profession for a reason.
Dear Valued Client,
I want to personally bring to your attention the fact that at least one large national court-reporting agency with an Atlanta presence is sending individuals to "report" depositions and other legal proceedings who are not certified as court reporters. They appear at the deposition locations, present themselves as court reporters, record the depositions, and turn over the recordings to other personnel in the reporting agency for transcription. What results as a transcript was therefore not prepared by or under the direction of a certified court reporter who attended and captured the deposition or proceeding in question.
Georgia law requires the keeper of the record to be certified by the State of Georgia as a court reporter: Georgia Code §15-14-28: "No person shall engage in the practice of verbatim court reporting in this state unless the person is the holder of a certificate as a certified court reporter or is the holder of a temporary permit issued under this article. (Ga. L. 1974, p. 345, ‘ 12; Ga. L. 1993, p. 1315, ‘ 7.)" See the following link for the complete Georgia Courts Reporting Act: https://ocp.georgiacourts.gov/board-of-court-reporting/georgia-courts-reporting-act/
You may encounter this situation when depositions are taken of your clients by opposing counsel. When the selection of the court reporter is out of your hands, please take the time to secure the name, agency affiliation (if any), contact information, and Georgia certification number of the individual appearing to report the deposition when they arrive at your office to get set up and prior to the deposition starting, if possible. All certified court reporters have a Georgia-issued certification number which they should be able to provide upon request.
I would request that you, your paralegal, legal assistant, or someone in your office take the time to verify that you have a certified reporter by checking the individual's information against the following list of Georgia certified reporters:
https://gcr.onegovcloud.com/public/directory/#!/
If you have reason to suspect your proceeding is not going to be reported by a certified court reporter, you should first bring this to your opposing counsel's attention and insist that a certified reporter be secured for the deposition about to take place. I would advise against agreeing to any suggestion if it is made by opposing counsel to "waive" having a certified reporter present. Then report the occurrence to the Board of Court Reporting immediately with as much detail as possible:
Board of Court Reporting of the Judicial Council of Georgia
Main: (404) 463-3808
Fax: (770) 357-9001
Email: gcr@georgiacourts.gov