With the economy beginning to recover, many companies are expanding their workforces. As the search for talented individuals may have caused many companies to recruit candidates not living in the same city or state, new studies show that more businesses are using videoconferencing services to conduct interviews. While Milwaukee court reporting services offer accurate deposition transcripts, many also offer a space for a job interview video conference.

According to a survey conducted by OfficeTeam, a staffing agency, 63 percent of human resources managers said their company will often conduct employment interviews via video. Just one year ago that figure was only at 14 percent. In addition, 13 percent of respondents said that their company will use the technology even more in the future.

"Many companies are embracing video interviews, which are often conducted online via webcam, as a way to quickly and cost-effectively evaluate applicants," said Robert Hosking, executive director of OfficeTeam. "Job seekers can use these virtual meetings to put their best foot forward, just as they would in person."

When using video conferencing services, it's critical that managers and interviewees know how to effectively use the technology. When using video conferencing services, it's important that users show up early to get comfortable and set up a good frame for the recipient.

When arriving early, users should take the time to learn how to mute and unmute the audio before the conference or interview begins. It's very important to not only be comfortable in front of the camera with a proper frame, but also know how to use the equipment.

In order to learn more about how to use videoconferencing technologies, see "Getting the most out of videoconferencing services."

As reported by this blog, a recent lawsuit was filed against the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) by a coalition of animal rights activists, including the Wisconsin Federated Humane Societies and the National Wolfwatcher Coalition. The lawsuit seeks a court injunction to halt the DNR from issuing permits for an upcoming wolf hunt.

In addition, the plaintiffs want the rules for the hunt to be revised. According to the New York Times, they want it made clear that dogs should not be used to physically confront wolves and only to track or trail the animals. This should be done by using leashes and requiring owners to train their dogs as well as restricting them to use only non-confrontational breeds. The current legislation does not stipulate these mandates.

"With this lack of regulation means practically is that dogs can be used in training and in hunting to come into a direct physical confrontation with wolves," said Jodi Sinykin, one of the plaintiff's lawyers.

According to the Associated Press, a judge in Dane County is expected to consider whether to halt the state's wolf hunt before it starts within this week. Judge Peter Anderson heard the motions for the case on Monday, August 27, and will hold an injunction hearing on Wednesday, August 29.

The hunt is expected to begin on October 15 and continue through the end of February.

As with all litigations, the use of deposition transcripts is extremely important to ensure that all parties have the most accurate information possible about what may have been said. In order for lawyers or judges in this case, as with any other in the area, to use the best transcripts, they may want to partner with Wisconsin court reporters who can record in real-time and offer video deposition services.

As reported by this blog, court reporting is a practice that is steeped in history and tradition. As such, the National Court Reporters Association (NCRA) has become the industry's leading educational resource for all issues related to court reporting. It also just announced a few key promotions of some of its members.

One of the members being promoted was Nativa Wood of Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, who will be serving on the NCRA's Board of Directors. Wood has been an official reporter with the Dauphin County Court of Common Pleas for 35 years, and has been the chief reporter for the past 10 years. Wood was also president of the NCRA from 1990 to 1992 and has been actively involved with the organization since 1983.

In addition, Sara Nageotte of Jefferson, Ohio, who was elected as vice president, has been an official reporter for nearly 15 years and has also worked in Pennsylvania. Nageotte is currently with the U.S. District Court in Cleveland. She has testified on behalf of court reporters to the Ohio Senate Finance Committee as well as presented to the county bar associations, the Ohio Judicial Conference as well as at NCRA conventions.

Elected as President of the association was Tami Smith, who has been an official reporter since 1990. Currently working out or Battle Creek, Michigan with Circuit Judge James Kingsley, Smith has also served on the National Court Reporters Foundation's Board of Trustees and the advisory boards of two court reporting programs. She is the recipient of the Michigan Association of Professional Court Reporters' Alton Cobb Award, which recognizes her "outstanding efforts and time devoted as a volunteer and chief examiner."

With these experienced leaders at the helm of the NCRA, the industry and practice can expect to see a bright future. As these individuals are not just adept at recording deposition transcripts in real-time, many also caption television programs and live event broadcasting.

If lawyers or event planning companies in the Wisconsin area wish to use court reporters that can provide real-time reporting or video deposition services, they may want to contact an experienced court reporting firm. 

The Wisconsin State Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen is asking the Wisconsin Supreme Court to take action and review rulings made by two judges that struck down the state's voter ID law. The Attorney General is also requesting these authorities do so in time for the upcoming November elections.

"No quarter has been given in defending voter ID," Van Hollen said in a statement. "People in this state are very frustrated that a common sense law enacted by the Legislature and signed by the governor has been blocked."

The state's Supreme Court has already declined once this year to step in and overturn the rulings, which were made by two separate judges saying the law created a "substantial impairment of the right to vote," according to the Journal Sentinel. But, with more pressure from the Attorney General, the court is expected to eventually take these cases, while some experts doubt it will be done in time for the election.

The law requires voters to show at least one of several approved types of photo IDs in order to vote. Supporters claim this helps curb voter fraud while detractors say it makes it unnecessarily hard for senior citizens and minorities to vote.

While the issue of voter identification rights has already created national fervor with the conflict between Florida and Department of Homeland Security, Wisconsin's particular case is entangled by two ongoing federal lawsuits against Governor Scott Walker and the state Government Accountability Board, which oversees state elections.

While these cases may involve complicated voter rights and election procedure laws, the use of real-time court reporters can be crucial to ensure that litigators have the most accurate deposition transcripts available. Any lawyers involved in complicated cases may also want to partner with Wisconsin court reporters who can provide video deposition services.

A group of citizens has filed a lawsuit in Dane County Circuit Court against the Wisconsin Public Service Commission's (PSC) decision to approve a high-voltage power line that links La Crosse, Wisconsin with Rochester, Minnesota.

The power line is part of a $507 million project that has created an array of power lines led by coalition utilities company Xcel Energy Corporation in Minneapolis. The project is called CapX2020.

Some citizens have formed coalition groups that are against the project – NoCapX2020 of Red Wing, Minnesota and the Citizens Energy Task Force of La Crosse – both of which have filed the lawsuit.

According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, the suit claims that the utility company proposed the project based on old projections for electrical demand. Because these projections are outdated, they do not accurately reflect the impact of the economic downturn. In fact, the lawsuit states that the projections "were overstatements and wishful thinking on the part of the utilities."

In addition, the citizens are also arguing that the PSC did not properly adhere to warnings from the lawyers at the Wisconsin Department of Transportation, who argued against portions of the project. The department cited "historic easements" aimed at preserving the scenic byway along the Mississippi River that prohibit the construction of power lines.

Although a court fight might be a long shot, according to the source, the depositions may prove to be lengthy, creating the possibility that the multiple parties involved may need to recant their sides of the case. In these types of situations, lawyers may want to partner with experienced Wisconsin court reporters who can provide real-time deposition transcripts to make the litigations a much more efficient process.

Not many industries depend on individuals to learn a craft that's been around for centuries. While engineering, medicine and law are the most historic and the largest, court reporting is a burgeoning industry that's been around for hundreds of years and requires its workers to go through extensive training – they need to be able to record over 225 words per minute for five minutes with 98 percent accuracy.

The craft has also created a vast history of technological advancement, especially among the machines that court reporters will use to create these deposition transcripts. This may be why Mario Rodriguez, a court reporter based out of Virginia, has created his own personal museum of stenotype machines, according to the Falls Church News-Press, a local paper.

According to the source, Rodriguez was inspired to collect the machines after visiting the National Court Reporters Association's museum and being impressed by its collection. From then on, he started collecting parts with devices going back to 1879.

But, while the machines may have evolved to a point where court reporters can transcribe conversations at a real-time pace, allowing for these individuals to provide captioning services for live television broadcasts and sporting events, many believe that voice recognition software may be taking over.

"People keep saying that voice recognition on computers will take over since I graduated 25 years ago," said Rodriguez to the source. "Let me tell you, a computer doesn't know the difference between sight, site and cite. We do. It's not going to happen anytime soon."

Clearly, using high-quality court reporters that can create deposition transcripts at real-time can be extremely useful in many cases, especially in court. In order to acquire the best transcripts, lawyers may want to partner with Wisconsin court reporters.

The College of Court Reporting (CCR) has received a $300,000 grant from the United States Department of Education, according to the Times of Northwest Indiana.

Located in Hobart, Indiana, the CCR has been educating court reporters since 1984. What's unique about CCR, though, is that all classes are offered online. The school is run by Jeff Moody and had an exhibition at the NCRA 2012 Annual Convention and Exposition that was in Philadelphia earlier this month.

"The College of Court Reporting is honored to receive its second grant award from the U.S. Department of Education," said Jay Vettickal, executive director for the College of Court Reporting. "The combination of the college's ev360 technologies and dedicated faculty contribute to graduating and placing a record number of real-time ready students since the first grant awarded in 2011. And this new grant will help the college produce even more real-time providers within the next year and in the future."

While CCR may not be as old as the MacCormac College in Chicago, which turned 100 years old earlier this year, the school is a major court reporting college in the United States.

In addition to the $300,000 grant from the Department of Education, the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts that court reporters will experience a 14 percent growth over the next decade as needs for live event and broadcast captioning put more demand on the skillset.

Broadcasters and lawyers may want to partner with Wisconsin court reporters to get the best real-time deposition transcripts and captioning services in the Midwest. 

The Golden Sands Dairy Group is proposing to build a 5,300 cow dairy farm in Saratoga, Wisconsin. But, first, the group must settle a lawsuit against the same city which recently established a moratorium against all new construction projects, according to the Professional Dairy Producers of Wisconsin.

The sticking point for Golden Sands CEO Jim Wysocki comes from how the town and its supervisors approved the moratorium on the same night that Golden Sands held a public hearing in Wisconsin Rapids to discuss the project with the public.

"It's clear the town adopted the moratorium with the sole purpose of hindering the Golden Sands project," said Jim Wysocki in a statement. "The project complies with all zoning and other local requirements. We are following the laws and trying to bring a good project and jobs to the area, but the town is taking illegal actions that we cannot stand by and let happen."

According to the Wisconsin Rapids Tribune, a local paper, the conflict stems from a June 12 incident in which Town Chairman Terry Rickaby allegedly told Wysocki that while he was making the plans to open his dairy, he had "gone behind the back of the wrong person." This led Wysocki to also allege that Rickaby and other town officials have been illegally preventing the municipal building inspector from issuing any permits.

This is why on July 26, Golden Sands Dairy filed a civil case against the Saratoga building inspector, Lorelei Fuehrer, asking the court to order Fuehrer to issue building permits to the dairy company.

While nothing has been released on the side of the town of Saratoga, it's clear that depositions in this case may spin a complicated tale. In order for lawyers to obtain the most accurate information to ensure a proper trial, they may want to partner with Wisconsin court reporters with real-time court reporting skills and video deposition services. 

Court reporting has come a long way since Charles Dickens practiced the craft in 1828, according to Florida Times-Union story published this week. Moving from pen and paper to specialized keyboards that allow court reporters to type more than 225 words per minute, these professionals don't just take down deposition transcripts in real-time, they also provide the captions for many live events and television broadcasts, such as the Olympics.

According to The Daily Record, a local New Jersey paper, court reporters doubling as television captioners has become a major part of the industry.

"We were just flooded with mail afterwards from the deaf community telling us that we captioners were the ones who deserved gold medals for making things like the 'Up Close and Personal' pieces on the athletes accessible to them," National Court Reporters Association director of education Karen Rudd, who worked for the National Captioning Institute during its first work with the Olympics in 1980, told the source. "Captioning was truly the most rewarding work I've ever done in my life."

Court reporter captioning is what allows many individuals, who may not be able to hear what's happening on the television, to be able to still experience the event. Stadium captioning has also taken off as another form of live captioning.

While some broadcasters may choose to use voice recognition to provide their captions, the Times-Union cites that it is unable to distinguish between individuals when several speak at once, nor can the technology discern heavy accents, causing the need for court reporters to increase in live events that may involve individuals with various accents, such as the Olympics.

If broadcasters need help captioning an event or program or if lawyers need the most real-time court reporting, then they should partner with Wisconsin court reporters who can offer these transcribing services. 

Court reporting technology has come a long way since its inception. Rather than paper and pen, court reporters now use a specialized keyboard that allows them to type in realtime and even connect to a lawyer's computer, providing the professionals with deposition transcripts instantly. The Society for the Technological Advancement of Reporting (STAR) is a main staple in the court reporting community and is holding its annual fall conference this October.

The STAR conference will take place from October 4-6 at the Loews New Orleans Hotel in New Orleans, located at 300 Poydras Street. Reporters must be STAR members and RSVP by October 1.

According to STAR's site, the full registration includes access to all sessions as well as the Thursday Night Welcome Reception. One-day registrations only include any business and social functions that are held on the day selected.

Events at the STAR conference will include a session called "Let's Get Real" that will cover many aspects of real-time court reporting. In addition, another session called "Technology for Realtime" will be used to address the proper tools and equipment that real-time court reporters may need.

Stenograph forums as well as CATalyst training will be available at the conference in addition to seminars on the CaseViewNet iPad app. There will also be plenty of networking opportunities for court reporters as well as a hospitality suite.

STAR also offers spring conferences in addition to the fall one being held in New Orleans. These events prove to be great opportunities to network and learn more about the technological development of court reporting.

"As a STAR member, you will be able to network with court reporters throughout the United States and Canada," said Jane Jones of Brown & Jones Reporting in Wisconsin and member of the Board of Directors of STAR.