I recently heard an attorney say, “The only problem with realtime is you miss it when you don’t have it.” For those attorneys that swear by the benefits of realtime, and there are a lot of you out there, a common frustration is when your court reporter can’t successfully connect your LiveNote laptop to the realtime feed. And guess what? You’re not alone.
I have trained hundreds of attorneys in how to use LiveNote over the years, and a VERY common frustration I hear from them is that the court reporter couldn’t get the LiveNote connections to connect. Often times, when the court reporter can’t get your laptop to connect, the court reporter will provide a laptop as a back-up, but that may not be ideal for you. Or even worse, maybe the court reporter doesn’t have a spare laptop for you, so sorry, no realtime for you!
Why doesn’t your laptop connect?
Reason # 1: The court reporter is not properly trained to troubleshoot your incorrectly configured laptop
Reason # 2: The laptop you bring is not properly configured to effortlessly receive realtime
In other words, having an experienced realtime court reporter makes a HUGE difference as to whether or not your realtime connections will work. But that is NOT the only reason. And let’s face the facts: in a perfect world, you would ONLY work with your favorite and most trusted realtime reporters and your laptop would work every time…yeah, right. But now back to reality for a moment: you frequently don’t have control over which court reporter will be working with you. Therefore, I’ve compiled my top 5 tips below, covering the key things you can do to give yourself a fighting chance to have your laptop connect to realtime with consistency, regardless of who the court reporter is.
It is important to note that LiveNote is not the only software solution for realtime transcripts. There are other alternatives including CaseViewNet and Bridge. These days most realtime reporters will bring their own realtime laptops, often configured with CaseViewNet or Bridge. In the event that your laptop will not connect, you can use one of these “loaner” laptops in place of your own LiveNote laptop. These loaners work quite well, but the reality is that LiveNote is currently the realtime software that most law firms own, thus the software that you likely have loaded on your laptop.
Here’s what you can do to help your own cause:
Tip # 1 – First and foremost, get your laptop to the reporter at least 30 minutes before the deposition is scheduled to start.
These days, most realtime court reporters, given enough time, can troubleshoot most realtime connection issues. So if you want your realtime connections to connect, do yourself a favor and get your laptop to the court reporter as early as possible, giving the court reporter ample time to correct any issues that might arise. This is the most important tip and will save you a lot of frustration.
Tip # 2 – Let the court reporting agency know in advance that you want realtime.
This is especially important if you or your firm are not responsible for arranging for the court reporter. For example, if you are defending and opposing counsel is responsible for ordering the court reporter, be sure that somehow the court reporting agency knows in advance that you want realtime. This simple step will give the court reporting agency a head’s up that an experienced realtime reporter is required. This makes a big difference.
Tip # 3 – Make sure your laptop is READY to receive realtime by doing each of the following:
- While this may seem obvious, check your laptop to be sure a working copy of LiveNote or another realtime application is installed on your laptop…seriously.
- If your laptop does not have a serial port (pictured below), ensure you have a working USB serial adapter. (Click this link to see exactly what a USB serial adapter is and what you should buy in order of preference).
These days, many of the new lightweight laptops and net books do not have serial ports. If your laptop does NOT have a serial port, your laptop will require a USB serial adapter to connect to the court reporter’s realtime feed ASSUMING the reporter is connecting using cables (aka serial connections). The reason is because the cables that court reporters use to connect require your laptop to have a serial port. The reality is that most court reporters do carry USB to serial adapters, BUT (and this is a BIG BUT), there are all sorts of compatibility issues with these USB serial adapters. These issues include compatibility with your laptop, compatibility with your operating system, AND compatibility with the realtime software itself. So if you don’t have a serial port on your laptop, your best bet is to bring a USB serial adapter that has already been properly configured to work on your laptop. This simple step will prevent tons of problems.
- Ensure your laptop is ready to receive wireless realtime.
Another work-around to the serial port issue above is when the court reporter connects their realtime to your laptop wirelessly, which is a very cool way to go. This great option is becoming more and more popular. However, in order for wireless to work, most of the time the reporter will need to install a small piece of software on your laptop. This is easily accomplished by the court reporter right before the job starts, ASSUMING your laptop is not locked-down by your IT department. Locked-down laptops handcuff court reporters, making it nearly impossible for them to troubleshoot your laptop if there is no serial port and/or no working preinstalled USB serial adapter. So, as a preemptive measure, click the link below (or forward the link to one of you IT/Litigation support professionals) and follow the prompts. This will auto-install the necessary drivers onto your laptop that are most commonly used by most court reporters who use wireless realtime, enabling your laptop to receive wireless realtime, EVEN if your laptop is locked-down with administrative only rights.
http://www.stenocast.com/Drivers/StenoCastDriver_7.8.exe
- Make sure your laptop is NOT locked-down with administrative rights only.
Although not quite as good as coming with your own USB to serial adapter and wireless adapters installed, simply ensuring the court reporter will be able to install software makes a HUGE difference as long as you follow Tip # 1. Alternatively, if your law firm IT/Litigation support department will not unlock your laptop, then forward them this blog so IT can install everything you need.
Admittedly, the next few tips are a bit techie and may require the geek squad. I’ve tried to simplify the tech talk, but it is still a bit techie no matter how you look at it; sorry about that. On the other hand, if you understand what I am saying below, you will rarely experience frustration from failed realtime connections because you will know what to do!
“Techie” Tip # 4 – Know how to determine which COM port your USB serial adapter is working on.
This can be done by checking the Windows device manager on your laptop, which can be found within the control panel. Then, make sure this matches the COM port selected in the connection options screen of LiveNote when attempting to connect to a realtime session. I understand that this may sound like Chinese to many reading this. However, if you can have one of your IT literate friends explain what this means, you will know more about trouble-shooting realtime connections than 99% of the attorneys out there.
“Techie” Tip # 5 - Remember this: “x’s on the screen = baud rate issue”
When the court reporter is attempting to establish a realtime connection and you see a bunch of x’s rather than words on your LiveNote realtime screen, the problem is likely a baud rate issue. I’m guessing you’re thinking this too sounds like Chinese. No worries; just remember x’s = baud rate issue. If the court reporter is struggling to trouble shoot a connection issue and you see x’s, suggest to your court reporter that it may be a baud rate issue. Your court reporter should be able to troubleshoot the issue from there and will think you’re really smart!
Realtime is an invaluable tool for attorneys. May all your realtime connections connect!
I agree with the above poster, CaseViewNet is one fantastic product when it comes to interactive real-time connection with the reporter. While LiveNote seems to be lacking in the real-time transcript environment, there are so many other features that lawyers and law firms utilize with the LiveNote program that CaseViewNet does not offer, and seems to be the reason why the industy hasn’t all jumped on to the CaseViewNet band wagon.
From this court reporter’s perspective, the difficulties encountered in the field now are that atorneys are utilizing all kinds of software products, i.e., LiveNote, CaseViewNet, Bridge, Summation, all on the same job. In order for the reporter to be able to interact with all programs at the same time, a direct connect via USB serial is the best way and I believe the only way to avoid delay in setup and ensures the real-time feed of the transcript.
The unfortunate circumstance with having all different programs running on the receiving end of the real-time feed is that the reporter cannot run in the wireless and the direct feed environment at the same time. (At least not that I have been able to figure out, thus far – give me time.)
So even though you have CaseViewNet and expect a wireless connection, you should have a USB to serial adapter installed on your laptop. The great thing about CaseViewNet is that you can go wireless and you can have the direct connect. This way you will never miss an opportunity for your real-time feed on any job with any reporter.
Great summary, thanks for posting! We are working hard here at Thomson Reuters to help people troubleshoot connections, and this is a great summary and resource for everyone. If you are having trouble, always feel free to call us at 800-290-WEST for help.
Remember, a great way to connect wirelessly with LiveNote or West CaseNotebook is to use Stenocast. Their product is very reliable too.
I too am a fan of wireless CVN…BUT if you have an end-user that is wanting to interact with LiveNote and uses all its bells and whistles, you’d better come prepared to establish an additional connection that way. IMHO there’s no excuse for not giving your end-user the service that they’ve requested.
I tend to view things from a Bluetooth point of view, but I agree with Grace; there are some situations where proprietary systems, such as CaseViewNet, can work. Most courthouses will not allow that type of wireless network to be utilized, but many law offices will. There are certain CART applications where it can work as well.
However, if you choose to use a system like CaseViewNet, I would encourage reporters to be very diligent regarding security issues, not just on their computers, but anyone connecting to their network. This goes beyond just making sure there is virus-protection software installed. Keep in mind that protecting your realtime is not really the issue. No one wants to steal your transcript. Encrypting your transcript may sound comforting, but that really misses the point. Hackers want to gain access to your (and everybody else’s) computers so they can obtain credit card numbers, Social Security numbers, etc. I don’t think reading your transcripts even crosses their minds.
The other main drawback of proprietary wireless network systems is they only are wireless to people using software you provide to them. If you use Brand X CAT software, you can only send wireless realtime to clients using Brand X litigation-support software. If the client shows up with LiveNote or Transcript Manager Pro or Summation, you have to run a serial cable to them. For most reporters the thought of trying to connect two clients wirelessly and five more with serial cables is more than they are willing to even consider.
So while this may be a shameless plug, the best solution is StenoCast, which allows reporters with any CAT software to send their realtime to clients using any or all litigation-support software.
Thank you very much! This was very helpful.