April Showers Bring May Flowers

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April has been a busy month.  Spring is springing, blossoms are blossoming and things are going full tilt at Veritext Canada.

With everything going on, the people in our world keep mentioning that time feels like an illusion right now. Where are the days going?

For our team, the focus continues to be on expanding our presence and client resources across Canada. Our days and weeks have been spent honing in on growth and development, on connecting with our clients and on fostering our team in order to provide a best-in-class experience from coast to coast.

Last weekend, our Director of Reporting, Leanne Kowalyk hosted a webinar with NAIT’s own Janice Plomp on how to use AccelerWriters and Power Defines.  Finding ways to support the professional growth of our reporters is key. A supported team is a successful team, so mentorship and learning are always on our minds. Watch this space for information on upcoming webinars for Reporters in the next few months.

We also want to congratulate Leanne for her new role as a member of the Captioning & Court Reporting Program Advisory Committee at the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT).  This position enables her to collaborate with the NAIT program leadership and provide input, advice and guidance in the development of their Captioning and Court Reporting Program.

Speaking of NAIT, congratulations to first-year court reporting student Myung Kyu Kim and second-year court reporting student Desislava Kancheva, recipients of the annual Veritext Legal Solutions Court Reporting Student Scholarship for 2022. We can’t wait to see what you achieve in your budding careers!

With restrictions loosening across the country, Megan Ejack, Director of Marketing & Communications, Canada, took the opportunity to head to Alberta this week to meet the teams in Calgary and Edmonton.  She also attended the Advocates Society Annual Gala in Calgary last night with our Regional VP, Christ Pratt and we were proud to be a sponsor of this event.  

Learning the particular nuances of each market across the nation is an important factor in driving how we approach new, innovative solutions for clients and truly understand the needs of each respective region. We’re looking forward to meeting all of our clients over the coming months so we can properly assess the direction we need to go. If you have thoughts, comments or suggestions, please reach out to anyone on our team.

On that note, we want to thank you for your ongoing support of our exciting path forward as we continue to forge a sustainable future for our industry. Though the days may be racing along, we know we’re not alone in wanting to affect change and delve deeper into the needs of our colleagues, associates and clients.

“Community over competition” has become a bit of a mantra for us as we navigate the past, present and future…. Together.

Getting to Know Us

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If you have been connecting with the firms across our Canadian division, you may have noticed a new link when you visited the Amicus, Ace, Neesons or Royal websites. We are happy to welcome you to our new Veritext Canada blog!

The Reportex team has used this blog not only to highlight our innovative services and solutions but also to help people understand the vision and passion that has driven the company to where it is today. Many of these posts fall under our (R)evolution series and use the hashtag #shapingthefuture — and these are more than catchphrases. We have been committed to being the driving force of change and advancement when it comes to legal services and court reporting in Canada. It is our goal to support a sustainable future for our industry.

It is why we are now proud to be a part of Veritext Legal Solutions. We know we can do great things together.

Through the profiles in our Connect Series, our blogging platform has also been used to showcase the many talented people who are key parts of the engine that keeps this amazing machine running. We hope to keep this initiative going and highlight the many outstanding people across our teams in Canada and the US. We are all in this together now.

The blog is here to keep you — our clients and colleagues — informed of any changes or updates to our services. We also want to communicate more with and about the incredible reporters and other independent contractors — editors, proofers, scopers, technicians and everyone else that makes up the organization. Also watch this space for information about webinars and seminars that we are hosting or sponsoring.  

And we want to make sure we stay relevant to meet your needs in your own legal community. If you have stories or suggestions to share, please do not hesitate to reach out to me – Kerry Sauriol – at [email protected].

Enjoy.

Better Together!

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What’s better than a cold Abbotsford cider on a hot sunny day?

Joining forces with another incredible team!

In the spirit of continuing to build a strong, sustainable court reporting community across Canada, we are thrilled to announce that Richards Reporting is now part of our Veritext Canada team!

As you know, Richards Reporting, led by Diane Richards, has been operating for over 30 years in the Fraser Valley, servicing clients throughout the mainland of British Columbia with the utmost excellence and we’re thrilled to partner with them.

Access to an extended team

Rest assured, you will still be working with the same exceptional team of reporters that you know and love and will have access to more boardrooms, integrated legal technology and efficiencies to enhance your litigation practice. 

Under the Veritext umbrella our Canadian division is able to offer you reporting, transcription and integrated virtual services across British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Ontario as well as in the United States for our cross-border clients.

Our focus is always to provide an incomparable experience for clients and this collaboration is incredibly exciting. We look forward to continuing to shape the future of court reporting in Canada, together.

Put Your Best Face Forward For Your Next Virtual Proceeding

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Join us on March 29, 2022, for our FREE Webinar.

Pro Tips for Virtual Proceedings: Tips and tricks for making sure your next presentation leaves the right impression.

Put your best face forward for your next virtual proceeding. There is no doubt that the last two years have changed how people manage themselves and their businesses.  The legal profession has not been untouched as firms and courtrooms adapted quickly to a new digital age. As virtual proceedings pave a new way forward, more legal professionals are exploring tools to enhance their online persona.  First impressions count on and off the digital screen.  

This hour-long CPD webinar is packed with actionable tips for the tech-savvy and the technophobic alike to make sure you are at your professional best when taking the case online. This webinar will answer these five questions and much more: What hardware should I choose, and how do I use it? How do I use filters and virtual backgrounds? How can I ensure clear audio and video? What is the best lighting and camera angle? What can I do to look good on Zoom?

Join us on March 29 at 12:00 p.m. PT via Zoom.

Space IS limited. Register here to attend.

We are open for business!

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British Columbia announced changes to COVID-19 restrictions starting March 11, 2022, at 12:01 a.m.:

  • Masks are no longer required in public indoor settings under a public health order.
  • Masks are encouraged on public transit and BC Ferries, but not required.
  • Employers and event organizers can choose to continue requiring masks for workers and the public on their premises.
  • Masks are still required for federally regulated travel, like air travel.
  • Employers are still required to maintain COVID-19 safety plans, which require employers to implement measures to reduce the risk of COVID-19 transmission at their workplace. Employers may determine that masks are still required for workers in some circumstances as part of their COVID-19 safety plan.

What does this mean for us? 

Starting now, our BC offices will no longer require that masks be worn in our offices and meeting spaces. Plexiglass will still be available to those who want it for their in‑person meetings.

We will continue to have virtual and hybrid solutions available for all proceedings. Videoconferencing equipment is available in every boardroom to accommodate virtual attendees for onsite jobs, and our scheduling and technical staff are available to assist you (virtually or onsite). Click here to learn more about our supported solutions for virtual proceedings.

We are here to help with your new normal. We know so many of you have adjusted to smaller workspaces and permanent work-from-home situations.  Our headquarters are located in the heart of downtown Vancouver, minutes from the courthouse and steps to the SkyTrain and parking.

With 20,000 square feet of meeting space and the flexibility to accommodate both individuals and groups of up to 30, our Vancouver boardrooms are designed to create effective in-person, virtual and hybrid connections — whatever you need.

Learn more about our state of the art meeting space.

Welcome to International Women’s Day 2022

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by Kerry Sauriol, Marketing Coordinator

March 8 is International Women’s Day, and the Government of Canada’s theme for 2022 is Women Inspiring Women.

It also marks my one-year anniversary with the company. There have been massive changes since then — Reportex is now Veritext Canada — but the one constant has remained: each of our offices across Canada (Reportex, Ace, Royal, Amicus and Neesons) is run by an empowered and largely female-led team, and it is always exciting to see such strong roles continuing to develop and influence this industry for everyone involved.

Over the last few decades the job market has seen drastic changes to the types of employment available. According to Statistics Canada over 2.6 million people describe themselves as self-employed, and approximately 40 percent of them are women. 95 percent of court reporters and transcriptionists in Canada are female. 

Born in 1860, Georgina Alexandrina Fraser was Canada’s first female journalistic stenographer. She also taught young women to do the same. However, it took a lot longer for women to enter the legal services in Canada, and their struggle is aptly described in this Maclean’s article from 1954:

“SEVEN years ago, two energetic but penniless young women freshly out of His Majesty’s services were suddenly faced with the sobering [a]nd dismaying realization that they were once [a]gain living in a man’s world.

Ethel Zatyko and Rena Pettypiece had taken a twelve-month course in the hope of becoming court stenographers. They decided to pursue their chosen vocation in Alberta, which they regarded as a province of oil booms and millionaires. They wrote letters of application to court officials. But when the answers came, their hopes were dashed: the RCAF might recruit women wireless operators, but Alberta doesn’t allow women court reporters.

The girls were stunned and indignant, but never tearful.

They decided to go to Alberta anyway and show what women can do.”

Things have changed in Alberta and the rest of Canada. 

The passion and belief in what we do has not changed. It is what pushes the people here to evolve and continue to look to the future of court reporting in Canada as we connect with like-minded people and organizations across the country. 

The passion and belief in what we do also drives us to encourage and support court reporters to be the best in their field. We are excited to be planning more workshops and continuing education opportunities across Canada.  

The passion and belief in what we do drives us to ensure the best technologically relevant services for our clients. Legal services are evolving quickly, thanks to many outside forces, and we are here to make sure you are ready to face them all. 

Our name and logo may have changed, but our core values and commitment to this industry have not changed. Today we support many women-focused initiatives across Canada, including West Coast LEAF, Dress for Success, TLABC Women Lawyers Retreat and ACTLA Women’s Legal Forum. Our commitment to the future is to continue to inspire and support women (and men) to be the best they can be and to always dream big.  

Are You Ready for Realtime Reporting?

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Do you know what realtime reporting is?  Simply put, it is the instantaneous translation of spoken proceedings directly into text.

How does this happen? Counsel’s laptop or iPad is connected via a secure realtime network, enabling counsel to read and annotate the text in real time during the proceedings.

You do not even have to be in the same room, province or state. We provide secure remote realtime to anywhere in the world via encrypted internet connections using a program called CaseViewNet.

CaseViewNet is a free transcript viewer created by Stenograph. CaseViewNet provides interactive realtime access to testimony through the court reporter’s private wifi network or a wired connection, and it updates all edits during the session.

Your realtime reporter will guide you through the connection process, and our detailed written instructions provide step-by-step guidance on creating issue codes, marking the text, searching for keywords and running annotation reports.

You can learn more about how passionate our realtime reporters are about their work here and here.

Why request realtime reporting?

Because you have everything right there at your fingertips. Being without means you have no way to quickly review previous testimony, mark issues or search through the transcript.

The benefits of realtime are many, including the following:

  • With a live feed you can instantly read back and review the witness’s response.
  • The marking and annotation features reduce the time it takes to summarize transcripts.
  • The feed can be searched, marked, annotated and reviewed during the proceeding to ensure important followups are not overlooked.
  • Non-examining counsel can mark issues to be addressed in their examination and use the realtime feed to determine whether a question was objectionable or needs further clarification.
  • While the transcript in progress is yet to be certified, it can be a powerful tool in preparation for the next day’s proceedings.
  • The ability to effectively attend proceedings remotely eliminates travel difficulties and costs.

Book your realtime reporter today!

Visit our Realtime Reporting page to learn more about how we can help you.