Month: January 2020
Santa Clarita Court Reporting
Santa Clarita
Santa Clarita, also known as “awesometown” was founded in 1987 when the unincorporated communities of Valencia, Newhall, Canyon Country, and Saugus banded together. The area was first settled by Spanish colonists in the 1700’s, and was the site of the first documented discovery of gold in California, at Placerita Canyon. People still pan for gold there today.
The Santa Clarita Valley served as Hollywood’s first “back lot,” and stars like Gene Autry, John Wayne, and Roy Rogers filmed hundreds of westerns at Melody Ranch, founded in 1915. Recently, the Deadwood Movie was filmed at the ranch. Santa Clarita today is a quintessential suburban town. It was used as the setting for the TV show “Weeds,” and, obviously, Netflix’s “Santa Clarita Diet.”
Walt Disney founded a four-year university in Santa Clarita, California Institute of the Arts. Many of Disney’s animators and Imagineers are CalArts grads, as is legendary actor and director Tim Burton.
For Santa Clarita lodging, we recommend the Embassy Suites or the Hyatt Regency. You can enjoy a fabulous meal at the Newhall Refinery or the Old Town Junction restaurant, both of which are located in Old Town Newhall. If you need to blow off a little stress after your deposition, you can hike at the unique and legendary Vazquez Rocks park or stop by Six Flags Magic Mountain, home of some of the world’s fastest roller coasters.
Legal Media Experts provides professional court reporting, legal videography, process serving, and videoconferencing services in the Santa Clarita Valley and nearby areas. Schedule your next deposition today at legalmediaexperts.com
Charlotte Court Reporting
Charlotte – The Queen City
Charlotte North Carolina, now the 25th largest city in the United States, was chartered in 1768 and named after Charlotte of Mecklenburg, wife of King George III. The settlers’ affection for the Crown quickly changed, and the first Declaration of Independence signed in the colonies was signed here on May 31, 1775. British Gen. Cornwallis called the city “a hornet’s nest of rebellion.”
Charlotte is known for all types of racing and is home to the Charlotte Motor Speedway and the NASCAR Hall of Fame and Museum, but the area’s main industry is banking. Multiple banks are headquartered in Uptown Charlotte, the city’s center. At the Charlotte Epicentre you’ll find numerous restaurants and entertainment options, including Bowlero, an upscale bowling alley. For great soul food, take short walk from any of the hotels in the city center to Mert’s. If you’re in town during football season you might be able to catch the Panthers at Bank of America Stadium.
Another area that’s popular for visitors to Charlotte is the South Park neighborhood. In South Park, we recommend the DoubleTree hotel, and locals rave about Café Monte and Pink Cactus (which carries 41 different tequilas!). During the summer, the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra performs in South Park.
Legal Media Experts has provided professional court reporting and legal videography services in Charlotte for more than a decade. To schedule your next deposition with us, use our online tool at legalmediaexperts.com.
ADA Needs CART Reporters
Did you know that in addition to their role as Guardians of the Record, court reporters perform a vital role in helping people with hearing impairment access to judicial proceedings?
Realtime court reporters who have obtained additional training and certification are able to provide CART – Communication Access Realtime Translation – services, which are similar to closed-captioning seen on television.
Under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), federal, state, and local governments are required to provide “reasonable accommodations for employees and ‘auxiliary aids and services’ to ensure effective communication with people who are deaf or hard of hearing.”
The National Court Reporters Association (NCRA) describes CART services as “the instant translation of the spoken word into English text using a stenotype machine, notebook computer and realtime software.” The text produced by the CART service can be displayed on an individual’s computer monitor, projected onto a screen, combined with a video presentation to appear as captions, or otherwise made available using other transmission and display systems.
In a recent letter to the editor in a local newspaper, one man who has requested CART services from the courts in the past took the time to educate his neighbors about what CART is and how to go about requesting CART services themselves.
The ADA provides that courts and public entities must provide meaningful access to the hearing impaired, and not just American Sign Language. Under the ADA, if a hearing-impaired person makes his or her needs known, the courts must make every effort to accommodate the needs of that person, including, but not limited to ASL.
Little known, there is something called Communication Access Realtime Translation, in which a qualified certified court reporter is present in a court proceeding of public meeting, takes down what is being said and by whom, in realtime and the text of the proceeding appears on a monitor. Under the ADA, the public body must provide these and other services, at its cost, and must, wherever practical, honor the request of the hearing disabled to provide the accommodation he or she feels would be most useful.
I have had good success in getting courts to accommodate my needs, given sufficient lead time and instruction on what I need and the technology which is available.
The National Association for the Deaf provides more information about CART and the Americans with Disabilities Act here. For more information about becoming a CART certified court reporter, visit the National Court Reporters Association’s (NCRA) CART page.