LiveDeposition Certified Reporter Spotlight
Name: Elizabeth “Liz” Borrelli
Title: Freelance Deposition Certified Realtime Reporter
Certifications: California Shorthand Reporter, 7844; California Certified Realtime Reporter; Certified LiveNote Reporter
Self-summary in three words: Loyal; driven; perfectionist.
When did you begin your court reporting career? Sometime in the ‘80s
What sparked your interest in choosing court reporting as a profession?
I was always intrigued by the legal field. My best friend suggested court reporting, which just so happened to be one of the career-day seminars that was being offered at our high school at that time. After listening to the court reporter tell us about her career, it sounded interesting, so I decided to sign up for one semester and see if I liked it. I was so fascinated by the machine and how the combination of keys formed phonetic sounds; sort of like a combination of a piano and a keyboard. I absolutely loved my first semester of college! The rest is, as they say, history.
What advice would you give students or those just entering the field of Court Reporting?
Removing as much stress where you can will help immensely, because court reporting is stressful! I think the thing that has helped me the most — and I didn’t learn it until much later — is to plan on getting to the job site an hour early. I fought this one for a long time, but once I started doing it, it truly removed so much stress from the start of my day. It eliminates the stress from traffic delays, but also gives you time to troubleshoot any issues once you get on the job site, and if there’s any time left over, then you can work on whatever you’d like to; for me, it’s usually creating briefs for that particular case.
What is your favorite thing about being a court reporter?
Flexibility and diversity.
As a Court Reporter, what is your worst nightmare or biggest pet peeve?
Biggest pet peeve: attorneys stipulating away the original.
Where is the strangest place you have taken a deposition?
In a car dealership, outside in the mechanics’ repair bays – paper flopping in the breeze.
What is the funniest thing you have heard during a deposition or in the courtroom?
Attorney A falls asleep during depo and begins to snore. When he opens his eyes, Attorney B asks Attorney A if he had a nice nap. Attorney A says: “Why, yes, thank you, I did; I dreamt that this depo was over with.”
When not court reporting, how do you spend your free time?
Enjoying time with my daughter, especially watching her perform: singing, dancing and/or acting.
What do you like most about LiveDeposition?
Your invaluable support.
Anything else you would like to share?
When I needed support later on a Friday evening, your tech was not only available, but offered support on the following Saturday as well. It was for a third-party product that worked in conjunction with LiveDepo, and he knew exactly what I needed to do in order to get my client’s LiveNote to work in conjunction with LiveDepo on his own device.