Name:  Rich Germosen

Title:  Independent Freelance Certified Realtime Reporter

Certifications:  CCR, CRCR, CRR, RMR, RSA, LDCR

NJ Certified Court Reporter (CCR)
NJ Certified Realtime Court Reporter (CRCR)
NCRA Certified Realtime Reporter (CRR)
NCRA Registered Merit Reporter (RMR)
NCRA Realtime Systems Administrator (RSA)
LiveDeposition Certified Reporter (LDCR)

 

Self-summary in three words:
Bald Motivated Writer

When did you begin your court reporting career?
I started school in September of ’90. I officially graduated in July of ’92. I first “sat in” (training) on a live job in August of ’92. I sat for and passed the NJ CSR examination on October 3, 1992. Results came in the first week of November of ’92 and I took my first job a few days thereafter.

What sparked your interest in choosing Court Reporting as a profession?
I was a senior in high school in October of ’89. We had a presentation from the court reporting school Cittone Institute in English class one day where they had a student court reporter writing the presentation and a speaker talking about court reporting. The speaker had the student read back a couple of times and I thought it was interesting. That one presentation sparked my interest. I didn’t know anything about court reporting. I made an appointment with the school and was signed up by December of ’89 of my senior year in high school. I started theory class the following September of ’90.

What advice would you give students or those just entering the field of Court Reporting?
I would say try to improve on your skills a little bit each and every day. Keep track of problem areas/words in a file somewhere and work on them every day. Be as organized as you can be. Be on time for everything…and not just on time…be early.

What is your favorite thing about being a reporter?
I’m a freelancer…so I love that on any given day of the week throughout the year I could be home and not at a job. I’m probably home working on transcripts, but I’m still home. It’s not 9-5 Monday through Friday at an office.

As a Court Reporter, what is your worst nightmare or biggest pet peeve?
Worst nightmare has to be foreign accents in general, but especially expert witnesses with foreign accents. Biggest pet peeve off the top of my head is people speaking over each other and cutting each other off.

Where is the strangest place you have taken a deposition?
It’s been a long time, but I used to go to different jails for depositions.

What is the funniest thing you have heard during a deposition?
One that stands out in my memory is the deposition of a swine expert in a patent case. From what I remember, the expert started describing a process where he had to do certain things to the male pig to be able to extract the pig’s semen and then manually inseminate the female pigs. A lot of people don’t hear things like this.

When not court reporting, how do you spend your free time?
Work takes up a lot of my time, but when not working, I’m spending time with my wife and two teenage boys.

What do you like most about LiveDeposition?
First…and this is my experience…I love that the LiveDeposition LocalRealtime™ Router works ALL THE TIME. It’s great peace of mind knowing that the realtime will transmit to the iPads each and every time. Second, I love their customer support. They are very friendly and always eager to help out with any questions.