Advanced Reporting Solutions opened its doors in downtown Salt Lake City’s historic Broadway Lofts Building Jan. 1, 2018. Located next to the popular Squatters Pub, the court reporting firm’s mission is to do just what its name highlights, provide the full range of reporting and legal support solutions to attorneys around the state and country. While Advanced Reporting Solutions is a relatively new name as a company, the principals behind the firm are well-known in Utah’s court reporting and legal community.
The firm evolved from the merging of Alpine Court Reporting, which was owned by Byron and Emily Gibb, and Reporters Inc., owned by Rockie and Carilee Dustin. The two husband-wife teams, and four friends, decided to combine their talents and resources to offer a full-service legal solutions experience modeled upon a concierge-style of doing business. Emily Gibb, Rockie Dustin and Carilee Dustin are all seasoned court reporters, with over 95-years of experience between them. Both Emily and Rockie are past presidents of the Utah Court Reporters Association. Byron Gibb has overseen and operated businesses both nationally and internationally.
In addition to the Salt Lake City headquarters, Advanced Reporting Solutions has offices in Provo and St. George and conference room facilities in Ogden, Logan and Lehi. The firm can also find conference room facilities throughout the country and even internationally depending upon client needs.
HIGH-TECH REPORTING
Advanced Reporting Solutions offers the legal community the services of a large staff of professional court reporters who are highly experienced at handling a wide variety of complex litigation cases, from construction defect cases and medical malpractice to intellectual property litigation. Their reporters use advanced software that stream transcripts in real-time to laptops, Smartphones and iPads, to deponents and attorneys across the country.
“Real-time transcripts benefit attorneys in a number of ways,” Byron Gibb says. “They can see while depositions are taking place whether or not witnesses are contradicting themselves. Lead attorneys can watch depositions from their own offices while their associate conducts the deposition – they don’t even have to be in the building – to ensure things are going well and they don’t need to step in. These are just a couple of examples of how our technology-based approach to court reporting benefits our attorney clients.”
The services Advanced Legal Solutions offers doesn’t end with high-tech court reporting. The firm provides many other legal services that include focus groups and mock jury selection, case management, expert witness training, professional trial videographer services and more.
One notable way the firm stands far apart from other court reporting services in Utah is through its sheer size and the number and sizes of its conference rooms. The firm encompasses 8,000-square-feet of space and features seven conference rooms. All the rooms are equipped with teleconferencing and videoconferencing equipment, including mobile videoconferencing capabilities, LED televisions and most importantly, individually climate-controlled rooms.
“We noted that attorneys often complained about hot conference rooms, so we made sure that issue was addressed upfront in our construction,” Gibb says.
The largest of the rooms holds up to 40 people and features furniture that can be fluidly rearranged into different shapes according to group needs – from straight tables to circles to horseshoe shapes. It also can accommodate up to 20 people for videoconferences. For these reasons many local small law firms use the facilities for depositions.
“The space can accommodate attorneys for a variety of uses,” Gibb says. “They can be used for focus groups, mediations, hearings, breakout groups, training and depositions, among other things. Our largest conference room is ideal for holding large depositions, such as construction defect cases.”
PICTURE-IN-PICTURE VIDEO
A new videography product Advanced Reporting Solutions is using is called picture-in-picture (PIP). In depositions where a deponent views an exhibit, sometimes videographers will zoom in on the exhibit. Picture-in-picture video, or PIP video, is a more effective technological solution for capturing exhibit intensive depositions.
PIP technology allows videographers to display exhibits and video of the deponents’ reaction to an exhibit simultaneously. Rather than going back and forth between video of the deponent and zoomed in capture of the exhibit, viewers can examine both at the same time.
“This service is priceless if you are planning on going to trial and it is very effective at visually influencing a jury,” Gibbs says.
If a deponent were to draw an arrow or a circle on a document, this would be clearly captured and displayed through picture-in-picture video, Gibb notes.
CONCIERGE SERVICES
“We believe in providing a personal touch,” Gibb says. “To do that we not only focus on the attorney/reporter relationship, but we look ahead in the market to try and predict what attorneys need and how we can save them time and money by delivering it. Our customers are our most vital asset and we go to great lengths to make them happy.”
Other concierge services that the agency provides includes shuttle services, airport check-in and printing of boarding passes, arranging of lunches to be brought to depositions and mediations, providing laptops and iPads for client use, hand-delivering of paper transcripts on short notice and more.
In addition to bringing leading-edge solutions to attorneys, Advanced Reporting Solutions also believes in giving back to the community by contributing financially to attorney organizations, including those focused on minority and women attorneys. Gibb has also presented to the Utah Paralegal Association and to other paralegal groups, introducing new technologies designed to make their jobs easier.
WHAT DO THE FIRM’S OWNERS HOPE FOR THE FUTURE?
“We truly enjoy meeting new clients and helping them in the litigation process,” Rockie Dustin says. “We see the working relationship as a partnership and take seriously our responsibility to provide accurate, cost-effective solutions for our clients’ needs. We don’t take a one-size-fits-all approach, but strive to hear what our clients’ needs are and to meet them. In the long run, the greatest compliment our clients can give us is to refer someone they know to us. Check out our website and list of services. We would love to have you as a new partner.”
