Several members of the reporting community used the public comment period to ask the Court Reporters Board to examine Filevine’s (also referenced as FileFind or Filevine) role in producing transcripts from digital recordings and to consider whether current rules on certification, apprenticeship hours, and transcript certification need clarification.

Cindy Vega, president of the Deposition Reporters Association of California, told the board she and others had received complaints about reporters “not being ready for the job,” particularly new voice reporters who may not have apprenticeship hours. Austin McDaniel, chief operating officer of McDaniel Reporting, asked the board to place Filevine (described as a company acquiring an “official license number”) on a future agenda and raised concerns about whether Filevine’s processes comply with provisions he cited (transcript certification rules referenced from the California Code of Civil Procedure and Title 16 of the CCR in his comments).

Representatives associated with Filevine, including Lindsay Stoker and Dora Enriquez (introduced themselves as reporter-in-charge roles or second reporter-in-charge for Filevine), addressed the board from WebEx. Stoker said Filevine is new to the California market, is working with California-certified stenographic and voice reporters, and that “all testimony that will be taken in the state of California will be taken via steno or voice only.” Enriquez said Filevine had not taken depositions to date and that they are working exclusively with certified reporters.

The board did not take formal action at the meeting but said it would “take that under advisement” and noted public commenters asked staff to place the matter as a separate agenda item for a future meeting.