SpeakUP for the record & your needs in the safety of a mock event
What is "Mock Woman"? Why join this program?
SEE MY "ABOUT" PAGE BELOW. SOME REASONS TO JOIN "MOCK WOMAN":
- Gain CONFIDENCE & self-mastery through this powerful "learn my doing" model
- Learn how to speak up for the record in mock depositions & trials with law students & lawyers
- Create, edit, and produce rough drafts or final transcripts
- Time management: pre-mock prep, showing up, and delivering transcripts
- Membership in Mock Woman Apprenticeships Facebook group (by invitation only)
- Practice stating your Reporter’s Admonition before going on the record, speaking up, and reading back in weekly "Mock Squad" team Zooms
- Belong to a positive community of your peers who understand you
EXPERT SUPPORT & RESOURCES by retired California CSR, RPR
- Case files, exhibits, dictionaries, and participants’ names
- Rough draft transcript templates with disclaimers
- Breathwork and coaching support & practice
- One-on-one transcript reviews and feedback
- Professional guidance and mentorship online and in person
WHO CAN JOIN THIS PROGRAM?
- Serious, motivated, reliable steno and voice court reporting students from theory to newly licensed & experienced reporters wanting extra practice.
2023 Apprenticeships
$997.00
Experience being the reporter of record at multiple mock depositions. See Reporter page above for details.
About me and Mock Woman
SpeakUP Maven | Trainer | Coach | Mentor
Why Mock "Woman"? Is this program only for women? NO!
Hello! I am Ana Fatima Costa, retired California CSR and RPR (in red, above). In 2019, I was told students nicknamed me "Mock Woman" because my name is hard to pronounce. I loved it and bought this domain! In 2020, my team named themselves "Mock Squad"!
My 41-year legal career comprises being a freelance court reporter; manager of the San Francisco office of a national court reporting agency; sales executive for two global reporting agencies; litigation secretary; and office administrator for a forensic psychiatrist.
Since 2008, I have coached hundreds of court reporting students and both newly licensed and experienced court reporters throughout the world to speak up for the record at in-person and remote mock and real depositions and trials.
My apprentices have assisted hundreds of high school and law students and lawyers to be more aware of the record they are making at mock depositions and trials online and throughout the San Francisco Bay Area and Silicon Valley.
—Mock depositions and trials of 2L & 3L law students online and at UC BerkeleyLaw, fall/spring semesters, Berkeley
—Mock depositions at John F. Kennedy University College of the Law, Pleasant Hill
—Mock depositions at UC Hastings College of the Law, San Francisco
—Mock trial annual competition online and at San Francisco Superior Court and UC Hastings College of the Law, San Francisco
—Mock trial annual national competition online and at Golden Gate University School of Law, San Francisco
—Mock expert witness depositions for Cornerstone Research, San Francisco
—Mock trials at Circle of Independent Learning Charter School, Fremont
—Mock trials at Alameda Community Learning Center, Alameda
—Mock expert deposition workshops for junior and senior associates at Cooley LLP, Palo Alto and San Francisco
—Mock deposition skills training for 2nd year associates at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, Palo Alto
All participants at these events learn crucial practical skills:
(1) As required by the Court Reporters Board of California, "the fundamental duty of a court reporter is to protect the record, including interrupting if the accuracy of the record is jeopardized." Apprentices speak up when they cannot hear or understand what is said, thus providing a "reality check" to law students and lawyers that their spoken words are being captured and will be transcribed.
(2) Apprentices later produce rough drafts or final transcripts of the proceedings - useful tools for all other participants to improve their performances questioning and defending witnesses as attorneys of record or providing expert testimony.
Unlike shadowing a working reporter, my student apprentices are the Reporters of Record. They ...
... achieve a deep understanding of the legal, ethical, and professional responsibilities of working reporters.
... find their voice, gain self-confidence, and feel empowered to speak up for the record and their needs.
... develop crucial skills in the safety of a mock event and learn from their mistakes without fear of losing their licenses.
... learn how to state their Reporter's Admonition (see GGU video below) before swearing in witnesses; speak up/interrupt for the record; mark exhibits; and produce transcripts.
Besides my expert guidance, support, resources, and templates, I provide coaching, breathwork, and other tools that help apprentices gain self-awareness and self-confidence, release stress, and learn how to face any challenge that arises in their careers.
For more information about me, see www.AnaFatimaCosta.com,
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PHOTOS
Home page: Student reporter Jennifer Franklin capturing and protecting the record at one of six Spring 2022 BerkeleyLaw mock depos.
Are You Ready to be a Reporter of Record? page: Former student reporter Ross Eitzen at Wilson, Sonsini, Goodrich & Rosati.
Spring 2023 BerkeleyLaw Mock Depos: Nine student and licensed apprentices at the BerkeleyLaw Spring 2022 mock depositions: Steno writers Tara Ocana; Marie Schuetze, California CSR No. 14445 (who flew from Los Angeles); Martha Lemons; Patricia Harley; Jennifer Franklin; Jeanette Ireland, CSR 9562; Steph Cole (who flew from San Diego); Stephanie Rhinehart; and voice writer Rebecca Larsen.
Directly above (from left): Apprentices Esther Au, Tricia Holmes, Pamela Piehler, and Sally Hume at the 2019 San Francisco Trial Lawyers Association mock trials at San Francisco Superior Court. Photo by SFTLA Executive Director Juliette Bleecker.
*Internship credit provided per California Code of Regulations, Title 16, Division 24, Article 2, Section 2411(h).
All photos on this website taken by Ana Fatima Costa unless otherwise indicated. All rights reserved.