Develop crucial professional skills before it counts!
Are you ready to be THE REPORTER?
LEARN HOW TO
- State your Reporter’s Admonition before going on the record
- Capture and protect the record in mock depos & trials with law students & lawyers
- Create, edit, and produce rough drafts or final transcripts
- Manage time: pre-mock prep, show up, deliver rough drafts
- Gain confidence & self-mastery through this unique "learn my doing" model
EXPERT SUPPORT & RESOURCES
- Coaching and breathwork support & practice
- Case files, exhibits, dictionaries, and participants’ names
- Rough draft transcript templates with disclaimers
- Protocol and instructional manual
- One-on-one transcript reviews
- Practice speaking up and reading back in weekly Mock Squad team Zooms
- Membership in Mock Woman Apprenticeships Facebook group (by invitation only)
WHO CAN PARTICIPATE
- Serious, motivated, reliable steno and voice court reporting students writing 180+ WPM and new or returning reporters wanting extra practice.
2022 BerkeleyLaw National Flash Trial Competition
$197.00
Steno & voice students/reporters: Own your authority as THE COURT REPORTER, capture and speak up for the record at these mock trials at JAMS Mediation & Arbitration Center in SF!
Fall 2022 BerkeleyLaw Mock Depos
$197.00
Own your authority as the reporter of record at mock depositions at BerkeleyLaw in Berkeley, CA. These opportunities are for steno and voice students and new & returning reporters.
SFTLA 2022 Annual Mock Trials
$197.00
Steno & voice students/reporters: Own your authority as THE COURT REPORTER, capture and speak up for the record at these mock trials hosted by San Francisco Trial Lawyers Association.
About me and Mock Woman
SpeakUP Maven | Trainer | Coach | Mentor
My legal career spanned 41 years as 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.
In 2008, in collaboration with litigators, law school professors, and law firm administrators, I began training advanced court reporting students and newly licensed California Certified Shorthand Reporters (CSRs) in the art and science of capturing and protecting the record.
My apprentices have assisted hundreds of high school and law students and lawyers to be more cognizant of the record they are making at mock depositions and trials online and throughout the San Francisco Bay Area and Silicon Valley.
MOCK EVENTS
—Mock depositions and trials of 2L & 3L law students at UC BerkeleyLaw, fall/spring semesters, Berkeley
—Mock depositions at John F. Kennedy University College of Law, Pleasant Hill
—Mock depositions at U.C. Hastings College of the Law, San Francisco
—Mock trial annual national competition of 16 law schools at Golden Gate University School of Law, San Francisco
—Mock expert depositions for Cornerstone Research, San Francisco
—Mock trial annual competition of Bay Area law schools by San Francisco Trial Lawyers Association, 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
These collaborations offer fundamental practical skills experiences for all participants:
(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 must interrupt as often as needed, thus providing a solemn "reality check" to law students and lawyers that their spoken words are being captured and 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.
Unlike shadowing a working reporter, my 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.
Why "Mock Woman"?
In 2019, I learned court reporting students were referring to me as "Mock Woman" because my name is unusual. I loved it, and bought this domain!
For more information, visit my main website www.AnaFatimaCosta.com,
_______
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 THE REPORTER?: Student reporter Ross Eitzen at Wilson, Sonsini, Goodrich & Rosati.
Fall 2022 BerkeleyLaw Mock Trials: Student reporter Shana Ray at a BerkeleyLaw mock trial with Prof. Charles Denton, III (in blue).
Fall 2022 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.
SFTLA 2022 Annual Mock Trials: Student reporter Melissa Patterson at SFTLA's 2018 annual mock trial competition, with retired Judge Charlotte Walter Woolard presiding.
Directly above (from left): Esther Au; Tricia Holmes, RSR; Pamela Piehler, CVR, CCR; 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.
Golden Gate University School of Law 2019 Final Mock Trial