Deborah Alvino, RPR, CRR, CRC — and CLVS — has been a member of NCRA for about 20 years. A former official and freelance court reporter who holds several professional certifications marking her stenographic skills, Alvino said she was motivated to earn the CLVS certification after a car accident that left her with torn cartilage in her wrist that required two surgeries to repair the damage.
Today she works as a full-time legal videographer and is owner of Coastal Legal Video Specialists, in Pismo Beach, Calif., a firm that provides an array of video services, including depositions, synchronized video with a reporter’s transcripts, day-in-the-life videos, video mediation documents, last will and testament recording, construction videos, sworn statements, and more. Her firm has clients in San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, and Ventura counties.
“I had been an official and then freelance reporter for 15 years and just got certified as a broadcast captioner, but I was not able to report after nerve damage caused by one of the wrist surgeries,” Alvino said.
“I really missed reporting and seeing my wonderful reporter friends, so I reinvented myself, got trained and certified as a CLVS, and started Coastal Legal Video Specialists on the central coast of California in 2012,” which she notes has now become a family affair.
“My son Dalton and my daughter Chandler have since joined me in the business. After being a videographer for a year, Chandler decided to go to court reporting school also and is now a high-speed student getting ready to take the RPR test and then the California CSR. I’m so proud of her and so happy that we will have another excellent reporter soon,” she added.
Alvino said she uses her videography skills on a daily basis, whether she’s in a deposition (or now working remotely during quarantine), at a site inspection, will signing, press release for a law firm, or a judicial awards ceremony.
She said the greatest benefit of earning her CLVS certification is being recognized as a trained, qualified professional in her field by reporting agencies and attorneys, since not all videographers know about legal video procedures, technology, ethics, or even how to act in a legal setting.
“I would encourage others to earn the CLVS certification because you never know when you may need the skills, even if you are primarily still reporting. I absolutely love working alongside my reporter friends and helping make their jobs a little easier by providing great audio, the best chair in the office, looking up spellings, and giving them just any support that they need.”
