To write law firm names (say, at the beginning of a video depo), I tweak the repeated-stroke technique we’re all familiar with. (See Ed’s Steno Pro, pp37 and 38.) A firm name like Finnegan Henderson Farabow Garrett & Dunner, you’ll usually only hear the first two words spoken, but at the beginning of a videotape deposition, you’re likely to hear the whole name. Here are my two personal dictionary entries:
| FIN/HEN | Finnegan Henderson |
| FIN/HEN/HEN | Finnegan Henderson Farabow Garrett & Dunner |
It’s that simple: Write the first stroke of each word when only the first two names are said; then repeat the second stroke for the entire firm name. Ignore the “and” (ampersand) when creating your briefs.
| BURNS/LEF | Burns & Levinson |
| KUL/DAOIK | Cullen and Dykman |
| DAN/LAG | Danaher Lagnese |
| FIRB/RIFP | Fish & Richardson |
| BERN/KAORB | Bernstein Cushner |
| BERN/KAORB/KAORB | Bernstein Cushner & Kimmell |
| SHAOK/HAERD | Shook Hardy |
| SHAOK/HAERD/HAERD | Shook Hardy & Bacon |
| SKAD/ARPS | Skadden Arps |
| SKAD/ARPS/ARPS | Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom |
| WIL/ELS | Wilson Elser |
| WIL/ELS/ELS | Wilson Elser Moskowitz Edelman & Dicker |
The law firm rule works equally as well for other proper names: local and national companies, consulting firms, and many more:
| AB/FIFP | Abercrombie & Fitch |
| BAB/WIL | Babcock & Wilcox |
| BEK/DIK | Becton Dickinson |
| BAOZ/A*L | Booz Allen |
| BAOZ/A*L/A*L | Booz Allen & Hamilton |
| KAM/KOL | Cameron and Colby |
| KHES/PAOEK/PAOEK | Chesapeake & Ohio |
| KOD/SHURT | Codman & Shurtleff |
| KROUN/KORK | Crown Cork |
| KROUN/KORK/KORK | Crown Cork & Seal |
| DUN/BRAD | Dun & Bradstreet |
| LOK/MART | Lockheed Martin |
Aside from reminding the videographer to please not speed through his/her read-on, I always – always! – prep for a video depo by having briefs ready beforehand for the plaintiff and defendants’ names, the witness, the lawyers and law firms (assuming I’ve got a notice of deposition), and I add a brief just for the civil action number, using my “wild card” technique. (See Ed’s Steno Pro) Say the case number is 13-cv-006478-BS. I enter a two-stroke brief in my job dictionary: 13/S-Z. That’s it. The S-Z is my wild card stroke; it means anything I want it to mean! So typically I just write the first stroke of the civil action number, followed by S-Z, and define it accordingly. Pretty easy, huh??