About me, aka "Mock Woman"
EXPERTISE
My name is Ana Fatima Costa, retired California CSR and RPR (in red, left). My 45-year legal career comprises being a freelance deposition and court reporter; manager, and later sales executive, for three court reporting agencies; litigation secretary; and office administrator for a forensic psychiatrist /expert witness.
Since 2008, I have taught steno (machine & voice) court reporting students and newly licensed court reporters how to protect the record at hundreds of in-person and remote mock depositions and trials throughout the San Francisco Bay Area and Silicon Valley. In 2019, I learned students nicknamed me "Mock Woman,” loved it, and bought this domain.
CLIENTS
—Mock depositions and trials of 2L & 3L law students online and at UC BerkeleyLaw (formerly Boalt), 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 remotely and at San Francisco Superior Court and UC Law (formerly Hastings), San Francisco
—Mock trial annual national competition remotely and at Golden Gate University School of Law, San Francisco
—Mock expert witness depositions for Cornerstone Research at Bently Reserve, San Francisco
—Mock trials at Circle of Independent Learning (COIL) 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
BENEFITS
All participants learn crucial professional 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" for other participants that their spoken words are being captured and will be transcribed.
(2) Apprentices produce rough drafts or final transcripts of the proceedings - useful tools for high school / law students and lawyers to review their questioning and defending skills.