Ever
since
its
founding
in
2018,
Steno
has
been
on
a
mission
to
disrupt
depositions.
It
started
as
a
court
reporting
agency
that
also
offered
non-recourse
financing
of
deposition
costs,
and
then
in
2020
launched
Steno
Connect,
its
own
web-based
video
conferencing
technology
specifically
built
for
remote
depositions
and
exhibit
handling.
In
the
early
days
of
the
pandemic
when
the
company
developed
Steno
Connect,
it
did
so
to
provide
lawyers
with
an
alternative
to
Zoom
for
depositions.
At
the
time,
many
legal
professionals
were
concerned
about
the
security
of
Zoom
meetings
and
many
others
were
unable
to
install
the
Zoom
client.
But
in
the
years
since,
as
Zoom
has
enhanced
its
security
and
functionality,
and
as
it
has
become
ubiquitous
among
lawyers
and
legal
professionals,
Steno’s
customers
began
asking
for
Steno
Connect
to
add
more
of
the
kinds
of
features
they
regularly
used
in
Zoom,
such
as
breakout
rooms,
chats,
and
virtual
backgrounds.
“We
were
forcing
our
customers
to
choose
between
the
experience
of
Zoom
and
the
functionality
of
Steno
Connect,”
said
Dylan
Ruga,
Steno’s
president
and
cofounder
and
a
Los
Angeles-based
litigator.
Rather
than
continue
down
that
path,
Steno
decided
to
take
the
functionality
of
its
web
platform
and
rebuild
it
as
a
Zoom
app,
so
its
customers
could
get
the
best
of
both
worlds.
The
app
is
now
available
in
the
Zoom
app
store
and,
in
launching
it,
Steno
becomes
the
only
court
reporting
agency
with
a
Zoom
integration,
according
to
Ruga.
Easy
Exhibit
Handling
For
depositions,
the
key
functionality
that
Steno
Connect
brings
to
Zoom
is
exhibit
handling.
With
the
app
installed,
lawyers
get
drag-and-drop
functionality
to
upload,
preview,
number,
share
and
annotate
exhibits
during
a
deposition,
and
then
save
them
all
back
to
Steno’s
Firm
Dashboard.
The
app
appears
as
a
panel
to
the
right
of
the
Zoom
screen.
(See
image
above.)
Within
it,
the
lawyer
can
upload
exhibits
to
be
marked,
either
by
dragging
them
to
the
app
or
by
selecting
specific
files.
Once
the
exhibits
are
uploaded,
the
lawyer
can
preview
the
unmarked
exhibits,
without
anyone
else
able
to
see
them.
Sharing
an
exhibit
in
Zoom
via
the
Steno
Connect
app.
When
the
lawyer
wants
to
mark
an
exhibit,
the
lawyer
simply
selects
“Introduce.”
The
app
assigns
an
exhibit
number
(which
the
lawyer
can
edit)
and
asks
the
lawyer
to
confirm
that
that
the
exhibit
should
be
introduced.
The
numbered
exhibit
then
appears
in
the
marked
exhibits
window
at
the
top
of
the
app.
There,
lawyers
can
still
preview
exhibits
or,
when
ready,
present
them,
which
opens
the
exhibit
and
shares
it
with
everyone.
The
app
also
allows
exhibits
to
be
annotated
in
Zoom
and
saved
with
the
annotations.
On
the
back
end,
all
the
marked
exhibits
are
downloaded
to
Steno’s
system
so
that
they
are
available
when
the
deposition
is
over.
You
can
install
the
app
directly
from
the
Zoom
apps
store,
but
in
order
to
use
it,
you
have
to
be
in
a
Zoom
meeting
initiated
through
Steno.
Participants
in
the
deposition
get
an
invite
to
a
Steno
Connect
web
page,
from
which
they
can
open
the
Zoom
session.
(Zoom
enterprise
accounts
may
require
permission
from
an
administrator.)
Even
if
a
user
does
not
have
the
Steno
Connect
app
installed,
the
user
can
still
upload
and
access
shared
exhibits
from
the
initial
Steno
sign-in
page.
Once
you
have
the
Steno
Connect
app
installed,
you
can
invite
other
meeting
participants
to
install
it.
Disrupting
Depositions
In
May,
Steno
raised
$15
million
in
a
series
B
round,
with
the
goal
of
continuing
in
its
mission
to
revolutionize
depositions
and
litigation
support
services.
Ruga,
a
former
Steptoe
&
Johnson
partner
who
founded
his
own
plaintiffs’
litigation
firm
in
2016,
first
conceived
of
the
company
as
a
vehicle
for
financing
deposition
costs.
He
took
the
idea
to
Greg
Hong,
an
entrepreneur
who
had
previously
founded
Reserve,
a
restaurant
reservation
system,
and
sold
it
in
2018
to
another
restaurant
reservation
company,
Resy,
which
was
later
acquired
by
American
Express.
Together
with
CTO
Dan
Anderson,
they
launched
Steno
in
2018
as
a
court
reporting
agency
paired
with
the
non-recourse
payment
option,
DelayPay.
After
the
pandemic
shut
down
live
depositions,
the
company
developed
Steno
Connect,
a
remote
video
deposition
platform,
and
then
Digital
Firm
Dashboard,
on
which
a
firm
can
manage
all
its
litigation
support
services.
Bob
Ambrogi
is
a
lawyer,
veteran
legal
journalist,
and
award-winning
blogger
and
podcaster.
In
2011,
he
was
named
to
the
inaugural
Fastcase
50,
honoring
“the
law’s
smartest,
most
courageous
innovators,
techies,
visionaries
and
leaders.”
Earlier
in
his
career,
he
was
editor-in-chief
of
several
legal
publications,
including
The
National
Law
Journal,
and
editorial
director
of
ALM’s
Litigation
Services
Division.