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In this special interview, we learned more about First Legal's, Michael Saltman.
Tell us about yourself. What is your profession?
I'm President of First Legal's Court Reporting division. I spend most of my time focused on growth, client experience, operations and finding better ways to serve the litigation community.
When you're not working, what matters most to you? What keeps you grounded outside of the business?
Family, without question. I also love traveling, good food and old movies.
How did you get into this field?
I was in law school and working for a judge when I realized I was more interested in business than practicing law. I was offered an opportunity to help run and grow a court reporting company in Philadelphia and quickly saw an industry that was highly fragmented and ready to be professionalized.
I developed the idea of building a national network of deposition companies, which ultimately caught the attention of investors and helped fuel the consolidation of the industry.
Tell us a little about your company.
First Legal is a national litigation support company. We help law firms and corporate legal departments manage the critical services surrounding litigation, with court reporting being a major part of what we do.
What has been the biggest factor in your company's success?
Culture and our people. Technology and scale matter, but at the end of the day, clients remember who answered the phone, who solved the problem and who made their life easier.
What does your company do differently?
We try to remove friction. Our goal isn't simply to cover a deposition its to make the entire experience easier for the attorney, the staff and the court reporter.
What do you know now that you wish you knew when you started?
How much the little things matter. Clients rarely leave because of one huge issue. It's usually an accumulation of small frustrations that nobody fixed.
What separates a great litigation firm from an average one?
Responsiveness and accountability. Great firms dont just identify problems, they own them and solve them.
What's a small detail nobody outside the industry realizes matters?
A clean, accurate record. When you're sitting in a deposition, it can feel routine, but one word, one exhibit or one interruption can ultimately matter enormously.
What's one piece of advice you wish you had ignored?
Stay in your lane. Some of the best opportunities come from asking why something is done a certain way and being willing to challenge it.
What's the best marketing idea you've ever tried?
Stop marketing what you do and start talking about the problems you solve. Clients care far more about the outcome than the feature.
What's a random skill your job has made you great at?
Reading a roomand figuring out very quickly what the real problem is.
What are the biggest challenges facing litigation firms right now?
Doing more with less while client expectations keep increasing. Speed, transparency and technology are no longer differentiators they're becoming expectations.
Are you excited or worried about AI?
Excited, with some healthy skepticism. AI can eliminate enormous amounts of repetitive work, but in legal, accuracy and judgment still matter. Faster isnt better if it isn't right.
What legal or regulatory changes are you watching?
I'm watching anything that changes how the official record is created, who is qualified to create it, and how AI and digital technologies are used. Innovation is important, but it shouldn't come at the expense of accuracy, transparency or the integrity of the record.
What will litigation look like in five or ten years?
Much more technology-enabled and much more immediate. Attorneys will expect information, transcripts, exhibits and case intelligence almost instantly but I think exceptional human service will actually become more valuable, not less.
Where is court reporting headed?
Technology will replace tasks, not great court reporters. The best technology will make reporters faster and more productive and allow them to focus on what technology still struggles with the judgment required to create an accurate record in a complicated environment.
What makes a great court reporter?
Accuracy, professionalism and judgment. Great reporters do far more than take down words they manage the record, understand the dynamics in the room and know when something needs to be clarified.
What's one mistake young attorneys could easily avoid?
Not thinking about the record until after the deposition. Slow down, speak clearly, identify exhibits and remember that someone may be reading that transcript years later.
What's your secret to great client relationships?
Be responsive, do what you say you're going to do and fix problems quickly when they happen. It sounds simple. Its surprisingly rare.
What do you genuinely enjoy most about your job?
Building things. Whether it's a team, a new service, a technology or a better client experience, I love taking something that can be better and figuring out how to improve it.
What's your biggest goal over the next few years?
To build the best court reporting company to work with and to work for. If we accomplish both, the growth follows.
What advice would you give your younger self?
Trust your instincts sooner. You're never going to have 100% of the information, and waiting for certainty can be more expensive than making a decision.
What's something you believe about the legal industry that others might disagree with?
Technology alone is not innovation. If it doesn't make the experience meaningfully better for the client or the professional doing the work, its just another feature.
What's a moment that reminded you why the work matters?
Any time you see how important a deposition or transcript becomes to the outcome of a case. What can look like a routine assignment to us may be incredibly important to the people involved.
Who is the most memorable person you've worked with or for?
Steve Nowlan, the former Chief Legal Officer of Prudential, who later became my boss and mentor. He was a true trailblazer.
He helped pioneer matter management, e-billing and early discovery technology at a time when the legal industry had almost no real technology infrastructure. He taught me that innovation requires taking risks and that if you wait until everyone agrees with you, you're probably already too late.
What's your proudest nobody will ever know I did this, but I did moment?
Probably the problems that never became problems. Some of the work I'm proudest of is when the team fixes something behind the scenes and the client never even knows how close it came to going wrong.
Favorite local restaurant?
Buccan, in Palm Beach.
Coffee, tea or energy drink?
Coffee. No debate.
First Legal
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