CLVS

It is NCRA's certification for legal video specialists. NCRA describes it as a milestone that allows a holder to work as a legal video specialist and lets clients and employers know the practitioner is competent and professional. It is distinct from NCRA's court reporting and captioning credentials, though reporters sometimes add it to broaden their services.

Videographers who record depositions, hearings, and other proceedings and want a recognized credential behind their name. It also suits court reporters diversifying into legal video, and anyone whose clients require demonstrable proof of skill rather than a verbal assurance of experience. If your work product may be used as the official record, the credential is relevant.

Expect coverage of pre-production planning and equipment setup, camera operation and recording technique, audio capture and lighting for the record, documentation of proceedings and post-production deliverables, and ethics and professional standards. The ethics portion draws on NCRA's published standards, including the CLVS Code of Professional Ethics.

The CLVS pathway is generally described as combining a written knowledge test with a practical skills assessment, meaning you should prepare for both knowledge recall and hands-on demonstration. Confirm the current structure, component order, and delivery method with NCRA before scheduling, since NCRA administers and periodically revises its certification exams.

NCRA sets and revises test length, timing, and item counts, and those specifics are not published in the general certification pages this guide is built from, so no figure is given here. Check the certification test center section of ncra.org or contact NCRA directly for the current specifications before you plan your timing strategy.

Passing standards are established by NCRA as part of its test development process and are not stated in the general certification materials used for this guide, so no cutoff is quoted. Request the current passing standard from NCRA when you register. Never rely on a number circulated informally; scoring standards can change between exam revisions.

Retake terms are governed by NCRA policy, and NCRA maintains written policies covering exam retention, exam history reinstatement, and certification reinstatement. Review those published policies and ask NCRA about waiting periods and fees before you sit, so a failed attempt does not catch you unprepared for the next step.

Start with ethics and professional standards, because those expectations shape every technical decision from setup onward. Then work through pre-production planning and equipment, followed by camera operation, audio and lighting, and finally documentation and deliverables. Finish by rehearsing complete deposition-style recordings end to end, since isolated skills rarely fail alone.

Practitioners typically lose points on the fundamentals they stop noticing: unreported time and date, sloppy on-camera identification of speakers, inconsistent framing, audible room noise, poor microphone placement, missing backups, and deliverables that do not match what was ordered. Ethics questions also trip candidates who have never read the CLVS Code of Professional Ethics closely.

NCRA maintains a continuing education program and published rules governing certification maintenance and reinstatement, but the specific requirements attached to the CLVS credential are not stated in the general certification materials used here. Confirm the current maintenance requirement directly with NCRA rather than assuming it matches a reporting credential's cycle.