Wisconsin law prohibits unlimited contracts for court reporting services

Jordan Lamb in the Legal News & Trends feature in Wisconsin Lawyer September 2008 on Wis. Stat §804.03(3).

In general, depositions may not be taken before "a person who has entered into a contract for court reporting services unless the contract is limited to a particular action or incident." This statute was designed to end the practice of entities who are frequent parties to litigation from entering into long-term, unlimited contracts with Wisconsin court reporters or court reporting firms operating in Wisconsin under which the parties receive volume discounts, priority status, early transcripts, and so on. [footnotes omitted]