American Guild of Court Videographers

What American Guild of Court Videographers does

The American Guild of Court Videographers (AGCV) is a U.S.-based nonprofit professional guild founded in 1995 and headquartered in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It provides training, certification, and community resources for legal and court videographers, and is the only U.S. body issuing credentials across all three phases of legal video: CDVS for deposition video, CEVS for evidence video, and CTTS for trial technology. Its curriculum explicitly maps to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, Federal Rules of Evidence 401/901, state and local rules, and standing orders, and is authored by elected working practitioners under a curriculum committee governance model designed to prevent sponsor or investor influence.

AGCV's product surface spans a free Legal Video Career Path orientation course plus three free pillar 101 overviews, three paid masterclasses, and three certification tracks ($995 for CDVS with a 15% member discount; CEVS and CTTS first cohorts open Fall 2026), plus practitioner-written field guides, quarterly briefings, a Circle.so-powered member directory and working forum, monthly Huddle Hour calls, regional CLE events, and an annual National Summit each June in Chicago. Underlying technology is a content-and-community stack rather than a software platform: the proprietary elements are methodological (a redundant audio-video signal chain architecture, a 1-2-3 archival rule with seven-year retention) and procedural rather than algorithmic.

Revenue is generated primarily through recurring memberships ($99/yr individual professional, $499/yr firm-level with unlimited employee seats and the AGCV Certified Firm quality mark) and one-time certification fees, with a freemium content funnel that converts free course engagement into paid certification. The guild serves four primary personas — court reporters adding video services, working videographers transitioning to legal protocol work, career changers seeking a credential-based profession without a degree requirement, and court reporting firms/litigation support agencies standardizing their videographer bench — and claims 1,000+ members trained across all 50 states. There are no outside investors, no parent company, and no disclosed funding rounds; the organization is member-governed and funded by dues and course revenue.

Name

American Guild of Court Videographers

Legal name

American Guild of Court Videographers

Website

https://agcv.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1995

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

The American Guild of Court Videographers is a U.S. nonprofit professional guild, founded in 1995 and headquartered in Tulsa, that certifies legal videographers across deposition, evidence, and trial technology phases (CDVS, CEVS, CTTS) and serves individual practitioners, career changers, court reporters, and court reporting firms across all 50 states.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Professional Certification and Training Services

NAICS

Motion Picture and Sound Recording Industries (512), Convention and Trade Show Organizers (561920)

SIC

Services-Membership Organizations (8600), Services-Motion Picture & Video Tape Production (7812)

akta.pro industry

PRIMARYEDAAANAN

Legal, Governance, Privacy & Audit Certifications

Education/Adult & Continuing Education/Professional Certification Programs

SECONDARYMPAGAGAI

Legal & Compliance Conferences

Media, Entertainment & Sports/Live Entertainment & Events (Concerts, Theater, Festivals)/Conventions & Conferences (Business Events)

Keywords

• Legal videography certification
• Court videography training
• Deposition video credential
• Trial technology certification
• Evidence video specialist

Headquarters

HQ city

Tulsa

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Others

Revenue model

1. Professional Membership Dues: Annual professional membership at $99/year providing directory listing, quarterly briefings, Legal Video Career Path course, community forum access, and Huddle Hour access.
2. Firm Membership Dues: Firm-tier account at $499/year covering unlimited employee Professional memberships plus AGCV Certified Firm quality mark and featured listing on firm partner page.
3. CDVS Certification Fees: $995 per candidate (or 3 x $375 installment plan), includes Deposition Video Masterclass and production exam. Members receive 15% discount. Rolling enrollment with live exam day at National Summit.
4. CEVS Certification Fees: Evidence video certification fees, first cohort opening fall 2026. Estimated similar pricing structure to CDVS with masterclass and production exam included.
5. CTTS Certification Fees: Trial technology certification fees, first cohort opening fall 2026. Includes coursework, live hot-seat exam at National Summit or three regional sites annually.
6. Bulk Certification Seats: Bulk certification seat pricing for firms starting at 5 seats, providing discounted per-candidate pricing for organizational certification programs.
7. Free Educational Content: Free LVCP orientation course (16 lessons, ~6 hours) and three free pillar 101 courses drive member acquisition and certification pathway progression.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels9 records

Core offering

AGCV certifies legal videographers through three professional credentials — CDVS (deposition video), CEVS (evidence video), and CTTS (trial technology) — paired with paid masterclass training and free orientation courses. The guild operates a member directory, working forum, monthly Huddle Hour, regional CLE events, and the annual National Summit in Chicago. Professional memberships at $99/year and Firm Memberships at $499/year bundle directory listing, community access, and discounted certification pricing for individual practitioners and court reporting firms.

Product overview

AGCV offers a multi-tiered professional certification and training ecosystem for legal videographers. The portfolio centers on three credentials mapped to the legal video career path: CDVS for deposition video, CEVS for evidentiary video, and CTTS for trial technology. Free introductory content (LVCP orientation and three pillar 101 courses) provides career path mapping and overviews, while paid masterclass courses lead to each certification. The community layer includes a member directory, forum, monthly Huddle Hour, regional CLE, and the annual National Summit. Firm memberships provide B2B access with bulk pricing and the Certified Firm quality mark. Field guides deliver practitioner-written reference content across all three pillars.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• CDVS — Certified Deposition Video Specialist: Foundation credential for legal videographers covering Officer-of-record protocol, FRCP Rule 30 read-on, room setup, and the audio-video signal chain for federal civil depositions.
• CEVS — Certified Evidence Video Specialist
• CTTS — Certified Trial Technology Specialist
• LVCP — Legal Video Career Path

Products and services

• CDVS — Certified Deposition Video Specialist
• CEVS — Certified Evidence Video Specialist
• CTTS — Certified Trial Technology Specialist
• LVCP — Legal Video Career Path
• Deposition Video 101
• Evidentiary Video 101
• Trial Technology 101
• Deposition Video Masterclass
• Evidence Video Masterclass
• Trial Technology Masterclass
• Firm Membership
• AGCV National Summit

Quantifiable outcome

• Busy freelance legal videographers earn $75,000-$100,000+ per year with equipment investment of $5,000-$10,000 and 6-10 week certification timeline
• +3 more outcomes

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration1 record

Feature5 records

Scale indicators13 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• ARMA International: Professional association offering records and information management certifications (CRM, IGP) with memberships, training, and a code of ethics; runs a guild-style certification business comparable in mechanic and member profile to AGCV.
• National Association of Legal Assistants (NALA): Operates the Certified Legal Professional (CLP) credential and serves paralegals and legal assistants through memberships, certifications, and continuing education, paralleling AGCV's role for a different legal-professional niche.
• American Association of Electronic Reporters and Transcribers (AAERT): Certification body for digital reporters and electronic transcriber professionals; explicitly cited by AGCV as a holding for more than 200 dual-credentialed members, making it the most adjacent competing credential in the same workflow.
• Association of Certified e-Discovery Specialists (ACEDS): A professional certification organization serving a legal-tech niche (e-discovery specialists) with a near-identical guild, exam, and member-due model; very comparable in scope and operating approach to AGCV.
• National Court Reporters Association (NCRA): The largest U.S. professional guild and certification body for court reporters, the very professionals AGCV targets as its primary expansion segment; NCRA's credentialing, membership, and CLE model mirrors AGCV's structure almost exactly.
• National Federation of Paralegal Associations (NFPA): National membership and credentialing organization for paralegals with the PACE-approved Registered Paralegal credential; parallel use case of certifying a litigation-adjacent profession through a guild structure.

Broad incumbents

• BARBRI: Major U.S. legal education and bar prep provider; broad incumbent selling certification-stage learning products to a larger legal audience, with a similarly course-led funnel although it does not issue legal-video credentials.
• American Bar Association (ABA): The dominant U.S. legal-professional membership body and CLE/Credentialing publisher; substantially larger and broader, but its model of converting membership into CLE delivery, certifications, and standards is the same gravitational center AGCV operates in.
• International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP): Larger, global professional certification body (CIPP, CIPM, CIPT) for privacy professionals; operates a far broader guild and certification model that AGCV's three-credential structure aspires toward.

Others

• American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA): Specialty professional association offering credentials (RHIA, CCS, CCA) and certifications alongside membership dues; a useful peer for benchmarking how a specialty credentialing nonprofit monetizes a niche profession through exam fees and continuing education.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/american-guild-of-court-videographers

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about American Guild of Court Videographers