Blog Category: Court Reporting

Taking videotaped depositions of de bene esse witnesses is not a new innovation.  What is new is the ability to display for the jury both the exhibit and the witness’ reaction to the exhibit simultaneously with interactive picture-in-picture technology.

Imagine the impact on your jury to see the witness’ comfort – or lack thereof – during his testimony. The power of this technology could well be just what you need to help the jury deliver a verdict in your favor.

Video technologists utilize Elmo high-definition document scanners and video mixers to integrate any and all media types, including video clips, electronic documents, MRIs, or any other demonstratives needed to create compelling, powerful picture-in-picture presentations that display with clarity each and every issue to be deliberated.

With Interactive Media Display, you never have to stop the proceedings and direct the jury’s attention to the exhibit on another screen or to a stack of papers, because it’s all displayed clearly and concisely alongside the video of the witness.

Enhanced video mixing and recording of the laptop screen is available, as are projectors and speakers.  A good trial technology team utilizing this software can catapult your case into the 21^st Century, which is exactly what today’s tech-savvy juries expect. Don’t let your jury down. Engage them with interactive media display and provide them with the “experience” they seek.

You’re a court reporter. When you first launched yourself into this career, you knew court reporters worked long hours, but you probably didn’t realize just how many it took to get the job done.

Now that you’ve been working awhile, your dictionary is robust, your writing is improving all the time, and you’re beginning to wonder if you’re ready to hire a scopist. If you can answer “yes” to these questions, then you are:

1. Do I write clean notes?
2. Do I spend my evenings and weekends either editing or proofing?
3. Does my life revolve around deadlines?
4. Do I want to have a life outside of work?

Now that you’re ready, the next question is how to go about finding a scopist you can trust. With all the scoping services listed online, as with any other service, start by asking colleagues for referrals.  Also, there are scopist groups on both Facebook and LinkedIn.  Join these groups and let them know you’re looking for a scopist, what your requirements are, and provide an email address where you can be reached.

Once you’ve found a scopist, don’t immediately throw all your work at them. Bring them into your world slowly. Take some small jobs, send them the format, the insert files, a PDF of the exhibits, and the steno/audio files. When you get those initial jobs back, proofread them carefully. Keep the lines of communication flowing between you and your scopist. If (s)he’s editing something differently from the way you’d like it, tell him/her.  Communication is the key to a successful partnership.

After you’ve used that scopist awhile, if you want to begin increasing your workload and relying upon him or her more often, ask. Don’t assume they’re available, because they may well be juggling other reporters’ work. Finding a scopist who will work for you exclusively so that you can take all-day every-day jobs may take awhile, but when you find “that perfect fit,” it can be life changing.

Keith Shreckengast, a reporter with Planet Depos, hailed his scopist, Darlene Williams, as being a “life changer.” As he explained their relationship, they use Eclipse’s Connection Magic, Version 6, to connect with one another live throughout the entire course of the proceedings. In fact, Darlene can hear everything that is being said as she’s seeing Keith’s steno stream into her home office. In many cases, by the time Keith walks away from his assignment, Darlene has completed the transcript, ready for Keith to hand over as a rough draft; final transcript shortly thereafter. All Keith has to do is toggle through her questions and do a quick proof. As Keith explained the pre- and post-Darlene era, “I now have a life!”

A side-by-side comparison of the cost-to-value proposition of having just such a reporter/scopist relationship might include the following: Reporter A takes 200 pages per day for five days straight, totaling 1000 pages. That reporter pays his scopist $1.00/pg, but the reporter earns $3.00/pg for the original and $1.50 for the copy sale.  Although the check written by the reporter to the scopist was $1,000, that reporter earned $3,500. Reporter B, on the other hand, went out on Monday, Wednesday and Friday because he scopes his own work, taking only 600 pages, earning just $2,700. In addition to earning a solid $800 less, Reporter B will lose half of his weekend editing Friday’s job. Over the course of one month alone, Reporter B earned $3200 less than Reporter A; and over one year’s time, his lost earning potential amounts to a whopping $38,400!

Life’s waiting for you. What are you waiting for?

In the market for a new projector?  Well, be sure to do your homework before purchasing, because having the right projector for your needs is an important part of your success.

These days, there are so many projector options to choose from, that it’s hard to wrap one’s mind around the possibilities, so Planet Depos did a little research, and here’s what we found.

Firm owners who are looking to set up conference rooms with in-place projectors no longer need to look solely at expensive, heavy projectors in order to provide their clients with excellent sound and vivid displays for videoconferencing. Projector Central’s top pick of 2014 is the Epson EX6220 WXGA 3LCD Projector, which provides a 3000 lumen color/white display, a 1280 x 800 WXGA (Wide Extended Graphics Array), weighs a mere 5.29 pounds, measures 11.6″ x 9.0″ x 3.1″ (W x D x H), and may be purchased for under $600.

CART providers who travel to their assignments by car and don’t mind the weight and measurements of the Epson EX6220 would do well to utilize it on the job. But reporters who rely on public transportation and need the convenience of a more compact projector may want to consider CES’s 2014 International’s ultra portable projector picks: the BenQ GP20 or the Vivitek Qumi Q7. These lighter weight, compact projectors do not have the 3000 lumen output of the Epson EX6220, but they do have a 700 lumen display on the BenQ GP20 and an 800 on the QumiQ7. Because of their lumen limitation, however, CART providers are advised to pre-test these units on site for adequacy in presentation before relying upon them for convention assignments. If the assignment is slated for a large ballroom, and there is no opportunity to pre-test, going with the less compact unit with the brighter, more vivid display is always the safest route.

Court reporting marketing professionals who like to travel light may enjoy the Dell M115 HD Projector. It weighs less than a pound, offers the user PC-free presentation options, connects to most mobile devices, and offers the versatility of multimedia presentations from cameras, DVDs, DVRs, and video game consoles.

Court reporting students, on the other hand, who really aren’t ready for the meeting and convention world, but want to have fun viewing what they write in a big way on their dorm room wall and don’t have to worry about the lumen output may want to consider Wirecutter’s pick, the Brookstone HDMI Pocket Projector. It will transform a student’s dorm room into a home movie theatre in no time flat, making it perfect for work and home.

In recognition of National Court Reporting & Captioning Week, Planet Depos salutes all court reporters, past and present, around the globe. Here we spotlight three of our own, as well as a student soon to join the ranks of professional court reporters.  Allow us to introduce Paul Smakula, three years in the field; Rebecca Stonestreet, 19 years; Alda Mandel, a 36-year veteran; and Laci Tang, who is currently a student working at the 180 wpm speed level. We asked them a few questions about their careers and wish to share their insightful responses with you here.

Planet Depos: What inspired you to become a court reporter?

Laci: I was taking classes at my local community college and a woman came in and spoke to my class about careers with the deaf and hard of hearing. She mentioned court reporting, more specifically CART providers. I was very intrigued. I went home and did some research that evening and enrolled in school a few weeks later.

Paul: A desire to do something vastly different than the typical 9-5 day I previously had.

Rebecca: I was temping as a receptionist at a law firm during college, and the lady who came to replace me had been a receptionist at a court reporting agency. I was aimless in college, didn’t really know what I wanted to do, and she went on and on about the flexible schedules the reporters had, how much money they made, so I went to an open house at the court reporting school in Austin, got excited about it, and started school two weeks after I got my college degree.

Alda: Unhappiness in my prior job spurred me on to looking for a new career.  My sister had suggested that I might make a good reporter, as I had taken six years of piano lessons and was “good with my hands.”  I wanted a job that gave me flexibility in terms of the amount of hours I worked (when I wanted children), that afforded me the opportunity to live almost anywhere in the U.S., and financial security.

Planet Depos: Laci, what do you find to be the most challenging part of your program?

Laci: The most challenging part of my program is speed building. I struggle with committing myself to high speed practice and not just practicing what I feel comfortable with.  I start to get frustrated when I feel like it’s physically impossible for my fingers to move any faster, although I know it is. When this happens, I tend to listen to slower dictation so I can say I have put in the hours of practice.  I hope to soon overcome the 180 hump and join the working world!

Planet Depos: What do you know now as a working court reporter that you wish you would have known as a student?

Paul: I wasn’t quite prepared for just how hectic things can be as far as running from job to job and being ready to leave for a job at any moment of the day.

Planet Depos: What do you find to be the most challenging part of your job?

Paul: I would have to say accents and/or trying to make sense of broken English and incomplete sentences.

Rebecca: Having to sit for long periods of time.

Alda: Writing when people speak 300 words per minute, mumble, and/or interrupt each other.  After years in this business, I am not afraid to speak up when conditions are insane, but find it very frustrating that people usually don’t alter their way of speaking.  Their unresponsiveness translates into a feeling of lack of respect and understanding for what I am being hired to do.

Planet Depos: What do you enjoy most about your reporting program?

Laci:  I enjoy the interning portion of my program immensely. It is fascinating to see reporters work and be able to catch a glimpse of what this career holds for me.  Every reporter that I have gone out with has been very kind and very helpful. I can’t wait to one day pay it back to a student reporter.

Planet Depos: What is the most enjoyable part of your job?

Paul: I never stop learning! Whether it’s familiarizing myself with the medications a doctor was prescribing, or learning a new brief for a word or phrase I’ve been struggling with, I am always learning something.

Rebecca: Doing something different every day.  While the technical aspects of the job are fairly consistent, I go somewhere different, meet different people, and hear about different things – usually learning at least one thing I didn’t know before – every day.

Alda: I love the variety, the lack of routine, going to different places every day, handling all kinds of cases, learning new things, meeting new people, working long days, working short days, being able to take days off when I want.  While the job is mostly skill-related, I am a people person and love the interaction with people from all walks of life on a daily basis.

Planet Depos: What advice do you have for those considering entering a court reporting program?

Laci: Do your research! Make sure you know what you are getting yourself into. So many schools tell you that this program takes two years. It takes most people longer. Many schools will tell you what machines to buy and software to purchase. I really wish someone would have told me that there was more than one option for those things when I started. Attend conferences, join state and national associations, and network. Chances are someone else has had the same question or felt the same way. There are so many willing to help if you just ask.

Planet Depos: What advice do you have for students and those just breaking into the field?

Paul: Don’t think that you’re done practicing because you passed all your tests! Even doing 20-30 minutes every morning will do wonders for your writing. Don’t lose your confidence.  You’ll have jobs that will be tougher than others, but you can’t get down on yourself.  Start writing down your own answers to these questions!  It’s a lot harder to think of some later on if you haven’t!

Planet Depos: How has realtime affected your career?

Alda: Doing realtime for myself has improved my writing tremendously and considerably lessened the amount of time I spend doing “homework,” editing transcripts.  I have not marketed realtime to attorneys, although I have passed the CRR exam.

Rebecca: Putting aside the extra income doing realtime brings in, both in court and in the freelance world, I believe it has put a spotlight on the true value of a live court reporter as opposed to electronic recording.  The reporter is kind of a silent “observer” to some extent in a deposition, and especially in a court setting, at most interjecting every now and again (hopefully not!) or marking exhibits, et cetera.  Realtime brings the proceedings to life right in front of the participants’ eyes, showing the real benefit of having an experienced and knowledgeable person taking down what they’re saying.  I believe the future of court reporting depends on reporters providing realtime.

Planet Depos: What are the most valuable investments, financial or otherwise, a court reporter can make to enhance his or her career?

Rebecca: Spending time to perfect your skills.  Even after almost 20 years of reporting, every day I come up with a shorter way to write a word or phrase so that I won’t get tripped up, thus making a cleaner realtime output, and cutting down on the time it takes to produce a final transcript.  The most valuable investment is your personal time, staying on top of technology and keeping your skills honed.  It saves time in the long run, and hopefully it will extend your court reporting career.

Alda:  Time.  Time to practice, time to review/revise my writing, time to support the NCRA and related activities that keep court reporting alive and well. And maybe time to meditate to better face my realtime fears and form new positive, fearless pathways in my brain!

Planet Depos: What do you most look forward to in working as a court reporter?

Laci:  I can’t wait for the flexibility and the many different opportunities this career field offers.  I look forward to the possibility of traveling all over the world, perhaps working in Congress, or from home in my pajamas!

Are you not seeing sufficient improvement in your realtime feed?  The first step to getting that clean, crisp realtime feed you’re looking for is to critically review your writing. Are you continually dragging certain keys, causing unnecessary untranslates/mistranslates? If so, you’ll want to do any one or more of the following: a) change the steno outline; b) dictate practice tapes for yourself incorporating those words, and practice stroking them until you can write them cleanly; or c) enter those misstrokes into your dictionary. The problem with entering misstrokes into your dictionary is that it does not encourage you to clean up your writing, so that should be a last resort. Finally, misstrokes have been known to cause quite a stir in television and convention reporting, so reporters should do whatever they can to eliminate them.

Word-boundary issues, where prefixes and suffixes attach themselves to the wrong word, still plague many reporters who were not taught a computer-compatible theory. Eliminating word-boundary errors entails differentiating those prefixes and suffixes when writing. Phoenix offers some suggestions in this article for differentiating the word “come” from the prefix “com.” The key to eliminating this issue is to take it slowly. Begin by selecting the most prevalent prefix/suffix/word boundary issues, record yourself using those words, practice that dictation, incorporate it on the job, and when those feel natural to you, move on to the next set of “issues.”

If you realize that you’re struggling to write certain multi-stroke words, it might be wise to shorten the outline.  As suggested for the word boundary and shadowing issues, begin by targeting a few words or phrases, practice with your home-made dictation, begin using those strokes on the job, and when they become automatic, you can move on to the next set of issues.

Outputting a clean realtime feed can be a challenge, but with a little review, tweaking, patience, time, and determination, you’ll be surprised at the improvement you’ll see.