Blog Category: Arbitration

Among the 21 court reporters who responded to Planet Depos’ inquiry as to who is and who is not left-handed, an amazing 24 percent were south-paws, a statistic rivaling baseball’s 25 percent.   Worldwide, on average, only  1 in 10 people is left-handed.  That’s a mere 10 percent! So the question becomes, why do left-handers appear to be much more well-represented among court reporters?

Nature’s Experiment?  Handedness and Early Childhood Development, a study by NIH, suggests that “left-handedness may be advantageous for specific activities because it brings about a shift of dominance toward the right hemisphere, enhancing visuospatial functioning carried out on that side of the brain (Heilman 2005).”  That same study goes on to discuss an over-representation of left-handers among creative artists, architects, musicians and mathematicians.  Considering the fact that 4 of America’s last 7 presidents were left-handed (57%), the question is do left-handed politicians have an upper hand over their right-handed counterparts?

Court reporting training programs have always considered musicians as having a leg-up in court reporting school because of their already honed hand-eye-ear coordination.  Now that scientists have discovered that language function among righties is localized to the left brain hemisphere among 95 percent of its population, while lefties exhibit only a 70 percent left-hemisphere for language dominance among their population, it seems that people who process language more evenly across both brain hemispheres have an advantage when it comes to reporting — so if you are a lefty, and looking for an amazing career, consider court reporting.  You may just have an edge over your right-handed peers.

Court reporters are required to stay alert for long periods of time. So, how do they do it?  Over the years, reporters develop tricks for staying focused.  Most turn to caffeine and sugar, but the University of Kentucky suggests the healthier, lower calorie option:  laughter.  That’s right — good, belly-jiggling laughter. No more caffeine, no more runs to the bathroom to splash cold water on your face — just laughter.  In fact, the University will tell you that “laughter stimulates both sides of the brain to enhance learning. It eases muscle tension and psychological stress, which keeps the brain alert and allows people to retain more information.” Additionally, for student and veteran reporters alike, laughter might be just the trick you’ve been seeking to finally increase speed and accuracy.

Laughter can not only help reporters stay focused, but it also burns calories. In fact, according to Weight Loss Resources, “just 15 minutes of laughter a day will burn 10 to 40 calories, depending on a person’s weight and the intensity of the laughter.”  People who are good humored, who laugh, and make others laugh, also come across as more alluring or attractive, which is great news, too, right?

It gets better.  A University of Maryland Medical Center study indicates that “laughter is linked to healthy function of blood vessels.” Michael Miller, M.D., Director of Preventive Cardiology at the University of Maryland Medical Center and Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, indicated that “At the very least, laughter offsets the impact of mental stress, which is harmful to the endothelium,” and that the change in the endothelium “was similar to the benefit we might see with aerobic activity.”  So clear were the results of the University of Maryland study, that Miller says, ‘The recommendation for a healthy heart may one day be exercise, eat right, and laugh a few times a day.’”

To be your level best all day long, begin working laughter into your workday breaks by either reading jokes or watching funny videos; and while everyone else is filing back into the conference room or courtroom still tense because they’ve filled up on caffeine and sugar, you can relax, because you’ve filled up on laughter.  Who would have ever guessed that laughter really is the best medicine?!

In 2014, as a court reporter, you are more indispensable to the legal community now than ever before, as you are relied upon for your ability to:

•  take verbatim testimony,

•  have the testimony appear instantaneously on an iPad,

•  disseminate a real-time feed to participants locally and remotely,

•  provide instant rough ASCIIs

•  provide final transcripts within hours of the completion of the proceeding.

These skills are your greatest, most important endorsement, and it is up to you to let counsel know “what you can do.”

Whatever your niche, make counsel aware of the services you provide by including them on your business card and/or LinkedIn profile and generally integrating that information into your interaction(s) with him/her either on the job or wherever you happen to run into them.

Sign up on social networking sites to receive the discussion threads for the Bar Associations in your area.  You’ll learn a lot and will probably find that you have excellent insights to share.  Use those threads to follow and attend events, such as happy hours and golf tournaments.  When you arrive, introduce yourself and network.  You are your best advocate and publicity tool.   As a court reporter, you have an entire skill set that counsel needs in order to win his/her case.

Court reporters are required to sit in one position and concentrate for extended periods of time, which is why many tend to develop neck and shoulder tension. Harvard University reports that seven out of ten people will experience neck and shoulder pain at some point in their lives. Julie Donnelly, a contributing writer for the College of Court Reporting’s “The Guardian” newsletter, reports that our levator scapulae muscles, otherwise known as our “shrug” muscles, tend to shorten as we write for long periods of time, which may cause shoulder discomfort and headaches.

To minimize neck and shoulder tension/discomfort, as well as tension-type headaches, Stanford University suggests taking frequent breaks or microbreaks. Unfortunately, court reporters may not be able to take breaks often, so Planet Depos thought it important to pass on this simple set of neck and shoulder exercises by Fitsugar.com that may be performed while at your writer.
1. Inhale and lift your shoulders toward your ears, taking three slow counts to raise them. Exhale and let your shoulders fall, giving into gravity. Repeat five times.
2. Gently lower your right ear toward your right shoulder, then slowly switch sides. Don’t hang in any one position for too long, as this isn’t really a stretch — super-tense neck muscles don’t like to be stretched. Just try to get your stiff, tense neck moving around. Repeat five times on each side.
3. Tuck your chin toward your chest, taking three slow counts to do so. Really isolate the movement so just the neck is moving; don’t round the upper back. This move provides a stretch for the muscles in the back of the neck. Then lift your head and lower it behind you, gazing at the ceiling to stretch the throat. Repeat three to five times.

A quick stretch that may be performed during a pause or lull in the testimony provided by VerbatimStudies.com entails stretching your right arm in front of you and across your chest, as if you were grabbing something on your left side, bringing your left arm over and in front of your right arm, gently hugging your right arm in towards your chest, and then repeating this stretch for the other arm/shoulder.

These exercises are meant to help relieve tension, not to address painful repetitive stress issues. If you are experiencing neck and shoulder pain, please consult your physician.

Harvard Medical School suggests that “A Little Dose of Exercise Goes a Long Way,” so even doing just two or three of these stretches every day is better than not doing any at all. Please consult The University of Toronto’s Workplace Exercises for a more comprehensive set of stress-relieving stretches.

Because: (a) Princeton Review indicates that as many as 25 percent of those who leave the court reporting profession leave due to stress, (b) The Mayo Clinic reports that, “a little exercise goes a long way” when it comes to stress management, and (c) Stenograph suggests that reporters “take frequent breaks to stretch or exercise” while on the job, we thought it important to share this list of quick and easy arm, hand and wrist relaxation exercises that can be done anywhere at any time.

Reporters should not perform these exercises if they are experiencing any sort of hand, wrist, or arm pain, but should consult their physician instead.

Circles: Stretch both arms outward with fingers together and draw a circle with your hands, rotating them at the wrist. Five circles in one direction, then five in the opposite direction.

Extension: Hold arm outward with palm facing down. Raise the hand up as though you were telling someone to stop. Using the opposite hand, apply pressure to the palm of the raised hand. Hold pressure for five seconds, then relax. Repeat for a total of three times per hand.

Curls: Hold arm outward, with the palm facing down. Drop the hand downward at the wrist. Using the palm of the opposite hand, apply pressure to the back of the dropped hand. Hold pressure for five seconds, then relax. Repeat three times per hand.

Stretches: Spread the fingers of both hands far apart. Hold for five seconds, then relax. Repeat for a total of three times.

Thumb Stretches: Raise the arm out with the palm out/up as if telling someone to stop, and gently apply pressure using the other hand to the extended thumb in a back and downward direction. Hold for five seconds and relax. Repeat this three times per hand.

Stenograph offers an even more comprehensive list of things reporters can do to stay relaxed and maintain their hand, wrist and arm health while on assignment.