Why Impartiality Matters

The court reporters code of ethics states:

“Be fair and impartial toward each participant in all aspects of reported proceedings, and always offer to provide comparable services to all parties in a proceeding”.

Court reporters work for BOTH sides of the case even though only one party hired us. Sometimes it’s a difficult line to walk, we often can get in a situation where the hiring party expects us to act in a manner that benefits them and excludes the other party. Two situations come immediately to mind, being instructed to go off the record because “I hired you” and I’m requesting the transcript expedited and do not let the other party know. Naturally, we want to keep our client happy but in these types of situations we have to respectfully decline to comply.

Here’s why. Even though we are not in a courtroom but rather in the deposition room for pre-litigation discovery, what happens in that room is still part of our justice system. And anything that threatens the impartiality or even has the appearance of threatening impartiality can lead to a breakdown of our justice system. One expects to be treated fairly in a court of law and the same expectation applies to the deposition process. It is this faith in the impartiality of our judicial system that is the very basis of our Rule of Law. And court reporters are an integral part of upholding this faith.

So the next time you request something of your reporter that they perceive as crossing the line of impartiality – even discussing the merits of the case or the demeanor of the deponent – and they professionally and politely suggest that they can’t discuss that, know why. Impartiality is of great importance to court reporters and our justice system.