Do's and Dont's of Making the Record, Part 2

A few more tips on creating a clear, concise and accurate record:

Know your ABCs and your 1-2-3s

Rapidly spouting out acronyms and numbers can cause a lot of confusion. Many consonants have similar sounds so speaking clearly, taking a moment to spell the acronym and using clarifying names such as M as in Mary will ensure that acronyms are correct in the transcript. Numbers can be equally confusing. Clarify what the number represents, percentage, dollar, time, et cetera.

Methyl-Ethyl-What?

Court reporters acquire a broad general knowledge of terms and subject matters. However, in our world of advanced technologies, it’s impossible to be familiar with every possible subject matter. You may be very familiar with the specialized terminology in your case, the court reporter may or may not be. By providing the court reporter with a glossary of technical terms – especially if it’s a realtime display – will help create an accurate record and minimize interruption for clarification during the proceedings.

Show and Tell

For efficient handling of items of evidence, briefly and adequately identify by stating both the date and an identifying feature and when referring to an exhibit, specify the exhibit number. If there are going to be a large number of items entered into evidence let the reporter know in advance and give them enough time to mark the exhibit and make a note in the record before proceeding.

Using these few tips at your next proceeding will not only help create an accurate record it will also make your court reporter very happy.

Do's and Don'ts of Making the Record, Part One

The transcript you receive from the court reporter is an important document before, during and after trial. In the judicial process there is a lot on the line and the importance of a clear, accurate record is critical.

Here are some helpful tips and reminders for creating an accurate record. Some of them are common sense, but it’s sometimes the common sense things that trip us up.

• ·       Awareness of the record. Keeping in the forefront of your mind that your words are being reported and may be read by opposing counsel, appellate judges, legal scholars – maybe even the Supreme Court will go a long way to creating an effective, useable record. You’ll eliminate duplication and repetition and your false starts will drop dramatically. You’ll look good, in front of your colleagues and in print.

• ·       Dr. Livingston, I presume? The reporter needs to know who you are and who you represent.  Often, it’s fairly straight forward. If it’s not, such as a multi-party case or a telephonic proceeding, it’s best practice to identify yourself before you speak.

• ·       What’s in a Name? Enunciate clearly and spell out proper names. Often names can be spelled a variety of ways or even mistaken for similar sounding names so take the time to ensure that there is no doubt of the correct spelling. No one likes to have their name confused with someone else’s or misspelled.
  

• ·       One at a time. What can’t be heard and understood can’t be reported. It’s hard to not overlap, we do it all the time in conversation. In a legal proceeding, talking over one another only serves to confuse those listening and clutter up the record – or may not even make in the record. A reporter can only take down the words of one person at a time.

We hope these few tips will help you in making a clear, concise and accurate record. Your court reporter will do the rest. Look for a few more tips next month.

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.