Holidays, Gifts and the Economy

 

As the song goes, it is beginning to look a lot like Christmas.  It is the day after Thanksgiving and the stores have Christmas trees, lights, and huge sales.  Yesterday I went out to “dip my toe” in holiday shopping to see if it would be crazy out there or not.  I found the stores to be relatively empty and no lines at the checkout counters.  That is good for me, bad for the economy.

 

Every year since 1985 I have given all of my clients champagne in December to say, “Thank you, Thank you, Thank you.”  Over the years the cases of champagne that I ordered grew and grew.  I loved the feeling of giving gifts to people I truly love working for and respect. 

 

This year is different.  I have seen on TV and read in the newspaper how the food banks across the USA are almost empty this year.  There are so many more people who need help to feed their families and so many people who are used to giving to their charities cannot afford to.

 

In my heart and soul, I know that my clients would be much happier if I gave the dollars that I would spend on champagne to feed a hungry child or hungry senior citizen living in downtown San Diego.    There are a lot of charities that need dollars.  I have decided to give a donation in the name of my clients to charities that feed people.  The charities include the Potiker Family Senior Residence, the San Diego Food Bank, the Salvation Army, and Father Joe.

 

Please send any comments to rosalie@kramm.com.

 

In early October of this year, I was lucky enough to go to Russia with NCRA through People to People with a delegation of court reporters.  Past Presidents Merilyn Sanchez and Laurel Eiler were our leaders.  35 court reporters spent 10 days seeing the historic sites of Moscow and St. Petersburg and meeting with attorneys, judges, and court secretaries (court reporters) of Russia.

 

In Russia the person who is in charge of the official court record is a court secretary.  To be a court secretary, a person must first be an attorney.  Being a court secretary in Russia is considered to be a stepping stone on the journey to becoming a judge.  70% of the judges of Russia began as a court secretary.

 

Court secretaries do not create a verbatim record of a courtroom proceeding.  Rather, the court secretary takes what we would consider to be minutes of a trial and documents the “important events” of a trial.  The newer courthouses are putting in ER to supplement and back up the “minutes” as recorded by the court secretary. 

 

There are many similarities between the USA court system and the Russian court system.  They do have jury trials.  One difference is if a person is found to be not guilty in a criminal trial, the prosecution can appeal the decision to a higher court.  There is no double jeopardy. 

 

One of the highlights of the trip was going to the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation.  It is a court that considers cases relating to the compliance of the federal laws.  It is the first judicial body of constitutional review in the history of Russia.  The Court was created in October 1991, after Soviet time.  In its very first decisions, the Constitutional Court confirmed the supremacy of international human rights law. 

 

As a delegation, every representative of the court system who spoke to us was very open.  We were never told we couldn’t touch on a certain subject or ask specific types of questions. 

 

In the past I might have been hesitant to accept a reporting job in Russia thinking it might be difficult or intimidating.  I would encourage any reporter who gets the opportunity to travel to Russia to go.  It is a beautiful country.  The people are kind.  It is safe. 

 

Have your passport ready just in case you get the call, “Can you go to Russia to cover a deposition?”  (You will need a visa – go to http://www.passportvisasexpress.com)

 

I have been a working reporter since August of 1981.  I have always prided myself in being a hard worker, being efficient, and getting it right.  My pride got in my way for 25 years.  I thought I could scope faster, better, and smarter than anyone in the world.  Being a hard worker, and wanting to be a great reporter, I would write 2000 – 3000 pages a month.  I loved reporting, loved my clients, and loved producing a beautiful transcript. 

 

My work ethic meant great sacrifice.  As any reporter knows, if someone is writing 200 – 300 pages a day, three or four days a week, that reporter will be working nights and weekends to get the work out.  If there was an expedite and I was slated to report again the next day, I would say, “No problem,” put my head down and find time everywhere, anywhere I could.  I would work through lunches, breaks, get home, make myself spaghetti, pour out the water, mix the marinara sauce in, and basically eat it out of the pot because I didn’t have time to put it on a plate and relax. 

 

Kramm Court Reporting was founded in 1985.  So on top of getting out transcripts I was running a business.  On top of that I was refereeing soccer games at a professional level (NASL, MISL, CISL) as well as refereeing college, high school, men leagues, and little kids. 

 

My life might have sounded pathetic, but I was happy to be the hard working reporter who could get out perfect transcripts fast.  I was building my reputation and my business.  I believed my life was GREAT.  Even now I don’t regret those years of hard work.  Those years taught me a lot.

 

But about five years ago, I started getting a tingling feeling that life was passing me by.  Every Saturday morning I would get up, get my coffee, have my computer set up from the night before, and start working.  I had weekend rules.  I would work seven to eight hours on a Saturday and only four hours on a Sunday.  Sometimes the Sundays became another eight hours, but it meant on Monday I could start over again with all of my transcripts out – ready to start another week of depos. 

 

At least I was getting great meals – Chris Jordan is my personal chef.

 

I needed to take baby steps in giving up control.  First I started with a proofer.  I still believed I needed to scope my jobs since I was physically present at the depositions and would remember little nuances of the day.  That lasted about a year.  My proofer wanted to become a scopist.  She didn’t know steno, but she had a degree in biology and was a ghost writer for Sea World.  She is a smart woman.  That tingling feeling about life passing me by was getting stronger.  She got the Eclipse scoping package.  My audio was working well.  We went for it.

 

To make a long story short, I will write a 250+ page day.  She starts working on it the next morning.  I have it back for proofing within two to three days.  If I were working all of the time, that would allow me to go back the next day to the job.  When I think about the fact that my job the day before is being worked on, I feel empowered and energized. 

 

As a firm owner, if I know a reporter has a good scopist, I am more inclined to give that reporter the “big case,” because I know if it becomes an expedite, their whole world doesn’t stop.  If the attorneys call that night and ask for it to be done in two days, the reporter has a solution.  It doesn’t have to become panic time, and the reporter doesn’t have to be off calendar the next day.   

 

Once in a while I will still scope a job.  I think it is kind of fun.  I am careful to get in as many globals and proper names as I can during a job.  If the witness or attorneys are particularly difficult, and I think the transcript needs me, I will scope it and let my scopist proof it.  I trust my scopist.  I know she listens.  Our video department syncs transcripts to the video.  I know if the transcript syncs or not. 

 

My pride is still intact, but it doesn’t get in the way of having fun and having a more full life.  There is one thing I know for sure.  The people who talk about balance and success are correct.  Having a good scopist, trusting others, will lead to a better life. 

 

I find myself traveling all of the time for depositions, conferences, and meetings.  Thanks to Chris Jordan’s influence, I have learned how to be more efficient with my time and enjoy being on the road.  Chris loves all things technical.  He researches, reads, and pays attention to what others are doing. 

 

I want to share some of the “gadgets” that I bring on every trip.

 

1. COBRA POWER INVERTER (www.cobra.com) – Model CPI-150-BK – Business and First Class airplanes typically have a power source in each row.  Select rows in coach also have a power source.  I plug in the Cobra Power Inverter, and it allows me to plug in my laptop, charger for my phone, or even power my IPOD if it is getting low.  The Cobra Power Inverter also can be used with a cigarette lighter in your rental car if you are running out of battery.  (Cost:  approx. $69) 
2. BLACKBERRY phone for GPS.  I get lost easily when I am driving around a new city, or I might be in NYC walking around looking for an address of a building I need to get to.  My Blackberry has a GPS function.  I can use it to see where I am and/or to find a destination.  I understand the Iphone and Instinct phone have a similar function.
3. GARMIN GPS – If we are taking an extensive trip with lots of driving, we bring along our GARMIN to help us find our destination, find restaurants, and points of interest.  Chris will put in all of the addresses we might need on the trip before we leave home so we are ready to go the moment we get into our rental car.
4. BOSE headset – I love listening to my IPOD.  Familiar music makes traveling so much more relaxing and even fun.  Sitting in a plane where there might be lots of commotion, crying, and ambient noise, there is nothing better than my BOSE headset to drown it all out.
5. SPRINT air card – I need to be online for email and internet research constantly.  I have my card ready to go at every opportunity.  If I have a 45-minute layover in Dallas, I am up and running the moment we land.  As a court reporter and firm owner, time is always of the essence.  Everything is an expedite.  I need Google to be ready to go.  (BTW – I am online during every deposition with my air card – it saves me time over and over again.)

 

When traveling as a reporter, I have more tricks and tips that are geared towards reporting on the road.  That information will be shared in an upcoming travel blog.