As a court reporter from the old days, I have learned the importance of briefing words and phrases especially when writing realtime.  With briefs a court reporter makes fewer finger faults and can write with bursts of speed that will make your day a great one rather than “hanging on for dear life.”

When I went to court reporting school, I went through too fast and didn’t pick up many briefs.  I was a pounder and stroked my way through the syllables figuring I would decipher later what I was trying to write.  Luckily, I did learn the number bar and never had to write out numbers.  When I started writing realtime in the late 1990s, my writing was a mess.  I had conflicts and over 160K dictionary entries. 

One day, thanks to my dear husband, Chris Jordan, legal videographer and perfectionist, I saw the light, deleted my main dictionary, and started all over again.  I went through the Tabor’s Medical Dictionary and put in suffixes and prefixes, went through Webster’s and added words.  I got out the Yellow Pages and added proper names of businesses and took out my Thomas Brothers to stroke out street names. 

Life with a new dictionary has been empowering – and allowed me to pass the CRR.

I love briefing phrases.  Here are five that I use all of the time:

1. board of director(s) – BOEKT(S)
2. promissory note – PROET
3. first amendment – FAEMT (second amendment SAEMT) et cetera
4. fair characterization – FAIRKS
5. motor vehicle accident – MOIT

The bottom line is using briefs is liberating.  Learn them.  Use them.  As an older court reporter, I am always pushing to write faster with fewer strokes.  I don’t want to be stagnant in my writing.  There is a great book called “Brief Encounters” that is available in electronic format or as a book.  If there is a word or phrase that stops you in your tracks over and over again, create a brief and practice it.  Don’t struggle.  I used to freak out if I heard the word “entrepreneur” in a deposition.  Once I learned the brief “PREUR” I couldn’t wait to report a deposition about entrepreneurs. 

This post is meant to inspire court reporters to write cleaner, faster, and have less editing time.  It is so much more fun being a court reporter having a bundle of briefs at your disposal to help you fly through the testimony. 

rosalie@kramm.com

@rosaliekramm (Twitter)

Lately I have been receiving quite a few emails and tweets from students at different court reporter schools, online and brick-and-mortar schools.  There is a lot of worry about there being enough work when they finish their programs, get certified, and are professional court reporters.  I received a tweet today, “Is this a good industry for me to invest in, pursue as career?”

 My answer is, yes, court reporting is an excellent industry to invest in and pursue.  But I do worry about people being taken advantage of.  Going to a school that is state certified or has a certified program, such as the schools certified by the National Court Reporters Association, I am confident a court reporting student will get the program they need to graduate.  Since I live in Southern California, I know that Sage College, South Coast College, and Bryan School of Court Reporting have excellent programs. 

 In California, we have a licensing board, the Court Reporters Board of California.   Our CR Board has a list of schools that are certified by California.  I would trust all of the schools on the list to have a realistic program that will get you where you need to go to pass the California CSR and become licensed.

 What concerns me is I received an email from a student this week who is attending an online school asking me to be her mentor, writing that the school she is going to requires her to find a “mentor” to dictate live dictation to her at different speeds.  She was hoping I would dictate testimony to her while she was at school.  I wrote her back asking for details and didn’t hear back.  I understand schools wanting their students to find mentors.  I would encourage students to find mentors.  I am unclear why a school would expect a student to have to find live dictation. 

 I am sure the majority of the court reporting students in the United States are making smart decisions, going to schools that can take them to the finals.  (I liken court reporters to athletes.)   

 Our profession is like all professions.  If you are really good at what you do, you enjoy being a court reporter, you decide you want to be the best and participate in continuing education, spend money to ensure you have the best equipment and software, and are eager to learn, you will be successful.

 If you look at the glass as being half empty, that the economy sucks, you are going to have a hard time.  Court reporting is a competitive, tough field.  There is a reason that the top reporters make six-figure salaries.  It is not because it is super easy, school is pass/no pass, or because you are certified you made it.  Like anything in life, being a successful costs time, energy, talent, and attitude. 

 My advice to anyone wondering about court reporting as a profession:  Go to a credentialed school. Work hard.  Be great.  Be determined.  Be the best.  Being a court reporter is the best profession ever.  It is not easy.  It is not simple.  You need to understand that this is a tremendous profession not to be taken lightly. 

 I dropped out of my first year of college to go to court reporting school.  My friends were scared for me.  Why would I leave two semesters of college to go to a trade school?  I received phone calls and letters from my dearest friends, begging me to graduate from SDSU with my business degree.  I ignored all of them because I knew I found my passion.  That was in 1979.  Sure, I wish I had business classes to help me run my court reporting business, but the bottom line is, court reporting has been the most fantastic career for me.  I have no regrets. 

 My advice:  Pay attention.  Go to a great school (online or not).  Work hard.  Don’t take the classes, speeds, or anything for granted.  Be great.  You will not regret it.

 rosalie@kramm.com

 @rosaliekramm (Twitter)

I have received quite a few emails this week from court reporting students nationwide.   The emails have ranged from trying to get through a speed class to trying to figure out where geographically in the USA there will be work in a year.

First things first, if you are stuck at a speed, it might be a good idea to shift strategy.  If you have been practicing with fast speeds, always pushing, maybe it is time to slow down the tapes and practice accuracy and having perfect strokes.  LEARN BRIEFS – ESPECIALLY PHRASES.  You will save so much time.  If you are trying to use a brief that you struggle with every time, KNOCK IT OFF.  Choose a different brief or write the word out.  Briefs should flow through your fingers and come naturally to you.  If you have been listening to tapes that are at the speed you want to pass, get some super fast tapes and push, push, push.  Tire your brain out.  Spend at least an hour a day practicing with tapes.

If you always sit with your machine at a certain height, lower it or raise it an inch.  If you typically sit straddling the machine, practice with the machine as a side saddle for a couple of hours.  Then when you take the test, go back to what you are used to.  Switch things up just for a little while during practice.

I understand that athletes force themselves to use different muscles other than what they might be used to using for their sport.  For instance, you hear about football players taking ballet.  They are taught to use a different muscle group and learn flexibility.  Cross-training is in vogue as the best way to get in shape.  Athletes are taught to “confuse their muscles” to build strength so the same muscles don’t get used to doing the same thing all of the time. 

If you are stuck at a speed for a long, long time, I believe you need to change things up.  Your mind and body will get lazy if they are allowed.  Spending hours practicing, doing the same thing over and over, and not advancing is going to kill your spirit and seep into your concentration and speed.

I believe court reporters are very much like athletes.  What we do is a sport.  We are incredibly fast and accurate.  When it comes time to perform, whether it is a test or out in the field with a fast witness and volatile attorneys, we pull it together, know it’s show time, and take off.  Practice is where we can make mistakes, learn new techniques, and memorize briefs.

The next time you take a test, think to yourself, “It’s show time.”    Sit up straight in your chair and get ready to razzle dazzle.  Make up your mind that you are going to knock the test out of the park.  If you don’t pass that test, look forward to the next show (test) where you get another chance to be great.  Being a court reporter, interactive realtime court reporter, CART writer, or captioner, it is all about Show Time and being the best.

rosalie@kramm.com

@rosaliekramm (twitter)