As a working court reporter, I understand the pressure of getting out transcripts in a timely manner.  When an attorney asks for a transcript to be expedited the pressure can be overwhelming, particularly when the court reporter is not informed until the end of the proceeding that it is going to be expedited.   You can say good-bye to any plans for that evening and more often than not the following weekend.

Scoping and proofing transcripts takes time and great concentration.  I use a scopist.   She listens to full audio for videotaped depositions which is fantastic.

While I am at the deposition, I will start filling in my caption, appearances, and date of the deposition – the title pages.  I can’t read most business cards without readers any longer, so before I start typing anything, I get out my glasses.  I get a headache squinting trying to read numbers and email addresses.

The reader of this post might wonder why I’m pointing out my poor vision.  The answer is because the little mistakes that one might make on the appearances, date of the proceeding, and even spelling of the witness name can have big, bad consequences.  And business cards with small, difficult-to-read writing or typing fast and having no one proofing the information on title pages is not an excuse for mistakes.

We all have made mistakes that our offices catch – I wonder what mistakes we have made that have gone out to the client!

My goal is to stop making mistakes that can (a) stop production at the office, i.e., wrong date; (b) have a transcript go to a wrong mailing address; (c) prevent a rough draft recipient from getting their rough because of a bad email address; (d) have a paralegal call to “re-do” a transcript because the wrong court venue is on the caption…

Here are some of the procedures I have personally implemented in my quest to be perfect:

1. When I type in the date on the transcript, I look at the date on my computer and only that date.  I double check the date with the day of the week when I create the worksheet to make sure they match.
2. I go over the business card twice and pay close attention to email address.  Sometimes they are written super small and the g might look like a q or it can be a .net instead of .com.
3. If the witness is to get original documents back or the transcript, I get their mailing address and ask if it is a home address or office.  It helps my office know if something is being sent to a home or office.  Plus I get a phone number.  UPS and FedEx like phone numbers.  I will note it is a home/office on the worksheet.
4. Check the venue – District Court?  State Court?  Sometimes people copy/paste from past transcripts and choose wrong.  Your CAT system should give you choices as to venue to remind you to always check the notice or pleadings.
5. Start time of deposition – remember to check the true start time.

As someone that sits in an office adjacent to the production department, I hear the sighs of frustration, gasps, and even angry expletives when mistakes are found.  The production person has to track down the court reporter, send back the txt file, and ask them to fix it.  Inevitably, the transcript that is sent back is the one that the paralegal is calling about and needs “right away.”  The thing is, when many reporters are making many little mistakes, everything slows down and the office becomes inefficient.

Court reporters are typically perfectionists and are amazing with their talent of writing verbatim and in real time.  We can’t let the little mistakes get in the way of our greatness.

@rosaliekramm  Twitter

One of the first things a realtime court reporter learns is that CaseView (2400 baud) is the generic default for all realtime software.  Whether you are using Summation, Bridge, Livenote, or CaseViewNet, if the court reporter chooses CaseView and the speed to be 2400 baud, you will be able to send a realtime feed.

Even if you or your client has a super fast processor, that does NOT mean you change the speed from 2400 baud.  Using a serial connection means it is going to be slow.  A serial port is old technology and cannot go faster than 2400 baud, which is why you cannot find an off-the-shelf computer with a serial port.  If you see nonsensical words or a sentence that runs into the margin of the client’s realtime screen, you know you have set the baud rate too high.

It is advised that the court reporter have any virtual serial port physically plugged into the computer before booting up, i.e., the Steneocast USB transmitter, PCM card.

After setting up outputting to CaseView, the next issue is finding the correct comport that correlates with your Stenocast, PCM card, or what you are using to output with a real or virtual serial port.  Go to your device manager and see what comport is being used as your serial output.  If you have a physical serial port on your laptop, it almost always is comport 1.

If you have changed comports/settings, and things are still not working, shut down your computer.  Stenocast advises that you unplug and replug in your devices while the computer is off.  Then turn it back on.  If I have changed a client’s port settings, many times I will have them reboot their computer if everything looks right, but the realtime is still not connecting.  90% of the time the issue is resolved.

Once a court reporter has set up the correct output for realtime, you don’t need to change anything again in your CAT software.  You might add different outputs if you are writing to Bridge, CaseViewNet, or Remote Counsel for refreshing or streaming, but the generic CaseView (2400 baud) can always be your default for realtime writing.

@rosaliekramm (Twitter)