I learned my steno theory in 1979.  The idea of realtime court reporting was not on the horizon yet.  My theory consisted of learning only to write phonetically and for my eyes only.  I did not pick up a lot of briefs because I went through school fast.  I am to this day a pounder.  The faster they talk, the faster I pound on the steno keys.

 

Thanks to NCRA, I am now a proficient Certified Realtime Reporter.  The reason I give the National Court Reporters Association credit is they put together seminars in the late 1980s that focused on a new theory and the concept of writing for other people’s eyes, cleaning up conflicts and using abbreviations in a smarter, more efficient way.  I have written in a previous blog my painful shift to “conflict free” writing.  My pride pushed me to pass the CRR.

 

Now with modern CAT (computer-aided transcription) systems with artificial intelligence, being a realtime writer is easier than ever.  My software makes suggestions on new briefs, reminds me of old briefs I have used in the past for a word or phrase, and tries to figure out if I am writing Sandy (the name) or sandy (as in a type of dirt). 

 

I am surprised by the amount of “older” reporters who are too frightened to become realtime reporters and write for other people’s eyes.  I know reporters who have been working in the freelance field for decades, and they refuse to hook up because of fear.  Most of these reporters are baby boomers or generation Xers. 

 

I wonder, is it a generational thing?    The reason I ask that is I hear of new reporters, not even two months out of school, ordering their cables and putting on their resume they are realtime ready and want to do realtime jobs.  I understand they have had “conflict free” theories, and perhaps that gives them no fear.  They were told from the moment they entered school that they would be able to write realtime by the time they graduated or they wouldn’t get out of school.   

 

In the past, as a firm owner, I have insisted that a reporter have five years under her/his belt before she/he hooks up.  If I were mentoring a new reporter today, perhaps I would suggest two or three years.  I cannot imagine putting a reporter on a realtime job with only a couple of months of experience.  For the first year of a court reporter’s life there is a huge learning curve.  The dictionary needs to be built.  Dealing with overlapping talking, fast colloquy, and angry people takes finesse that only comes with experience. 

 

My advice to older reporters – get over it.  Face your fears.  If you are a clean writer, move forward and challenge yourself to the next step.  No one is perfect.  Attorneys understand.  Take my word for it.  I am not perfect when I write.  To test your ability, give a sample of a raw transcript with no edits to someone you respect and ask, “Is this good enough?” 

 

My advice to younger reporters – be careful not to hook in too soon.  Your reputation and credibility is important.  I am not going to say you have to wait a prescribed amount of time before you hook in.  Give yourself a chance to build up your dictionary and become comfortable with every type of job, not just workers’ comp or personal injury.  Those types of depositions rarely call for realtime.  The realtime jobs are going to be the more sophisticated, complex type litigation. 

 

I love doing realtime jobs.  To me it is a game I get to play, “How perfect can I be today?”  I know the secret “tricks” of the trade when I misstroke or even worse (too secret to write in a blog). 

 

All of this experience obviously comes with time.  Court reporters out there, let’s all become better reporters, faster, cleaner, and more confident.  It is so much fun.

 

rosalie@kramm.com

 

twitter:  @rosaliekramm