JCR » Was June President's Page Unrealistic?

Was June President's Page Unrealistic?

In the June JCR, NCRA President Kathy DiLorenzo, RDR, CRR, CBC, wrote in her column:

Some have told me that providing good realtime is in many cases unrealistic these days due to the pace of the testimony. Many wonder, “How do we get these attorneys to slow down?” It’s peculiar that the question is never, “How do we get faster?”

NCRA Member Mary Ann Beard, RMR, CRR, of Jacksonville, Ill., found the column “disappointing.” Here is an excerpt from her letter:

Even if I were to memorize every court file for each case I take, that still wouldn’t give me enough information to write with “100 percent translates.” How do you practice for speakers who turn their backs to you and talk while they’re walking away from you? How do you practice for speakers who insist upon talking at the same time? …

No amount of practice on the reporter’s part will hone the skill of the speakers. The point of this issue isn’t that reporters aren’t practicing enough. Rather, it seems as we’ve grown more advanced in our record-taking abilities, the speakers have become more apathetic towards their record-making behavior.

Kathy DiLorenzo responded in part:

I will submit to you that you are making an entirely different point than was the intent of my article. The topics that I addressed were the speed, accuracy, and translation rate of the reporter. Though you are absolutely correct -- mumbling, amplification issues, and participants talking over one another, in most cases, make it virtually impossible to produce a good record. …

My message is more directed to the veteran reporters in the field, and the message is a simple one: Given the number of years you have been reporting, the state of technology, the number of workshops and seminars that are given each year, and the number of tools available to assist us in skill development, are you where you should be?

 

Do you still have the same conflicts that you had 10 years ago? How do we explain to our clients that we and/or our software are not equipped to display the correct homophone? If that’s not our job, then whose is it?

To join in on this conversation, reply below or write to me at jschmidt@ncrahq.org. I’ll look forward to hearing from you.

 Jacqueline Schmidt, Editor, JCR 

 

Posted Jun 27 2008, 02:42 PM by Jacqueline Schmidt
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Dorothy McGrath, RPR wrote re: Was June President's Page Unrealistic?
on 07-01-2008 2:57 PM

Kathy DiLorenzo was exactly correct in her article.  

Mary Ann Beard is asking the wrong question.  Mary Ann is asking, how can reporters become superhuman?  The fallacy in this profession is that we must somehow be born with or learn extraordinary skills that humans cannot possibly have.

The question that Mary Ann really should be asking is, why do not NCRA-approved schools teach reporters the skills needed to learn how to control a room in a professional manner?

When I first got out of school and started to work, the first thing I was instructed to do by my betters was, "Never interrupt under any circumstances.  Just smile and pretend everything is fine."  Now my advice to any new reporter coming out of school is, if any firm owner gives you this same advice, run!  Run as fast and as far away from that firm owner as you can possibly get.  Oh, the years of frustration and anguish and late nights of working through horrible notes and then taking years to undo the horrible habits learned from that one piece of very bad advice in order to do realtime.  Run!  Instead, find a mentor that is grounded in reality, one that will actually teach you how to do your job and do it well, not one that simply teaches you how to be a pretender.

Once I was able to learn the skills needed to control a room in a professional manner, my life is far less about working, is more about being able to spend time refining my dictionary, my accuracy.  Transcripts are a breeze.  My income has dramatically increased.  Expedites are nothing.  And the most interesting thing I discovered is that attorneys appreciate the reporter's controlling the proceedings when it is done with respect.  They not only appreciate it, they feel it is the reporter's job.  That is what the reporter gets paid to do.  They just know they cannot count on the reporter to do that job all the time.

We are not superhumans with bionic hearing, and no amount of pretending will ever make that happen.

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Marge Teilhaber, RDR wrote re: Was June President's Page Unrealistic?
on 09-01-2008 9:22 PM

In my experience, most lawyers are out of control and completely oblivious to the fact that there is a HUMAN BEING sitting there trying to take down the goings-on.  Why they bother with the stupid admonitions is beyond me.  "We need to speak one at a time,"  YEAH RIGHT.  "You need to wait for me to finish my question before starting your answer."  PLEASE.  "And I'll do the same; I'll wait for you to complete your answer before asking my next question."  WELL, they say it so freakin' fast, no wonder no one ever listens.

INCONSIDERATE SLOBS.

How often are we scoping our own work, listening to the audiosynch at the SLOWEST SPEED, and it's still sometimes too fast to understand what was said?  Answer:  TOO OFTEN.  And how often is the audio speed kept at this very slowest speed the entire length of the depo?  Answer:  Disgustingly too often!!!!

My hats off to those court reporters who can write clean and get good output with motor-mouths.  I am in awe.

Copyright 2008 National Court Reporters Association