Legal Beagle

Court Reporters & Employment Situations

2009-11-19T12:17:00.000-08:00

EMPLOYMENT AND COURT REPORTING

As the 2009 summer faded this year, it was with relief that our calendar seemed to be on the rise with settings. This fall we have noticed some incredible spikes, up and down, on our calendar. This has been a very unusual year in that some of our more reliable clients have dropped out of our 80/20 list and some on the other end of that list have risen upwards.

Normally trends can easily be spotted. This year not so easy to see what is transpiring in the legal community. Personal injury, usually the bread and butter in our industry, has been less than stellar. Asbestos litigation is also quite reduced; although, it's been in a downward trend over the past few years.

It's been pointed out that more and more insurance companies are attempting to drive harder bargains from service providers.

People are saying that 2010 will be the year where reversal of many of these down trends will happen. Many analysts are being bearish on predictions which seems to run counter of any soon to be seen reversal in the markets.

The Christmas shopping period this year has been tauted as the make it or break it for many retailers. It would seem that we may lose some old venerable friends this winter from the economic crisis that doesn't seem to be going away very quickly.

I wish all of my friends and colleagues the

best for the upcoming holidays,

~ The Beagle

LET THE SUMMER GAMES BEGIN

2009-05-30T06:39:00.001-07:00

Power in Participation

As was noted in the prior blog post, NCRA will begin a process of countering the Motion To Rescind action by offering up twisted logic in an attempt to persuade members to "see it their way." But time is running out on their logic and influence. Members are stepping up to regain the respect they deserve.

To see it way the Board of Directors would like you to see it, one would have to be blind folded and then immediately struck dumb by a bolt of lightning.

Their latest mass missive has something to do with the "Power of Knowledge," but the Beagle feels that they are not sharing any knowledge but simple rhetoric in an attempt to offer reasons for holding fast on certifying a technology that is in direct conflict with the NCRA Constitution and its Bylaws.

The constant drumbeat of their message can be intoxicating or mezmerizing but once you remove yourself from that humming message logic and commonsense prevails. When you look deeper into the motivation behind their "exploration" of an alternative technology, you have to wonder who is running the shop at NCRA.

It flies in your face that it isn't the Board of Directors. One must think that there is some background organization pulling the strings of the puppets that can't be seen. No average and hard working stenographic court reporter should be swayed by their flawed logic of dwindling membership or that NCRA needs to stay relevant to survive or the association is in financial distress.

When viewing the blog site of http://www.motiontorescind.wordpress.com/, it is certainly evident that a lot of people are quite interested in pulling back the reins of NCRA and getting it restored to the path that the Constitution and Bylaws outline.

One would think it odd that with all the negative feedback over this issue that a responsible board would manage to call a meeting and revoke the portion that is upsetting to so many.

Look at any poll that has been set up to sample people's feelings on this issue, overwhelmingly in favor to losing this assinine certification of recording technology. How stupid is that really?

~ The Beagle

NCRA ~ Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey

2009-05-19T13:52:00.000-07:00

A Circus Act That Even Barnum & Bailey Would Admire.

As we move through the summer months, the antics of NCRA Leadership will undoubtedly soar to new and unexplored heights in attempts to discredit the viable candidates that the Beagle has heard will be stepping up to challenge others for Board positions.

All the posturing will be for naught because those that have sided with the "pro" faction regarding ER/DAR, the Beagle predicts, will come up short on vote count. The membership at large has grown tired of the irresponsibility that has been demonstrated over the past number of years. You read it on the different message threads that even NCRA has available online. You read it in personal emails. You read it all over...even on people's faces.

The Beagle was at a Spring Seminar this past weekend and the anger was palpable. Members were wondering what was in the water back in Virginia as no one thought the motion that was made in November 2008 was made with a thinking cap on.

As a reasonable thinking individual, one can only think that if the current Board of Directors would like to stay relevant, they should make an amendment to remove those idiotic thoughts regarding ER/DAR and voice writers and float those ideas out to membership to see if they would like to include those folks in their association rather than try to back door them in.

Visit http://www.motiontorescind.wordpress.com/ and get an education ~

CAN'T THEY CATCH THE DRIFT?

~ The Beagle

NCRA Constitution & Bylaws - The Right To Participate

2009-05-08T20:48:00.000-07:00

Membership Rights Being Overlooked and Trampled by Board of Directors.

When the NCRA convention convenes August 6, 2009 and shuts down August 9, 2009, it is the Beagle's hope that the Board of Directors will have the common decency to begin to advocate for membership rights.

The last few months has enlightened some members of this national organization to become much more involved in righting what they see as a ship that has lost its course.

The leadership of associations such as NCRA are the stewards of the profession and yet it seems that a small band has decided to hijack and take the good ship into a direction that the folks who have paid their steerage fees for years and years do not necessarily favor.

The Beagle has learned that this organization has a media to avail its members to called Direct Member Voting (DMV). It is a tool that could easily help answer questions that are facing leadership by simply asking their members if this proposed direction is something they are in favor of pursuing rather than ignoring the thoughts and feelings of so many.

When the final gong is sounded on their convention in August, it would appear that a restoration of direction will be plotted or there will be an exodus of some truly longstanding and loyal members.

I ask that you review a prior post on this blog that refers to a heightened desire to start a rival faction to NCRA...the dependence of this effort will be reflected in the outcome of the votes taken in Washington, D.C.

~ The Beagle

A New National Reporters Association

2009-04-12T10:01:00.000-07:00

A New National Shorthand Reporters Association ~ Ten years ago would you have even given this a moment's notice? With the National Court Reporters Association's (NCRA) membership closing in on 30,000 members in 1998, a virtual jaugernaut in volunteer associations, nothing seemed impossible. That is until corporate America entered the scene.

Now, with its membership crumbling and losing nearly 1000 members a year for the past 10 years or so, it is faced with changing itself from being the representative of an honorable profession to prostituting itself to other would-be professions that are clamoring to become relevant in the business of being "Guardians of the Record."

No matter what private forum you choose, you will find disfavor running rampant with NCRA members and former members. These aren't just plain jane people we're talking about here either. People who have held office in NCRA, people who attained NCRA's highest certifications, PEOPLE WHO CARED.

There is a movement afoot to dislodge the corporate strangle hold on NCRA and to those people only the best of luck can be offered as there is no doubt on anyone's part that the current office holders and NCRA management will do their darndest to block any change.

If members and former members of NCRA want to make change and attempt to revert to what the organization stood for then they will have to become a bit more organized and thoughtful in their efforts to overtake the mountain that now stands before them. Much like a battle front, although this particular battle front has spies embedded on both sides, this confrontation will certainly take time and casualties will be littered throughout the landscape.

There is an independent movement from this avenue approach to start a new national organization. This seems be gathering traction and may well overtake what the Beagle sees as a much more difficult task of infiltrating the power structure at NCRA. Either way, there is a hard struggle ahead for NCRA.

~ The Beagle

Court Reporting & The Perfect Transcript

2008-12-29T20:56:00.001-08:00

COURT REPORTING and the PERFECT TRANSCRIPT

If it exists, we all search for it, the perfect transcript is like Mona Lisa’s smile. Perfect in every way.

Free from all error. No misspeaks. Run on sentences are completely absent. The answer waits patiently for the question.

Numbers are eloquently spoken as though soft rain falling on leaves. Complex medical terms are thoughtfully spelled out by the medical professionals.

Names and addresses are provided on a slip of paper for correctness. Thoughtful attorneys ask if you need a glass of water or perhaps a stretch break.

When the clock strikes 12:00 Noon and you suggest a lunch break, you are recognized as a person; one who has normal needs. Even though they’ve been drinking water and steaming cups of coffee while you’ve been dutifully taking down every word.

When the end of the day rolls in, they all look to you and ask if it would be okay if you would get the transcript to them in a couple of weeks and they would all enjoy a copy with a thorough listing of all the extras.

You smile and say, “No, problem, I can get that to you whenever you please.”

They ask if you need help in putting away your equipment, assistance to the elevator, a final cold bottle of water to take along.

This something we all wish for but very rarely ever encounter.

~ The Beagle

The Court Reporting Industry Could Learn From This Simple Lesson!

2008-12-28T07:20:00.000-08:00

The Mouse Story with a Moral!

A mouse looked through the crack in the wall to
see the farmer and his wife open a package.

What food might this contain?'

The mouse wondered …

He was devastated to discover it was a mousetrap.

Retreating to the farmyard, the mouse proclaimed
the warning:

’There is a mousetrap in the house!
There is a mousetrap in the house!’

The chicken clucked and scratched, raised her head
and said,’Mr. Mouse, I can tell this is a grave concern
to you, but it is of no consequence to me. I cannot
be bothered by it.’

The mouse turned to the pig and told him,
’There is a mousetrap in the house!
There is a mousetrap in the house!’

The pig sympathized, but said, ‘I am
so very sorry, Mr. Mouse, but there is
nothing I can do about it but pray.
Be assured you are in my prayers.’

The mouse turned to the cow and said
’There is a mousetrap in the house!
There is a mousetrap in the house!’

The cow said, ‘Wow, Mr. Mouse.
I'm sorry for you, but it's no skin off
my nose.’

So, the mouse returned to the
house, head down and dejected, to face
the farmer's mousetrap ...alone.

That very night a sound was heard
throughout the house -- like the sound of
a mousetrap catching its prey.

The farmer's wife rushed to see what
was caught.

In the darkness, she did not see it was a venomous
snake whose tail the trap had caught.

The snake bit the farmer's wife.

The farmer rushed her to the hospital ,
and she returned home with a fever.

Everyone knows you treat a fever,
with fresh chicken soup...

So the farmer took his hatchet to
the farmyard for the soup's main
ingredient.

But his wife's sickness continued, so friends
and neighbors came to sit with her around
the clock.

To feed them, the farmer butchered the pig.

The farmer's wife did not get well; she died.

So many people came for her funeral,
the farmer had the cow slaughtered to
provide enough meat for all of them.

The mouse looked upon it all from his crack in
the wall with great sadness.

So, the next time you hear someone
is facing a problem and think it doesn't
concern you, remember ---

When one of us is threatened, we are all at risk.

We are all involved in this journey called life.

We must keep an eye outfor one another and
make an extra effort to encourage one another.

REMEMBER. . . .EACH OF US IS A VITAL THREAD
IN ANOTHER PERSON'S TAPESTRY;
OUR LIVES ARE WOVEN TOGETHER FOR A REASON.

One of the best things to hold onto in this world is
a FRIEND.

Have a great week and be good to yourself!

So You Want To Be A Court Reporter?

2008-12-27T06:07:00.000-08:00

If you’ve ever longed for a career in legal, consider a career as a court reporter. Becoming a Court Reporter requires certain skills and attributes in order to succeed. Although some of these skills can be learned, if you are considering a career in Court Reporting, you should:

• Have strong English skills
• Have the ability to stay focused and concentrate for long periods of time
• Enjoy and be comfortable with technology and have the ability to learn advanced skills
• Have good keyboarding skills
• Have the ability to work under pressure and meet deadlines
• Be an audio learner – Reporters spend a great deal of time listening
• Be able to tune out background noise and get in your zone

The educational requirements to become a court reporter vary with the specialties and the type of reporting you want to pursue. You can become a novice voice writer within about a year, but a real-time stenotypist requires around three years of training. And the more experience you gain, the higher pay you will make along with working in higher profile court cases.

Court reporter training is offered by, vocational schools, technical schools, and colleges. There are many types and levels of court reporter certification, depending on the specialty chosen.

The National Court Reporters Association or NCRA and other certified programs require students to complete an approved preset curriculum, prior to being eligible to take the certification exam.

To graduate, students typically will need a machine shorthand speed of 225 words per minute or higher. The exam tests written knowledge, speed, and accuracy.

In some states, a state certification is required, which means you will need to take the exam offered by the state. Otherwise, in order to be certified, you need to take the certification exam offered by the NCRA. You should check to see what your state and the Federal Government requires in the line of education and certification for your desired specialty.

In order to maintain the certification, reporters must earn 3.0 continuing education units (CEU) every three years. One CEU equals 10 hours of additional instruction. CEU’s may be lectures, classes, or other educational experiences approved by the NCRA.

Membership with the National Court Reporters Association is an organization every student should consider. They offer an abundance of information to their members and have a reduced fee for students.

Court reporting is an exciting career. You will work alongside attorneys, judges and other legal staff in a courtroom setting. The career opportunities are good and the outlook for a position as a court reporter is growing as legal proceedings are not going to be cut back anytime soon.

If you’re interested in working in a legal career, but the thought of years of school to become an attorney sounds like to much to you, then consider a career as a court reporter. You’ll be where the action is at. In addition, the pay is excellent and the opportunities are growing every year.

Do you need statistics on court reporter salaries? Check-out the stats and facts available at http://www.careertoolkits.com

Stentura 8000 For Sale - Great Value

2008-12-24T14:52:00.000-08:00

Providing fast, reliable service for court reporters!

For Sale ~ Stentura 8000

$1,250, shipping extra

Good, reliable machine. Has been serviced — comes with tripod, soft carrying case, paper tray, battery, charger, realtime cable and manual.

Good writer. Reporter has upgraded to a Mira.

Contact OTEC ~ Call, 206.284.7492 or email catadyer@oteconline.com with your questions.

Court Reporter Julie Ann Brandau - Killer Gets Life Sentence

2008-12-14T07:06:00.000-08:00

He had overpowered a sheriff's deputy and took her gun before proceeding to the courtroom of Judge Rowland Barnes, killing him and court reporter Julie Ann Brandau. Sgt. Hoyt Teasley chased Nichols to outside the courthouse, where Nichols eventually killed a federal agent in an Atlanta neighborhood. Nichols had been on trial for rape in 2005 when he grabbed a guard's gun and fatally shot those in the courtroom.

Now Brian Nichols, 37, was found guilty last month of murdering those people. Superior Court Judge James Bodiford sentenced confessed courthouse murderer Brian Nichols to life without parole for the 2005 murders of a judge, court reporter, sheriff’s deputy and federal agent.

In his own words, he said it's not his DNA to stay in jail, which is what he has to look forward to the rest of his life," said Christina Greenway, daughter of slain court reporter Julie Ann Brandau. "I'm not disappointed and I have no regrets."

Perhaps for those considering Mr. Nichols for parole later on, Judge Bodiford said, "Do not trust Mr. Nichols ever again. Ever again. Because he cannot be trusted."

Justice has been served once again, says the Beagle, even though the jury could have possibly returned a harsher judgment for the terrible deeds committed by a person who took those people away permanently from their families.

~ The Beagle

Pacific Northwest Court Reporter Combined Convention

2008-11-30T08:03:00.000-08:00

WASHINGTON, OREGON, IDAHO & MAYBE MONTANA COMBINED COURT REPORTER CONVENTION

Seattle, WA. This information was relayed to the Beagle that a possible four-state court reporter association combined convention is being planned for Hood River, Oregon, which is situated along the Columbia River.

Word has it that the dates are October 2, 3 and 4, which by my calendar is the first Friday, Saturday and Sunday of the month. I've been to Hood River over the years and I know that the weather should be stunning and as I recall that time of the year the local apple harvest should be fully underway.

Keep looking here for more information regarding this event.

~ The Beagle

Seattle Washington Court Reporter

2008-11-29T06:44:00.000-08:00

Roger G. Flygare & Associates, Inc., Professional Court Reporters, Legal Video and Transcriptionists.

Federal Way, WA ~ November 28, 2008. Roger Flygare states that court reporting requests have increased over the past year and expects that to be a continuing trend. He also stated that the use of video conferencing has also increased due largely to the increased costs of travel.

Courthouses in Washington, especially the lower courts and family courts, have turned to using audio recording and to a limited amount in superior courts of Washington. Mr. Flygare said in his experience thus far that the quality isn't all that great and that there are a lot of inaudibles or undeciferables because of poor microphone reception. He noted that some states have jettisoned that practice and have started hiring more certified court reporters.

He relayed a story concerning a video trial in which a long-time client of his turned to Flygare & Associates for advice. Mr. Flygare informed the lawyer that the particular courtroom the trial was going to held in was a videotaped courtroom and that if the lawyer felt that this case may go up to the Court of Appeals that he should consider hiring one of their real-time reporters, which they ultimately followed his advice and hired a real-time reporter for the duration of the trial.

It turned out to be a very wise choice in that the audio portion of the videotaped trial failed for a number of days before it was discovered that a microphone wasn't working properly and ultimately they had to turn to the court reporter to provide a complete record in which to appeal to a higher court.

In the Beagle's blog, you can see there are a number of such failures in courthouses across the country and I think it would be an intelligent and informed idea to consult with a local court reporting agency if you have an important trial coming up down the road.

It's the Beagle's thought, though, that all trials are important...sort of a "caveat emptor" for the trial lawyer.

May the gavel fall your direction ~ The Beagle

Longtime court reporter of the Illinois Judicial System Past Away

2008-11-23T09:16:00.000-08:00

Longtime court employee dies at 87

MUSKEGON -- A longtime Muskegon County 60th District Court recorder and judicial secretary has died.

Mona-Eileen Byrnes died Monday at age 87.

Byrnes had a long history with local courts. She was employed as the registrar of Muskegon County Juvenile Court and later worked in several law offices and in various capacities for district court, including court reporter and judicial secretary from 1969 until her retirement in 1983.

She was a graduate of Muskegon High School and later enlisted in the USN WAVES, a World War II-era division of the U.S. Navy that consisted entirely of women.

She attended boot camp at Hunter's College in New York, graduated from Chicago School of Aviation Instruments and was stationed at Alameda Naval Air Station in California.

In addition to her court experience, Byrnes owned and operated a transcription service, Gal Friday, for 54 years out of her home. She was also a two-term president for Catholic War Vets Post 843 Auxiliary.

She is survived by five children and her husband of 62 years, Thomas J. Byrnes, Sr.
A funeral service took place on Friday in Oviedo, Fla., where she lived at the time of her death.

Colorado Court Reporter School Now Open

2008-11-23T07:57:00.001-08:00

Colorado Tech To Offer Court Reporter Degree

People worried about their jobs in this tight economy may want to bring their resumes to the judge's chambers. Courtrooms across country are scrambling to fill openings as court reporters.

Colorado Technical University will soon offer classes to those interested in the field. Court reporters have a front row seat to the legal system. They put every word spoken in court onto the printed page as part of the official transcript. It's a demanding job that's in more demand than ever before.

"They're taking several hundred words a minute and they have to take it 100-percent accurately and obviously they have to be totally focused on what is at hand," Chief Justice of the South Dakota Supreme Court David Gilbertson said.Many schools quit teaching court reporting thinking technology would eventually replace the position.

But recording legal proceedings electronically runs the risk of technical glitches, so the human touch will always be needed. "I would compare it to an auto mechanic. Fifty years ago, auto mechanics fixed your car, even though technology changed the way cars are repaired.

Today, you still need that auto mechanic, you can't have a machine fix your car," Gilbertson said.

Court reporters can earn $35,000 a year just starting out. Plus, thousands more in transcript fees. But job security might be the biggest perk of all.

"Right now, we have economic problems, but there's no court reporters being laid off. They're still getting paid," Gilbertson said.Until now, the closest schools offering court reporting classes is in Anoka, Minnesota and Green River Community College in Auburn, Washington with classes beginning January 2009. Colorado Tech in Sioux Falls begins its classes in January 2009 for two- and four-year degrees.

COURT REPORTERS FEES ADDED ON IN COST RECOVERY FOR EXPENSIVE TRIALS

2008-11-23T07:25:00.000-08:00

PROSECUTORS ARE BECOMING COLLECTION AGENTS IN RETRIEVING THE COSTS FOR TRIALS...

THE BEAGLE HAS LEARNED THROUGH BLOGS ON THE INTERNET THAT it appears that financially strapped prosecutors are approaching judges with a novel concept whereby they are ordering defendants to pay for excessive investigative and prosecutorial costs.

That's what Wayne County Prosecutor Kim Worthy did during the recent sentencing hearing of former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, jailed for 120 days as well as ordered to pay a cool $1,000,000 in restitution in his conviction of obstruction of justice.

Evidently, Kilpatrick had lied about an affair, which was later revealed in text messages, during a whistleblower trial that cost the city $8.4 million.

During the sentencing phase of the trial, Prosecutor Worthy asked the judge to order Kilpatrick to pay another $22,186 to cover services that were unique to his case: digital evidence consultants with text-messaging expertise, extra court reporters, transcript costs and new locks on doors to secure certain offices.

"These things were completely unique to the Kilpatrick case," said Assistant Wayne County Prosecutor Maria Miller. "We're facing very tough economic times ... and, where the law allows us to ask for reimbursement, we will."

The judge in the trial, however, denied the request noting that he had never before in his career had a prosecutor make such a request.

A TREND IN RECOUPING 'UNUSUAL' COSTS

It seems as though prosecutors in Ohio, California and Rhode Island have made similar requests. And they should continue to do so, said Tom Sneddon, interim executive director of the National District Attorneys Association and the former district attorney in Santa Barbara County, Calif. "Where there is an opportunity and there is an unusual case, if you can recoup costs, then you should," said Sneddon, who himself has secured reimbursement from defendants in cases involving embezzlement and catastrophic grass fires.

In the grand scheme of costs related to prosecution, the prosecutors' investigative costs are different from the court costs that are levied in most criminal cases, such as processing fees, filing fees, attorney fee reimbursement for defense counsel and mandatory crime-victim fees, which are ordered where there is a conviction. NDAA Director Sneddon explained that defendants can be ordered to reimburse the government for investigative costs as part of a plea agreement or as a condition of probation.

He said that cases involving consumer protection, the environment or major embezzlement typically are where prosecutors might seek reimbursement for extraordinary expenses, like audit services or digital evidence analysis.

"This clearly -- let's say within the last five to seven years -- has become used more often than before," Sneddon said.

National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers spokesperson, Jack King doubts there will be much luck in recouping costs from defendants, no matter how hard-pressed financially they may have become. "I understand that argument -- all government agencies face some belt-tightening," King said. "But the remedy of making the defendant pay for his own investigation and prosecution has been held a nonstarter. It's been tried before in the federal courts and shot down by several courts of appeal."

It happened earlier in Ohio this year: Prosecutors tried to recoup costs in a public corruption case, but an appeals court ruled against them in May. The case involved a former state representative who entered a no-contest plea to failing to disclose the source of a gift in excess of $75. A municipal court judge ordered her to pay $2,025 in costs associated with prosecuting the case, but the appeals court reversed the ruling, holding that "ordering a defendant to pay the costs of the prosecuting attorney is a novel concept in Ohio." Ohio v. Perez, No. 2008-Ohio-2308.

Not only novel, but troubling, said attorney Barry E. Savage, who represented the defendant in the Ohio case. He doesn't believe that defendants should have to pay for a prosecutor's investigative bill.

"The first time I heard about it I said, 'Where did they come up with this? This is not part of the agreement,' " Savage said. He argued that prosecutors recouping costs for handling a case is not allowed by statute. "A defendant has got to be protected from judges and prosecutors ordering them to pay for things that they are not obligated to pay. It's that simple."

The 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals made a similar ruling in 2006, when it ruled in favor of a former mayor of Providence, R.I., who was convicted of perjury and criminal contempt and had been ordered to pay $152,000 for the costs of the investigation of his crimes. U.S. v. Bevilacqua, No. 05-2390 (1st Cir.).

National Campaigns For the President of the United States - from a Beagle's view

2008-11-08T06:48:00.000-08:00

The campaigns have closed. It is evident from speaking with my Republican (GOP) friends that they felt short changed in the outcome of their candidate. The Democrats are a bit more elated.

Senator McCain certainly would have done himself a lot more good in the eyes of the block of voters who make up the very large sector of people who are neither far right or far left, those folks who are usually called liberal conservatives if they are Republicans and conservative liberals if they are Democrats, if he would have selected a different candidate for his VP nomination. Not that Governor Palin isn't a decent person, please don't think the Beagle thinks otherwise. No, it's just that if he would have selected Mit Romney, a candidate for the nomination of president GOP or Kathleen Sebelius, Governor of the Great State of Kansas, I think he would have had a better opportunity to draw from that portion of the Republicans that more than likely voted Democratic.

I think I can safely say we the voters would have had a much better choice and would have seen a higher profile in the campaign. I was very disappointed to see all the chatter about clothing, shoes, someone's receipt for lunch, someone's fabricated story about anything regarding either candidate.

The voting public deserve better than that. They are the people who diligently pay their hard earned money into the tax base to support all the programs that the federal government provides. It isn't about the one percenters, those folks who are lucky enough to earn more than $250,000 a year. It's about the one's who pay nearly 30 percent in taxes or more. Have children in school, K1 through those formative years in college (where the buck really hits home).

Those people need better choices. Those people need our leaders to make better choices. Our country needs better options to select from. Our country needs to rid itself of the shackles of dissention amongst ourselves.

We simply need to be united so that we as fellow countrymen can put our country back on track and ready for the future.

For all of those who participated by voting in this election, thank you for making the choices you did. For those whose candidate didn't succeed, don't give up. For those whose candidate did succeed, congratulations.

Now comes the hard work ~

Court Reporter Washington State

2008-11-02T00:57:00.000-07:00

Court Reporter in Washington State provides more than court reporting ~

When it comes to having the best technology for your video conferencing, then you don’t have to look any further than Roger G. Flygare & Associates, Inc.

As leading Washington State court reporters, they’ve been servicing the Seattle and Tacoma region for nearly 30 years.

With their Flygare Electronic Transcripts and Video Conference Room, they offer every service you’ll need from your court reporter and they have the experience and can additionally provide you with RealLegal compatibility. They can also provide you with legal videography services, legal transcription services, process service, and notary public service.

Check out all of their services on their website, give them a call, and I’m sure you’ll have found the only court reporters you’ll ever use again.

Court Reporters - Washington & Oregon Joint Convention Planned for 2009 at Hood River, Oregon

2008-10-26T20:36:00.000-07:00

OREGON & WASHINGTON COURT REPORTER CONVENTIONS - October 2008

Over the past two weekends, the Oregon and Washington Court Reporters held their fall convention and education seminars. The Oregon reporters selected the beautiful city of Newport, Oregon to host their function; while the Washington reporters went for a strategic location in Tacoma, Washington.

Oregon's convention was well attended, with approximately 80 working court reporters and other associated members and vendors showing up to enjoy the ambiance of the beach community while being provided with multiple educational seminars to choose from to help meet their CEU requirements.

Washington's convention with its jammed packed agenda drew in the neighborhood of 60 members and a great selection of vendors present.

While Oregon's convention seemed more oriented to bringing a sense of fun to the event, Washington's on the other hand was a bit more directed toward legislative issues and a sense of a five-year strategic plan for the future of court reporting in the State of Washington. Both organizations installed their duly elected officers for the coming year.

Both state organizations are working together to bring their conventions into Hood River, Oregon for a joint organizational convention, which is something they put together approximately four years ago with great success.

The planned event is tentatively scheduled for October 2, 3, and 4, 2009 with the event being hosted at the Hood River Best Western Inn.

The Beagle hopes to see you there...be sure to look out for my paw prints :o)

~ the Beagle

Questions posed to NCRA VP candidates...read these responses!

2008-07-13T13:50:00.000-07:00

COURT REPORTER & COMMUNITY ANSWERS

The following are 10 questions that were posed to the two candidates for VP. Here are what members of an impromtu panel provided as answers to those same questions. The panel members aren't necessarily court reporters and their names have been changed to protect their identity.

1. What role do you expect technology to play in our profession over the next three, five and ten years?

TED: Technology has gone from pen and paper to computer in a matter of less than 50 years. The evolvement of the first CAT programs to where they stand today has really happened since 1990. Typical advancements seemingly took a period of five years to implement; now they improve yearly with constant rollouts of better or new technology. To think that technology will play a little or nearly no in the future of this profession would be unimaginable. It's what drives the industry today. It seems to me that it's more the ability to move the advances into the end user commuity (lawyers) that presents the bigger challenge.

2. What leadership skills do you feel are important to fill the position of NCRA’s V.P. or board member? What leadership skills do you feel are your strongest and your weakest? (Answer this question in regards to the board position you are campaigning for only.)

ALICE: Depending up what the duties of the various positions are it would seem that the important skills are probably more attributes: Honesty, the ability to communicate effectively, and hopefully an interest in motivating people in an achievable avenue of endeavor that betters the profession.

3. How is the practice of incentive gift-giving, contracting and discount pricing affecting, first, the firm owner; second, the freelance reporter and, third, the consumer litigant?

DAVID: This is a tough one for me. I guess I would be considered a consumer or unknowing participant in this activity. I guess my costs would be higher if these types of activities are condoned by my lawyer and/or the law firm that I use in representing me in litigation. As someone who has to toe the line for ethical behavior in another profession, I can see this as an issue that transends the whole process and brings into question impartiality. Impartialility is what I see as the cornerstone of what a court reporter provides to the process. Who else can I depend on in these circumstances to know that my right to a fair, impartial process isn't being impugned by what I can only describe as bribery?

4. What do you feel are the five most important accomplishments that NCRA has achieved over the last several years? Why do these five accomplishments rise to the level of most important in your mind?

ROBERT: I am a court reporter and I think the five most important accomplishments/achievements by NCRA are really fairly simple to list. First of all, their effective role in reaching out to the US Congress would be on the top of the list. Second, would be their involvment, as limited as it seems to be, with helping the various state associations with the issues they are experiencing. Thirdly, providing all those wonderful educational opportunities. Fourthly, the annual gatherings. And, lastly, with the advent of the Internet, the accessibility of information, after all it is the age of information, and I think they do a fairly decent job in providing an abundance of topics for us to consider.

5. How do you feel NCRA can best serve its members?

TED: One of the things that I feel important from organizations such as NCRA should provide its membership is an opportunity to continue to grow and learn. So, with that in mind, I would hope that education be in the forefront of our leadership's thought process.

6. How do you differentiate the inclusion of other methods of speech-to-text modes of the verbatim record into our profession today as compared to that which happened when Gregg and Pitman writers experienced the threat of Stenograph writers entering their profession?

ROBERT: If the question is asking, "Shall we consider those methodologies as potential members to NCRA," I believe my answer is I am not really in favor of that.

If the question is, "Do I feel threatened by those methods of making the record," my answer is no. I am a professional in my legal community.

If we had the ability to look backward and see what happened to the Gregg & Pitman writers experienced through their careers then that might provide me with a better understanding of how their businesses either continued or failed.

At this point, I don't see my clients calling someone who is a "digital" reporter to do what they've grown to know is the type of service I provide.

7. Using 2010 as a reference point in time, what do you see as NCRA's biggest struggle moving into the next decade? How do your foresee NCRA members, state leadership and vendors partnering with NCRA to address these struggles?

TED: As a member of the Elks Club, I've experienced what I hear NCRA is struggling with and that is declining membership. One of my panel members mentioned to me that NCRA is losing members at the rate of more than 1000 per year and this has gone on for over 10 years to date. If that is true and based on the number of members, then the organization is headed for a doomsday scenario if those numbers cannot be reversed.

Thinking outside the box is needed in most cases. Perhaps trying to find a solution from within rather than outside the organization. Or vice versa. What is it that attracts and keeps current members? The Elks Club was an exclusive men's organization; today not so. Maybe if NCRA created a level of participation that allowed a lower threshold to be able to enjoy the same benefits that enjoyed by the officers of the organization. I believe Robert mentioned to me something about having to hold a particular certification to hold office. Maybe removing that barrier would get more people involved. Like I said, creative thinking is needed to slow the bleeding and get an organization healed.

Organizations need two key elemens to truly be successful: Members and money. The rest is merely frosting on the cake!

8. What do you feel is NCRA’s role as regards to court reporting schools, their curriculum, and NCRA’s relationship with the individual student?

ALICE: Having been a school teacher in the public school system, in this regard, NCRA, since it sanctions schools, is sort of like what we call the Superintendent of Schools. NCRA needs to help those schools stay current with market trends as far as what classes are being offered. In talking to the reporter member of this panel, I do not get the flavor that the classes offered seem to take on the actual duties of a court reporter but more the basics, learning how to use the machine that is used and the computer software that is associated therewith. I would hope that a more rounded approach is provided in that regard from the realms of NCRA.

9. Do you feel NCRA should be more transparent in their governance of the profession? If yes, what do you propose as a solution?

DAVID: When reading the question it forces me to think that there might be two answers or preconceived notions. One no and the other yes. But yet only the yes answer is sought to be illustrative. In my impression, this is a question that needs to be better asked to get a more thorough understanding of the problem because it implies there is a problem with transparency.

10. What is your plan to build membership and member participation in NCRA’s activities?

TED: I will try to field the answer to this question as it seems to be a bit repetitive of my previous answer and actually I would defer to that same answer to begin with but with any national group the leadership actually has to make connections with say your local community organizations and really get involved with helping bring resolve to issues that are real for them. With that participation, I can only imagine that the word would spread like wild fire and generate a lot of interest in NCRA.

National Court Reporters Association - Annual Convention 2008 - San Diego, CA

2008-07-13T09:01:00.000-07:00

July 2008 ~ National Court Reporters Association ~ Annual Convention, San Diego, CA

The annual convention for NCRA will be a historic event. It's leadership will be elected via the Internet and it's the only way its members will be able to cast a vote for the candidates who are running for the various offices that are being vacated or perhaps running to retain their seat at the table.

As an interested party in this association, it is clear to me that there are qualified candidates and then those who are perhaps less so qualified. The distinction is somewhat blurred for those who are not necessarily familiar with the candidates.

In reading the various bios and literature that is being bandied about in support of one candidate over another, it is becoming quite clear to me that the candidate that I would possibly vote for will be from a state that has laws on its books to help preserve and protect the profession. If you take the time to read the laws for the states of California and Texas, you will read considerable information about the hard work those states have put into play in helping make this profession viable for the present and into the future. I would suggest that you also look at the laws in the states of the candidates from other states to see how they are governed and how those particular candidates will more likely than not perform at the national level in the interests of the profession.

I will be adding more to this post as thoughts come to me so please follow up and check back as new and interesting information is being posted up for your reading pleasure.

~ The Beagle

Court Reporter - Sad Sad Story

2008-05-30T07:24:00.000-07:00

Man accused of aggravated sexual assault of a childUpdated: 5/27/2008 9:17 PMBy: News 8 Austin Staff

Billy Dan Carroll is being held on a $2 million bond.

Billy Dan Carroll, 53, is being held on a $2 million bond in connection with the aggravated sexual assault of a child.

Police said they were called to his house in northwest Austin on Sunday, May 18.
An 8-year-old girl told police that Carroll sexually assaulted her at his home while she was spending the night at his house.
Carroll was arrested and charged with aggravated sexual assault of a child which is a first degree felony.

Billy CarrollNews 8's Reagan Hackleman shares more information about the case. 'Worst case'One Austin police officer says the child abuse case is the worst he's seen in 22 years.
Police said he met the 8-year-old girl through his volunteer work with at-risk children at Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA).

A CASA representative said the organization went through the same background checks and screening procedures with Carroll as with all volunteers and until news of his arrest had "no cause for concern."

One Austin police officer said the child abuse case against the local businessman is the worst he's seen in 22 years. "The graphic depictions that I've seen through the video and different children, um, I've not seen anything like that,” Austin Police Sgt. Brian Loyd said. “This is going to be one for the books for us."

Police said they believe there are additional victims and they need the public's help to locate them. Police said they believe there are five other children and two adults involved in this abuse case.

Police said six of Carroll's victims range in age from 3-15 years of age.

Carroll is a co-founder of Fredericks-Carroll Reporting and Litigation Services, Inc., a court reporting and litigation support firm in Austin.

Company co-founder, Bill Fredericks released the following statement:
"It goes without saying that those of us at Fredericks-Carroll are shocked and saddened by the news. Our company was certainly not aware of any of the allegations underlying Mr. Carroll's arrest and we condemn any criminal behavior that may have occurred, particularly in light of the fact that the allegation involves a child."

Police said the bond is set much higher than most cases of the same nature as Carroll is an affluent man and could potentially try to leave the country.

If convicted, he could face 5-99 years in prison.

Anyone with information should call the child abuse unit at (512) 974-6880.

"Big Brother" in courtroom

2008-05-30T07:18:00.000-07:00

Sure enough, if it can happen it most probably will. Here is a fine example of it has. Another reason that these recording systems violate a lot of civil rights besides being an inferior system.

~ The Beagle

"Big Brother" in courtroom
« on: Today at 03:56:12 AM »
QUEENSLAND police are trying to access recordings of private courtroom conversations between lawyers and their clients to gather additional evidence.Shocked lawyers say the bid, which takes advantage of a new constantly active digital court reporting system, raises serious privacy and confidentiality issues.The Courier-Mail has discovered that police have already been provided with one so-called "passive recording" of a private conversation in a Magistrate's Court last year.According to the Justice Department, another police request is under consideration and relates to a conversation during an adjournment that contained an alleged threat.Attorney-General Kerry Shine immediately ordered a review of the issue, while Queensland Law Society president Megan Mahon said the society, on the face of information available, was "very concerned".Quoted From -http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,23779630-3102,00.html

A Court Reporter And Their Brains!

2008-05-23T08:09:00.000-07:00

A Court Reporter Has Brains And Much, Much More!

As a practicing court reporter once told me, there is nothing on the planet like the highly skilled court reporter. In the great country of China, court reporters can go on to become judges in their judicial system. Many other countries acknowledge the prowness and mental agility of their court reporters by allowing them to participate in many different venues. What is the good ole USA doing to these very important people that make up our judicial system, fire them and replace them with a worthless technology that produces a far inferior record.

~ The Beagle

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A Neuropsychologist’s deposition.

Q. Can you explain what you meant by that last statement?

A. May I give an example of this?

Q. Sure.

A. Okay. If you look -- And the example is this. Our brains are amiracle. Okay. They're a miracle that needs to be protected. And if you look at the court reporter right now, as an example, okay, this is a miracle in progress happening right before your eyes.
Let me just explain what she needs to do. I am speaking, so the information has to come in through her ear into her temporal lobe, and it has to go log itself into the language center. She has to be able to comprehend what I'm saying.

Then it has to get rerouted to the prefrontal cortex where it has to hold -- she has to be able to hold the information, because, you know, I continuously talk so she has to hold it. Right? Then she has to analyze it, integrate it and synthesize it.

Then it has to go back to the cerebellum and she has to be able to execute this, and she has to be able to then convert my words into those little squiggly marks. Have you ever seen court reporters have little squiggly language things?

So she has to convert it into a different language, and the white matter tracks allows her to reroute all of this information simultaneously without effort. Okay.

We take our brains for granted. She's sitting here. I'm probably talking too fast for her, but she's able to do this simultaneously. Seamlessly. Okay. No animal on the planet can do this. All right.

That's why I believe court reporters will never be replaced. Because no technical -- no technology could replace the beauty of that brain and the miracle of that brain. And that's why your brain should always be protected and you should take care of it.

Court Transcript Flawed!!

2008-04-24T15:24:00.001-07:00

Ouch! Court Reporter spends time in hooskow!!

Seems like something went wrong, really wrong with the transcript in this case. Hopefully the court reporter has learned a valuable lesson and can move on with their life unimpeded from this one occurrence.

~ The Beagle

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Pair cleared of federal bribery charges involving VitaPro
© 2008 The Associated Press

Comments
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HOUSTON — A former Texas prisons director and a Canadian businessman were acquitted in a two-hour trial of 10-year-old federal bribery charges relating to VitaPro, a soy-based meat substitute considered for state inmate meals.
Tuesday's decision was the second acquittal granted to former Texas prisons director James "Andy" Collins, 57, and Canadian businessman Yank Barry, 60, by U.S. District Judge Lynn Hughes.
The two were first indicted in 1998 on bribery, money-laundering and conspiracy charges by a federal grand jury.
After a tumultuous trial that featured Patrick Graham — a government informant who was a key witness in the prosecution of former Louisiana Gov. Edwin Edwards and former Houston Mayor Fred Hofheinz on corruption charges, a Houston federal jury convicted Collins and Barry in 2001 on the charges.
The jury found that at the time that Collins was executive director of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Barry paid two $10,000 bribes to Collins for pushing a no-bid contract worth millions with VitaPro.
By 2004, three years after the guilty verdicts, Collins and Barry had not been sentenced.
Defense lawyers said they were concerned about their ability to appeal the case because there wasn't a reliable record of the trial.
The 1,357-page trial transcript was found to have so many gaps and errors that Hughes ordered them reconstructed, but the effort was not successful and the court reporter ended up serving 10 days in jail for contempt of court after failing to meet a deadline on other transcripts.
By 2005, Hughes overturned the convictions and granted a new trial, ruling that Graham lied and the flawed trial transcript was unreliable. The government appealed. Last August, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed Hughes' decision.
Tuesday's trial was a bench trial, meaning there was no jury and Hughes alone decided guilt or innocence.
"The government did not prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt," Hughes said. "You guys are free. Whatever restraints remained on you go away."
After the decision, prosecutor Gary Cobe said: "We advocated that they were guilty and the judge advocated that they were not guilty."
Mike Ramsey and Kent Schaffer, who represented Barry, said that the acquittal was justice for their client.
Terry Hart, who represented Collins, said: "We are just very pleased with the judge's decision."
___
Information from: Houston Chronicle, http://www.chron.com
Information from: Austin American-Statesman, http://www.americanstatesman.com

Court Reporters Going Digital?

2008-04-19T22:06:00.000-07:00

It seems like there's going to be a new sheriff in town...court reporters will be sharing their duties of guardians of the record with a handy dandy digital recording machine. I've heard and read enough horror stories to make me nervous if my assets were at stake in a proceeding being recorded.

Some day the technology will be better but that's not today.

~ the Beagle

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Court reporters going digital

DANIEL TEPFER Staff writer

Article Last Updated: 04/19/2008 11:31:08 PM EDT

They are the unsung soldiers of the courtroom — court reporters and monitors recording every word of every trial and hearing for posterity.

But over the last half-century, despite the digital revolution, there has been little change in the way these men and women perform their task.

Things, however, are about to change.

In Connecticut, there now are two main methods of court reporting — using a special stenotype machine or audio cassette recorders.

The stenotype machines look like small typewriters with only a fraction of the keys, which instead of letters type a special shorthand of symbols that represent sounds, words and phrases.
As they type, the symbols appear on a paper tape that spins out of the top of the machine. Many newer machines also record shorthand on a computer disc.

The stenographers later type up transcripts of court hearings from the shorthand.
Stenographers must attend national Court Reporters Association-approved schools where they take, on average, 33 months of training. They then must pass a state-certified exam. Monitors sit in front of cassette machines recording every word of testimony. They do not have to undergo specialized training, but are trained to operate the recording equipment and taking handwritten notes so that they can quickly find specific areas of the recorded testimony to be replayed.

Both the stenographers and monitors are responsible for typing transcripts of each court proceeding.

A major problem is that over time the audio cassettes degrade, distorting the recordings. The stenographic machines record information on a 4-inch paper tape, which consumes storage space.

However, new technology aims to address these problems.

For The Record, or "FTR," was developed by a software company in 1993 in Perth, Western Australia.

According to Nancy Brown, program manager for the state Judicial Branch's Transcription Services, the company produces equipment that digitizes all audio recordings in the courtroom.
The equipment, resembling a cross between a large DVD and the tower section of a computer, contains a digital hard-drive system.

"The new system eliminates the chances cassettes or recorders could malfunction or develop defects over time," Brown said. Because of the cost of the equipment, $8,000 a unit, its use is slowly spreading to all the state's courthouses. There are a few units in use in the Golden Hill Street courthouse in Bridgeport, but it is not yet in use in the Main Street court.
Statewide, Brown said there are units in 105 courtrooms, but acknowledged that is just a fraction of all state courtrooms.

Bridgeport's Official Court Reporter Mary Ellen Hirschbeck said she looks forward to outfitting courtrooms there with the new technology.

"A lot of people are apprehensive about it because it's new technology but it is the wave of the future," she said.

Brown said there is no danger that FTR will result in court reporters losing their jobs.
"We are always going to need court reporters," she said. "Court reporters are mobile and can record conversations in judges' chamber, at hearings and off sites such as jails, places that can not be equipped with FTR."

But, she said, FTR does help fill in for a shortage of court reporters caused by a budget crunch.
"We haven't had the money to fill any full-time positions in seven or eight years," she said. "And there are not many people who want to do it on a temporary basis because they don't get any benefits and the pay isn't very attractive."

History's first recorded shorthand reporter was Marcus Tullius, a freed Roman slave who became Cicero's secretary. In 63 B.C., he used a metal stylus to report a speech. Julius Caesar, a shorthand writer, supposedly was stabbed with his own stylus.

Shorthand later declined in popularity when it was declared by the church to be necromantic and diabolical.

In 1588, Dr. Timothe Bright is credited with authoring the first practical system of shorthand published in English. Dedicated to Queen Elizabeth the First, the system had no alphabet but consisted of more than 500 characters that had to be memorized.

That system was later improved on in 1750 by Thomas Gurney, the first official reporter of parliamentary debates in England. One of the most famous of these "court reporters" was author Charles Dickens, whose efforts to master shorthand became a subplot in his book, "David Copperfield."

In the United States, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison used shorthand for diverse purposes. Using a personally developed shorthand, Madison recorded the 1787 Constitutional Convention.

But it is Isaac Pitman who is considered the father of modern shorthand. In 1837 he developed the first system of phonetically based shorthand in England. His brother, Ben, later used the system to report the trial of the assassin of President Lincoln.

Irishman John Robert Gregg in 1888 established his own shorthand school. He moved to the U.S. in 1893 and established schools in Boston.

The following poem was written by W.C. (Casey) Jones for the 1964 meeting of the Kansas Shorthand Reporters Association.

"Who Am I?

My profession stems from man's desire and his necessity to preserve the happenings of yesterday and today for tomorrow.

My profession was born with the rise of civilization in ancient Greece.

I was known as a scribe.

I was in Judaea, Persia and the Roman Empire before Christ.

I preserved the Ten Commandments for posterity.

I was with King Solomon while building the Temple and recorded the origins of Masonry.

My hand labored upon the scroll that set forth the Bill of Rights wrested from the King of England at Runnymede.

I was with the founding fathers when the Declaration of Independence was drafted.

I witnessed the signature of John Hancock.

I wrote the Dred Scott Decision for Justice Taney.

The immortal Abraham Lincoln entrusted me to record the Emancipation Proclamation.

I was commissioned to be with Roosevelt at Yalta.

I was with Eisenhower on D-Day; with MacArthur at Tokyo.

I have kept confidence reposed with me by those in high places as well as those in lowly positions.

I protect the truthful witness, and I am a Nemesis of the perjurer.

I am a party to the administration of Justice under the law and the Court I serve.

I discharge my duties with devotion and honor.

Perhaps I haven't made history, but I have preserved it through the ages for all mankind."

No Court Reporter, No Record, Very Upset People!

2008-04-13T09:05:00.000-07:00

How many failed recording systems will it take for governmental regulators and decision-makers to finally figure out that when you have an important issue before you that the proper and most viable way of preserving those important words that are being said is to hire a reporting agency who will supply the right person for the job. It seems obvious that a "court reporter" would have preserved the record and then the proper channels of governmental communication could been followed and all this bruhaha avoided.

~ The Beagle

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Group petitions court to overturn aldermen's actionApril 11, 2008
Nikie Mayo
Sun Journal

A group of downtown proprietors and property owners is asking a judge to either deny the city-issued permit for the 75-foot Talbot's project or order a new hearing on the matter.
About two dozen business owners or landowners have filed in Superior Court a "petition for review of the issuance" of the conditional-use permit that is needed in New Bern for construction to begin on the building.

The city intends to treat the appeal "just like we treat any other case," City Attorney Scott Davis said this week.

The appeal alleges multiple "procedural and substantive errors" in the permitting process, among them failure of the city to maintain a record of the hearing held before aldermen voted to approve the permit on Jan. 8. The appeal also alleges that Davis had a conflict of interest and that he "improperly and incorrectly" advised the Board of Aldermen to reverse a decision from Dec. 11 that would have denied the permit.

The building, a project of UHF Development LLC, is to be constructed at the northwest corner of Craven and South Front streets. As proposed, the building will have retail on the bottom floor, a requirement that the aldermen placed on the project when bids were solicited. The remaining floors will have residential space.

UHF, a company with offices in New Bern and Raleigh, bid $1,050,000 on the project and was awarded the contract two years ago. The plan has been called the Talbot's project because city leaders believe that such a building would woo that retail store to the city.

The conditional-use permit for the project was approved three months ago and was issued in February, but its issuance came with controversy.

Opponents of the proposed structure say it is too tall and is not "in harmony" with the surrounding area - one of the requirements that must be met before a conditional-use permit can be granted. In January, those opponents said they did not understand why the city would reverse its earlier decision that the project failed the harmony test.

In February, Davis said he anticipated that some portion of the Talbot's project process would be litigated, but did not elaborate.

The petitioners filed their appeal of the permit decision about two weeks ago.
"We just felt like there are procedural errors and that the city's procedures need to be reviewed by a judge," said Terry Startsman, a downtown resident and one of the petitioners.
Startsman said the appeal was organized by the Preservation Legal Action Trust, which was called the Preservation Legal Action Team before its name changed last month.

"This is mainly a group of concerned residents and merchants," he said. "It's unfortunate that it had to come to this. We don't want to make a federal case out of it and we don't want to try it in the press, but we do believe that a judge needs to look at it."

The appeal filed alleges several errors in the process that led up to the issuance of a conditional-use permit.

It alleges a "lack of owner consent" to the application for the permit.

"The Board of Aldermen, as the entity in charge of city-owned property, never authorized the application for the conditional-use permit," the appeal states.

The lot where the project is to be built is still city owned. UHF intends to buy the property, but the sale cannot go forward until the permit matter is settled, according to Troy Smith, the New Bern attorney for the company.

The appeal alleges that the city failed to maintain a complete record of the hearing. The city's ordinance on records of conditional-use-permit hearings says: "A record ... shall be made by a court reporter or by electronic means. Accurate minutes shall also be kept of all such proceedings."

Davis took notes during the hearing, but it is unclear whether those notes qualify as a record made by a court reporter.

The hearing was recorded to be rebroadcast on the local-access channel Cable 10, but because of equipment failure, about an hour and 45 minutes of the hearing are missing. The portion that is missing includes the discussion about whether the Talbot's project would meet the city's harmony requirement.

Court Reporters In Enid, Oklahoma

2008-04-08T15:25:00.000-07:00

Even if the Seattle Sonics relocate to Oklahoma, it can't be all that bad as obviously the judicial court system is blessed to have such a team of talented court reporters. Oklahoma and in particular Enid seems to be a wonderful place for blossoming court reporters to look for a welcome reception after graduation from court reporting school.

~ The Beagle

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The Enid [Oklahoma] News & EaglePublished: April 07, 2008

Court reporting more complex than it may appearBy Cass Rains, Staff Writer

A court reporter’s job isn’t as easy as you’d think.The five women serving the nine-county Fourth Judicial District can attest to the skills and qualities required to be a record keeper for the courts.

The women serving Alfalfa, Blaine, Dewey, Garfield, Grant, Kingfisher, Major, Woods, and Woodward County as court reporters are specially trained and certified for the duties they perform for the court.“During my time as a court reporter, we have come up against people all the time who think all we do is sit there and that it’s a piece of cake,” said Debra Vogt. “They think they can hire someone to run a recorder and do what we do —except a recorder doesn’t know when it doesn’t understand or hear something.”

Reporters are responsible for their recordings and records they create and must keep records from criminal courts for 10 years, and those from divorces for 20 years. Reporters are also responsible for each exhibit entered into evidence during a trial, which are kept in secure storage.“Our records are very important and we take our jobs very seriously, so it’s hard to bear those people who think it’s an unnecessary position,” Vogt said.

Reporters must be able to type a minimum of 200 words per minute. Using a 24-key stenograph machine, reporters take down comments and testimonies phonetically, using combinations of letters to make different sounds.“To be an effective court reporter, you have to be detail oriented and possess excellent concentration skills,” Vogt said. “You must also demonstrate a high degree of accuracy in your work. Good listening skills are essential to be a successful court reporter.”

A typical day of a hearing can result in 200 to 250 pages of written text, but between 20 to 40 percent of cases reporters cover are transcribed.Each court reporter must purchase their equipment, stenograph machines, software and paper. A new court reporter spends at least $12,000 for equipment and software.“We do buy our own equipment and it’s basically up to us to keep up with the technology,” Kelly O’Rourke said.

“Twenty-five years ago we used to dictate and use typists that typed an original and two copies using carbon paper,” Melissa Atkinson said. “Court reporters do real-time now, which is unedited translation done ‘on the fly’ or ‘writing naked.’ The live captioning you see on TV is done by court reporters.”Vogt said captioning of live television programs is done by specially trained court reporters called “broadcast captioners.”

“Federal rules require captioning of hundreds of hours of live programming each week, creating a surge in career opportunities for people with the right skills, she said.Americans with Disabilities Act requirements necessitate Communication Access Realtime Translation, or one-on-one captioning, as an aid to deaf or hard-of hearing individuals, Malatin said.

“Realtime reporters can also provide closed captioning for television programming,” she said.Oklahoma court reporters are required to be certified and most in Garfield County have obtained further certifications.

“Court reporters must be certified by the state, and in addition we all strive for and have obtained higher certification,” said Malatin.“We are required to have continuing education hours every year to maintain our certification.”Each reporter in the district is assigned to a specific judge; however, reporters can report for other judges, if needed.

The majority of Garfield County court reporters recall the changes in technologies used in their field.“When I first started working here, everyone had an IBM Selectric typewriter and absolutely no computers,” O’Rourke said. “I used a manual stenograph machine and would dictate my notes to a typist or type them myself with carbon paper.“Now I use a paperless machine, thousands of pages of notes are stored on one memory card and I have a wireless system that translates my raw steno notes from the courtroom to my computer in my office, instantaneously.”

O’Rourke said the methods of records storage have also changed.“Even sound files are stored digitally now, instead of on cassette tape, and transcripts can be e-mailed instead of mailed to attorneys out of town.”Malatin said she, too, has seen court reporting move toward a paperless process. “Now, all stenograph machines are computerized and the newest models no longer use paper,” she said.

The youngest Garfield County court reporter, Kristin O’Reilly, said she’s feels fortunate for the advances in technology.“I’ve been informed of how things were in the ‘old days’ and I feel fortunate to be working with today’s technology,” she said.Changes to court reporting are not limited to technology.

Atkinson said she’s seen changes in the Garfield County Courthouse in her 25 years as a court reporter, including the addition of online court filings and records.“We have added two full-time court reporting positions and one additional judge,” she said. “Back in 1983, the special district judge had a per diem reporter and we only had one special judge. The case load has increased dramatically since 25 years ago.”Atkinson added, “I think there is going to be a time when we have to electronically file our transcripts.”Vogt said there are worldwide opportunities for court reporters.“

A career as a court reporter is exciting and rewarding,” Vogt said. “There are excellent job opportunities anywhere in the world.”Melissa Atkinson“I liked shorthand in high school and also liked punching the keys on the cash register at Wendy’s, where I worked,” she said. “A representative from Brown Mackie College in Salina, Kan., came to my house and showed me notes from a court reporter.“To me, they just looked like a bunch of gibberish with letters that were all over the place.”Atkinson said she considered a career in law, but ended up in a position within the courts.“I also liked the idea of law but didn’t want to become a lawyer,” she said, “so I gave court reporting a try and fell in love.”

In May, Atkinson will have worked at the Garfield County Courthouse for 25 years.Atkinson said one of the more memorable cases she covered was a robbery and shooting with intent to kill trial of Shawn Detwiler and Chris Baldwin.“They were not pleased when the guilty verdict was read,” she said. “I just remember momma Baldwin yelling ‘Don’t hurt my baby,’ as they were wrestling around a bit with Chris.”

Atkinson also recalled a case early in her career when a defendant was less than cooperative with the court.“About two weeks after I first started working with James Bryant, my judge, Robert Lewis Stephenson was brought before the judge,” she said.

“As I was setting up my equipment, Mr. Stephenson was saying all sorts of off-the-wall comments to me and the prosecutor, John Proctor.“I remember John approaching me and saying, ‘Missy, I don’t think he likes us very much.’ Well, after Judge Bryant entered the courtroom and as the judge was telling Mr. Stephenson his charges, Mr. Stephenson just went off on Judge Bryant, verbally abused him down one side and up the other.”

She added: “Judge Bryant found him in direct contempt of court three times before he was forcibly removed from the courtroom. Judge Bryant liked to play the audio tape from that hearing for classes he taught.”

Atkinson was appointed to serve a five-year term on the Certified Shorthand Reporters Board, from 1997-2002, and in late 2007, was appointed again to fulfill an un-expired term until 2009.“I was talked into that by fellow CSR Board member Beth Malatin,” Atkinson said.

In the early 1990s, she served as the secretary/treasurer, vice-president, president and past-president for the Oklahoma Court Reporters Association Board. She passed her Certified Realtime Reporter exam in 1996.Originally from Maize, Kan., Atkinson is married to Lance Atkinson, and together the couple help the United Way achieve its goals.“I feel very lucky to be able to work with the judges, bailiffs, reporters and court clerks here in this courthouse,” she said.

“The reporters with whom I work are some of the most talented, sweet and pleasant ladies anyone could hope to have as co-workers.”

Beth Malatin,“I had gone to court reporting school in Kansas with Melissa Atkinson and Lori Woods,” she said. “They were employed here and called me when there was an opening.“I had never been to Enid but I came for an interview or two, met the judges, liked Enid, was offered the position and have been here ever since.”Malatin has been a court reporter in Garfield County for 24 years and works in Garfield, Kingfisher, Grant and Blaine Counties, covering small claims, divorce, criminal cases, mental health and medical malpractice hearings.Malatin is married, has two daughters and is active in her church.She said she has served on the boards for court reporting organizations, schools, church groups and local organizations.“Court reporting incorporates a lot of areas,” Malatin said. “There are officials who are employed by the state, freelance reporters who take depositions, meetings, school board hearings, et cetera.”

Kristin O’Reilly,“I became interested in court reporting while still in high school,” O’Reilly said. “One of my teachers made a comment about his brother-in-law being a court reporter in Texas and making a lot of money. That caught my attention.“Shortly after that I was in my mom’s office (who works for an attorney) highlighting portions of a transcript for her and asked who had prepared it.“When I found out a court reporter had done it, I remembered they made a lot of money. Needless to say it wasn’t as easy as it sounded or looked but I do enjoy it.”After graduation, O’Reilly took an open position at the Garfield County Courthouse.“After graduating from court reporting school, I moved to Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.,” she said. “There are no certification requirements in Florida, as there are here. Several girls I had gone to school with were going down there until they passed the certification test in Oklahoma, so I went, as well.“I lived there for eight months and while there I passed the Oklahoma CSR. I spent the summer of 2004 doing freelance work in the Oklahoma City area until I was hired here in Enid.”“I’ve been working for Judge Norman Grey for three and a half years,” she said. “I have also been traveling to Grant County to work for Judge Jack Hammontree during most of that time.”One of O’Reilly’s most memorable cases was one involving the investigation of a call-girl service in Florida.“The state attorney’s office was investigating a call-girl service and interviewing women who had worked there, past and present,” she said.“I was doing freelance work with a firm that employed several reporters and I think we all got to take a record on at least one if not more of the women that were questioned.“They had some interesting things to talk about.”Originally from South Dakota, O’Reilly attended high school in Altus.She is a member of St. Francis Xavier Church and has volunteered time working with children through the Garfield County Juvenile Office.

Kelly O’Rourke“After four years of college as a pre-law major, I decided being an attorney was probably not for me,” O’Rourke said. “I was still fascinated with the legal field, though, so I decided to check out court reporting after an attorney I worked with told me about her stepdaughter who was a court reporter.“I enrolled in the Tulsa School of Court Reporting that fall and one and a half years later was certified through the state of Oklahoma.”After school, O’Rourke returned to Enid.“I was fortunate enough to land my first job as an official right here in my hometown of Enid,” O’Rourke said. “I am still the only official court reporter that is originally from Enid.”She said about 95 percent of her work is done on criminal cases, and she may hear five to six preliminary hearings, ranging from robbery to rape to assault and battery, in a day. O’Rourke said she also reports on juvenile cases and divorce proceedings.“I have sat in on hundreds of very interesting cases, but the one that sticks out the most in my mind was a wrongful death case I did back in 1993, involving the manufacturer of a garden/lawn tractor,” O’Rourke said.“It was a three-week-long jury trial where the family of a man who was killed on a tractor that rolled over on him was suing the company who designed and manufactured the tractor,” she said. “The family was awarded millions of dollars by the jury.”Despite a language barrier, O’Rourke was still able to perform her job with the assistance of a translator.“Most of the witnesses were Japanese engineers from the tractor company who spoke little to no English,” O’Rourke said. “Their highly complex and technological testimony was handled through a translator. It’s always very challenging to work with a translator, although this lady was the best translator I have ever worked with.”However, the case and O’Rourke’s work were not done after the verdict was read.“The verdict was appealed and I transcribed the entire jury trial,” she said. “It was the largest transcript I have done to date and was more than 3,000 pages long.”O’Rourke said the spontaneity of her work the variety of cases she hears keeps her work enjoyable.“I really enjoy what I do because I never know what I’m going to be hearing from day to day,” she said. “Some days are very interesting, some not so interesting, but each day I will hear something completely different than I heard the day before, so it’s definitely varied.“Sometimes the courtroom can be quite humorous and it’s often hard not to laugh out loud at some of the things people say,” she said. “On the flip side of that, sometimes when I’m reporting a highly sad or emotional hearing it’s hard not to cry.“We really have to be very careful not to show any emotion when we are on that type of a case.”O’Rourke is married to Capt. Brian O’Rourke of the Enid Police Department, and has a daughter, Jaime, who is 11.O’Rourke was born and raised in Enid and her parents built Ladusau-Evans Funeral Home, which her father Dean Ladusau still runs today.In her spare time, O’Rourke said she enjoys working out, reading, watching movies and spending time with her husband and daughter.“When Brian and I have a rare day off together, we try to get to a casino and try our luck,” she said.

Debra VogtVogt attended court reporting school in Texas in 1987 and was hired in Garfield County after being certified as a court reporter in Oklahoma in 2006.“I’ve been in Garfield County three years to fill Judge John Michael’s court reporter position,” Vogt said. “For six months I worked with Judge Michael then he opted to retire. I then had the privilege of working with Judge Dick Pickens while he filled the judge’s bench until the governor appointed Dennis Hladik as judge.“Talk about working with the greatest of all greats.” Vogt said her time in Dallas as a freelance reporter for several years gave her a chance for some “exciting times.”“During that time, I had the opportunity to work in many places and with many attorneys and with people of all walks of life,” she said.“I recall one of my most memorable times, I traveled with an attorney to New Orleans to take the deposition of a gymnastics coach who was testifying as an expert regarding an accident of a gymnast who had received a severe neck injury during Olympic training,” Vogt said. “We took his deposition and then he took us to a Bayou crawfish eatery. It was just one of the exciting times I had.”Vogt attends World Harvest Church, where she is a Girl’s Ministry teacher, which is part of the Missionettes program, and teaches first through fifth graders. Vogt is also on the outreach serve team of World Harvest Church.“I left my family in Texas when I took this job but have never felt alone,” Vogt said. “My co-reporters and other co-workers are the best I’ve ever known. The attorneys and their staff are exceptional, also.“My church family is more than I’ve ever known, as well.”In her spare time, Vogt is learning to play golf and has been hired out as a private chef.“Enid’s got it all when it comes to people.”

Good News for Court Reporting ~ New Mexico

2008-04-08T15:17:00.000-07:00

Sounds like New Mexico has given the nod to Court Reporters to provide the record over other technologies. Personally, I believe the best choice was made. Court Reporters provide a much better appellant record over audio/video recordings. If one has ever had the opportunity to read the transcripts from a "recorded" proceeding, the difference is immediately known with all the "inaudibles" or "indiscernibles," which can actually be more than a single word that is unclear but minutes of time.

Hats off to New Mexico ~

The Beagle

SUPREME COURT ORDER NO. 08-8500

Published April 7, 2008
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO
NO. 08-8500

IN THE MATTER OF FULL TIMECERTIFIED COURT REPORTERS INTHE STATE COURTS OF NEW MEXICO ORDER ~

WHEREAS, this Court’s order issued October 30, 2001, declared a judicial policy of encouraging the use of certified court reporters in all district court trials to facilitate the preparation of written transcripts and expedite the processing of appeals, and to improve the quality of appellate review;WHEREAS, since the issuance of the October 30, 2001, order, criminal trials are being taken stenographically in most district courts;WHEREAS, no good reason continues to exist why criminal trials should not be taken stenographically in all district courts consistent with the availability of certified court reporters and technology to produce written transcripts in a timely fashion and legislative appropriations received for this purpose by this Court and the New Mexico Court of Appeals; andWHEREAS, the Chief Judges Council recommends that this Court (1) adopt a consistent rate of pay for criminal indigent appeal transcripts, (2) encourage the judiciary to continue hiring full-time certified court reporters as classified employees, (3) require district courts to notify the appellate court clerks when a first degree murder trial is scheduled in order to facilitate that a certified court reporter is available to take a stenographic record of the proceedings, (4) require the appellate courts to continue requesting legislative appropriation in order to serve as the central point of services for conversion to written format of cassette tapes and digitally recorded transcripts, for direct payment to certified court reporters for transcript preparation, and for direct payment for services of freelance certified court reporters, and (5) adopt statewide standards governing what a district court is expected to provide to a full time certified court reporter and what a full time certified court reporter is expected to provide for employment in the judiciary, and the Court having considered said recommendation and being sufficiently advised, Chief Justice Edward L. Chávez, Justice Patricio M. Serna, Justice Petra Jimenez Maes, Justice Richard C. Bosson, and Justice Charles W. Daniels concurring;NOW, THEREFORE, IT IS ORDERED that in all district courts, certified court reporters, to the extent available, shall take all trials stenographically. Court reporters shall be pooled, if necessary, within a judicial district so as to be available for all trials. Whenever a district judge or a court monitor retires or otherwise terminates employment or whenever a new judicial position is created, the court administrator shall request reclassification of the court monitor position to a classified certified court reporter position in order for recruitment and eventual hire of a classified certified court reporter. Any request for reclassification shall be made during the fiscal year in which the vacancy occurs, subject to the availability of funds, and shall comply with Judicial Branch Personnel Rule 2.06. In the event a judicial district can demonstrate that all reasonable measures taken to recruit and employ certified court reporters have been unsuccessful, an exception to this policy may be granted on a case by case basis;IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that, consistent with this Court’s adoption of the Implementation Plan and Schedule whereby in 2001 the use of audio-tape monitors would be largely phased out, to the extent possible, written transcripts should be provided in a timely, efficient manner in all appealed cases, whether criminal or civil;IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that, pursuant to Rule 22-207 NMRA, the rate of pay for preparation of all criminal indigent appeal transcripts shall be $2.50 per page;IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that district courts continue to hire full time certified court reporters as classified employees;IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that, if the district court is unable to provide a court reporter, the district court clerk shall notify the appellate court clerks when a first degree murder trial is scheduled in order to facilitate that a court reporter is available to take a stenographic record of the proceedings;IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that the appellate courts shall continue to request sufficient legislative appropriation to pay for conversion to written transcripts of taped or digitally recorded proceedings, to pay court reporters for transcript preparation, and to pay for services of freelance court reporters to take a stenographic record of first degree murder cases when the district court is unable to provide a court reporter;IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that, as provided by Rules 22-206 and 22-209 NMRA, the following statewide standards governing what a district court is expected to provide to a full time certified court reporter and what a full time certified court reporter is expected to provide for employment in the judiciary hereby are ADOPTED:(1) The district court shall provide office space, standard office supplies, telephone, transcription supplies to include disks/CDs and stenographic paper, access to a copier for copying transcripts, copy paper for copying indigent criminal transcripts, training to include educational leave for obtaining mandatory continuing education credits and one other education request per fiscal year so long as the court is budgeted for such costs, and statewide training for all full-time certified court reporters to further standardize transcript production and format;
(2) The district court shall standardize the process of how and where all reporter notes are stored on network servers and shall work with the Judicial Information Division to implement statewide storage and archival procedures of stenographic notes;
(3) The district court shall provide production software, such as Pro CAT and StenoCAT, for example, to include software application, license, updates, and training. The district courts are encouraged to standardize the software application statewide to permit uniform and efficient training, production, storage, and archiving of reporter notes; and
(4) The full time certified court reporter shall provide the stenographic writer and any maintenance thereto, a personal computer for production of transcripts, and binding supplies for transcripts.
IT IS SO ORDERED.DONE at Santa Fe, New Mexico, this 27th day of March , 2008.
______________/s/____________________Chief Justice Edward L. Chávez
______________/s/____________________Justice Patricio M. Serna
______________/s/____________________Justice Petra Jimenez Maes
______________/s/____________________Justice Richard C. Bosson
______________/s/____________________Justice Charles W. Daniels

Court Reporter Opportunities Abound

2008-04-01T17:33:00.000-07:00

COURT REPORTER JOBS SECURE INTO THE FORESEEABLE FUTURE

It looks like the future of the Court Reporting Profession may be just beginning to take off. High predictions and shortages of skilled professionals are creating high paid careers and will seemingly be on the rise for the foreseeable future according to the article enclosed below which was released by the National Court Reporters Association.

If you're looking for a job that would at first glance offer financial rewards while providing an opportunity to be involved in the legal field, this certainly could be your ticket.

My research indicates that virtually every state has a qualified educational institution in which potential candidates can look at the programs offered. However, I have been warned that this is not something that just anyone can do so take the time to thoroughly review the criteria and educational requirements.

~ The Beagle

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PRESS RELEASE ~ National Court Reporters Association

WASHINGTON, April 1, 2008 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ --

For the first time ever, employment prospects in the court reporting profession have been projected by the federal government to grow "much faster than average," reflecting "excellent" job opportunities "as job openings continue to outnumber jobseekers," the National Court Reporters Association (NCRA) said today.

Ironically, the government's estimate comes at a time when NCRA said the number of schools taking part in its certification programs and their graduates have steadily declined over the decade.

Almost 1,000 students graduated from more than 100 NCRA-certified schools in 1996. Ten years later, NCRA said only 62 certified programs across the U.S. graduated fewer than 360 court reporters.The "Occupational Outlook Handbook 2008-2009," recently released by the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), said court reporter employment will grow by 25 percent through 2016, because of "increasing numbers of civil and criminal cases" coupled with federal telecommunications legislation that requires television captioning and the increasing demand for real-time communication access for people who are deaf and hard of hearing under the American with Disabilities Act.

In recent speeches, U.S. Labor Secretary Elaine Chao said with the country transitioning to a knowledge-based economy, workers with higher skills "are being paid a premium," while she said the strongest demand is for workers "in technical occupations." Her words are borne out by the BLS projection for court reporting and by a 2006 NCRA survey that determined an average net income after expenses of $65,242 for freelance (deposition) reporters and $72,072 for court reporters who work for local, state or federal courts and agencies.

"Our efforts to increase the number of court reporters and training opportunities are beginning to pay off," says Mark Golden, CAE, NCRA's executive director. "Last year, nine new schools opened to teach court reporting, while maintaining high performance standards and a challenging academic curriculum.

Yet we still have a long way to go before the supply even starts to meet the demand."Golden noted that the training is challenging. "It demands a great deal of practice to develop skills of dexterity and concentration," he says, "but for those who become guardians of the record and providers of communication access, the rewards and sense of making a real contribution make it all worthwhile."To further meet the future need for court reporters, NCRA is reaching out to potential students at http://www.bestfuture.com/.

In addition, legislation now before Congress calls for competitive grants to train captioners and reporters who specialize in realtime and Communication Access Realtime Translation. CART provides an immediate translation of all spoken words and environmental sounds in academic, civic, religious or cultural events for people who are deaf, have hearing loss or are learning English as a second language.

NCRA, a 23,000-member nonprofit organization, represents the judicial reporting and captioning professions. Members include official court reporters, deposition reporters, broadcast captioners, providers of realtime communication access services for deaf and hard-of-hearing people and others who capture and convert the spoken word into information bases and readable formats.

For information, visit http://www.ncraonline.org/. National Court Reporters Association

What $22,000 can buy - court reporters beware!!

2008-03-23T07:22:00.000-07:00

What $22,000 can buy - court reporters beware!!

Seems like a little grant from a legislative body can remove court reporters from doing what they do better than any piece of hardware, protecting the record and producing the best document possible for use in higher courts if need be. Get bean counters and a good salesman together and that's all that's needed to sell an inferior system to an unknowing court administrator!!

~ the Beagle

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Village Court Awarded Grant for Renovations, Improvements

Senator Kemp Hannon and Assemblyman Jim Conte recently announced he has been advised by the State's Chief Administrative Judge, Ann Pfau, that the Village of Farmingdale has been awarded a $22,153.48 grant under the State's Justice Court Assistance Program to undertake renovations and to purchase equipment to improve their operations and make their facilities more secure.

Senator Hannon said, "It will help the Farmingdale Village Court serve the people even better. I look forward to the continued operation of the Justice Court Assistance Program and to working with the State court system to ensure our local courts remain an integral component of our justice system."

"It is important for these courts to have the resources they need to provide the best security and the most efficient judicial process for the residents of Farmingdale and Long Island," added Conte.

Village Administrator Dave Smollett said the grant will provide upgraded computers and printers to enhance automation in their justice court system."

"It also provides for an enhanced security system which will allow us to purchase and install security and monitoring equipment," Smollett added. "We also received a digital recorder/court reporting system which records court sessions and eliminates having to hire a court stenographer for every court session."

Despite their critical function, these courts often have few resources - reflecting the budgetary limitations of the towns and villages that support them. Recognizing this, the State Legislature in 1999 established the Justice Court Assistance Program to provide supplementary state assistance in the form of grants to the town and village justice courts. These grants, awarded by the Chief Administrative Judge of the State Court System, make it possible for justice courts to acquire essential equipment, enhance security, and maintain a dignified and appropriate appearance.

"These grants go a long way toward providing needed funding for local courts, thus, saving our communities valuable tax dollars," continued Conte. "I am pleased that I could do my part in helping to promote these important grants."

Trial is all Wet!

2008-03-13T19:57:00.000-07:00

I guess they should employ postmen...neither rain nor sleet shall keep the postman from his rounds but a little bit of water can certainly cause havoc in a courthouse! A good court reporter would be there with his equipment ready to take the testimony and get the litigation on the right track....

~ The Beagle

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Flooding postpones case
March 12 2008
The civil trial of four men accused of stripping a woman of her trousers in public last year has been postponed to April because of flood damage to Umlazi's Equality Court."...Due to severe floods in Durban last night, some recording equipment (is) defective, including the ones used in this trial," magistrate Louis Radyn said on Wednesday.Several courtrooms were flooded after a downpour in Durban on Tuesday night. Mopping up was still underway at 11am.Thulani and Sibusiso Cele, Sitha Nzuza and Wiseman Mzotho are on trial on charges of infringement of human rights and dignity.

Court Computer Lets Crooks Go Free!!

2008-03-13T19:52:00.000-07:00

COURTS AND COMPUTERS ~

If it can happen, it will happen!

~ The Beagle

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March 14, 2008
Court blunders let over 500 off hook
Leeds Magistrates' Court

By Jonathan Reed Political Editor

A QUARTER of a century of failings at Yorkshire's biggest criminal court allowed hundreds of defendants to evade justice while details of up to 1,200 more have not been put on the police national computer amid a "systematic covering up of errors."

Justice Secretary Jack Straw condemned the "lamentable" failings after an inquiry revealed up to 555 defendants were either never tried or never served their sentence for offences including indecent assault, wounding and burglary.Warrants in their cases were simply withdrawn by legal advisers – or clerks – at Leeds Magistrates Court in an administrative swoop to clear backlogs.

Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Court Administration also said it was "unacceptable" that failures to log court results in hundreds of cases between 1980 and 2004 – the vast majority of which were between 2001 and 2004 – mean there are no accurate results of what happened to 2,206 defendants.

As a result, up to 1,200 convicted criminals have avoided being put on the national police database, leaving their crimes to go unnoticed when background checks are carried out or other police forces are making inquiries.

The report also reveals court legal advisers made up records for 12 defendants by guessing the outcome of their case – because the true judgment was missing – and one offender may have been sentenced twice for the same offence.Last night there was fury from MPs as Mr Straw, who ordered the inquiry in November, revealed disciplinary action is under way.

Two people have already been disciplined for gross misconduct.Greg Mulholland, Liberal Democrat MP for Leeds North West, said: "This statement is an extraordinary description of institutional chaos and systematic abuse at Leeds Magistrates Court."The fact that we are also talking about legal advisers actually making up results by guesswork must surely mean that we are talking about a criminal offence."There are still a number of unanswered questions that must be clarified."

Shadow Justice Secretary Nick Herbert said: "There was a catalogue of negligence and poor record keeping among court staff that has undermined the criminal justice system in West Yorkshire and let down victims of crime."The nature of the failings did raise the question of whether they might be occurring in other courts, he said.

The report is one of two inquiries ordered by Mr Straw after concerns were raised about the recording of cases by the court and the withdrawal of warrants.

Hundreds of rulings were either not recorded or put down wrongly, four artificial registers were created in 2002 to cover up the failures and in 2004 legal advisers made up the results of 27 cases involving 12 defendants.

The chaos means details of up to 1,200 offenders were not logged on the police national computer.A protocol used between 1999 and 2004 meant batches of warrants were withdrawn in bulk to tackle backlogs, meaning 555 defendants could have evaded justice.

Last night the Ministry of Justice said procedures were in place to trace offenders.Leeds solicitor Grahame Stowe said a "national obsession" with statistics led to the problems and called on the Government to stop interfering with the justice system.

New Career Opportunities in Court Reporting and Spinoff Occupations ~

2008-03-13T17:40:00.000-07:00

Court Reporting and much much more...new occupations involving real time reporting are demanding higher levels of students than ever before. If you are interested in learning more about how to enter this new and exciting job market, read this article and check out www.ncraonline.com and your local community college for further information.

What are you waiting for?

~ The Beagle

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Disabilities Act and Telecom Legislation Drive Demand for More Court Reporters, NCRA Says

WASHINGTON (Map) - Although the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and various pieces of telecommunications legislation are driving the need for more closed captioning and realtime translation for people who are deaf or hard of hearing, not enough court reporters are graduating to keep up with the demand, the National Court Reporters Association (NCRA) said today.
On the eve of the 17th anniversary of the ADA being signed into law by President George H.W. Bush, the Census Bureau reports that more than 51 million Americans have some level of disability. The National Association for the Deaf estimates that hearing loss affects some 28 million Americans. For Americans who are deaf or hard of hearing, court reporters provide access to important information -- a key aim of the ADA -- through closed-captioning and realtime translation.

Likewise, telecom legislation calls for various types of information technologies such as hi-def television to be made more accessible to people with disabilities, a need which will only grow as new technologies like Internet phones and iPods become more widely used by the population.
But a recently released NCRA report documents a steadily declining, downward trend in the number of court reporters graduating this year from NCRA-certified programs, with only about 350 graduates in 2007, when three times that number are needed nationwide.
"While both the demand for court reporters and the need for training in this profession's technological advances are on the rise, the ranks of court reporters and students of this profession continue to grow thin. This trend needs to be reversed quickly," said NCRA executive
director and CEO Mark Golden.

To help meet the need for court reporters, NCRA is reaching out to interest potential students at http://www.bestfuture.com/. In addition, NCRA is supporting bills (S 675 and HR 1687) before Congress that call for competitive grants to train captioners and reporters who specialize in realtime and Communication Access Realtime Translation.

The National Court Reporters Association, a 24,000-member nonprofit organization, represents the judicial reporting and captioning professions. Members include official court reporters, deposition reporters, broadcast captioners, providers of realtime communication access services for deaf and hard-of-hearing people and others who capture and convert the spoken word into information bases and readable formats. For information on court reporter graduation rates, visit http://www.ncraonline.org/.

Court Reporter Saves Prosecutor...

2008-03-12T20:03:00.000-07:00

Brave Court Reporter Saves the Day...court reporters seem to add something to a courtroom those recording machines simply cannot do...they help protect the lives of innocent people!

Do not let the bean counters remove this bastion of civility in our courtrooms!!

Write a letter to your superior court justice and let them know that the American Justice System needs people not machines!!

~ The Beagle

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Courtroom chaos as convict with razor attacks prosecutor
BY JOHN MARZULLI DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Wednesday, March 12th 2008
Ward for News

Attorney Harry Batchelder (above) shows cut suffered when he and court reporter Ronald Tolkin (below) had to stop his client from attacking prosecutor Carolyn Pokorny.
Ward for News

A razor-wielding drug thug grabbed U.S. prosecutor Carolyn Pokorny in a headlock yesterday and slammed her to the floor at his sentencing in Brooklyn federal court.
Victor Wright had Pokorny by the hair and seemed ready to wield the makeshift weapon when his lawyer and a court reporter leapt in to save her.

"I think he was going to slash her throat," defense lawyer Harry Batchelder, 72, told the Daily News. "He fully intended to maim her."

"His face was full of rage," agreed Ronald Tolkin, the 60-year-old court reporter.
Wright, 37, was a key lieutenant of drug kingpin Kenneth (Supreme) McGriff who founded the Supreme Team in the 1980s, a drug gang that wreaked havoc in southeast Queens.
McGriff is serving a life sentence for murder at Florence ADX Penitentiary in Colorado, the nation's most secure federal prison. Wright's sentencing was adjourned after the shocking courtroom attack.

It didn't appear that escape was the intention of the powerfully built inmate - just revenge.
"He thinks she framed him," said Batchelder.

The havoc in Judge Frederic Block's courtroom started as Wright was led in through a side door shortly after 3 p.m.

He made a beeline straight for Pokorny, chief of the narcotics section for the Brooklyn U.S. attorney's office, and took her down.

"He had her by the hair, she was screaming," said courtroom clerk Michael Innelli. "She was at the bottom of a pile."

Wright dropped the makeshift weapon on the carpet during the struggle with Batchelder and Tolkin.

Eugene Corcoran, chief U.S. Marshal for the Eastern District of New York, said an internal investigation is underway to determine how the weapon was smuggled into the courthouse.

Court Reporting System - Is This Another Tale of Two Cities?

2008-03-06T09:27:00.000-08:00

Two points of view on the FTR recording system being used in Wellington and Aukland. Whose brush carries the most paint?

~ the Beagle

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Press Release: New Zealand Government Digital transcription technology introducedThursday, 6 March 2008
Hon Rick BarkerMinister for Courts
6 March 2008

Digital transcription technology introduced to the High Court

Digital audio technology for recording and transcribing evidence has been introduced by the High Court in Wellington and Auckland. It is estimated that this technology will reduce court hearing time by between 20-30%, which will assist case throughput.

"For the Record or FTR, provides a high quality recording of the evidence which is then relayed to transcription staff located outside of the courtroom to be typed up as the trial proceeds. This is another demonstration of the Labour-led government's drive to modernise the court system to improve access to justice for all New Zealanders," Court's Minister, Rick Barker said. "The evidence given at a recent high profile murder trial at Wellington High Court was transcribed using the new technology and this was a key factor in reducing the length of the trial from an expected eight weeks to four weeks. The trial time was cut in half and I am certain that this was appreciated by all involved.

"This new technology makes the experience of giving evidence easier for witnesses and a better experience for everyone in the courtroom. It also means trials can proceed more quickly. FTR allows witnesses to speak at a normal, uninterrupted speed and the transcript is printed in the courtroom within 30 minutes of the evidence being given.

“New technology is enabling courts to work more efficiently for the benefit of all court users”, Mr Barker said.

Although digital evidence and recording technology has been used in the District Court for some years, until now, its use in the High Court has been limited to two courtrooms in Auckland. 17 High Court courtrooms and 20 additional District Court courtrooms will be progressively equipped with FTR over the next two years, as well as upgrading the FTR systems already being used in the District Court.

To further improve efficiency, transcription services are moving to being nationally managed. Mr Barker opened Transcription Service Centres in Wellington and Auckland late last year. From June, these Service Centres will begin being linked to local court based transcription staff across the country. Access to a larger, national team of transcription staff means courts will be better resourced to process increasing workloads.
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The Courier-MailBrisbane, AustraliaMark Oberhardt
February 27, 2008

THE Chief Justice, Paul de Jersey, has asked for a ``priority effort`` in rectifying complaints about the Supreme and District Court building's multi million dollar digital recording system.Judges and lawyers are upset about delays in getting transcripts from the system which records court proceedings in criminal and civil trials, sentence hearings, applications and ceremonies such as valedictories.

There have also been delays in court proceedings because the system has failed. Matters came to a head today when it was revealed someone had ``forgotten`` to record the recent valedictory for retiring Judge Garry Forno QC. Transcripts of such events play a role in recording the history of the courts and its officers.

Justice de Jersey said he was aware there had been no recording of Judge Forno's valedictory because of an oversight and he was also aware there were some complaints about the system. He said he had spoken to those responsible for the digital system and asked them to rectify the problems as `` a priority``.

Justice de Jersey said he was certain everything possible was being done to rectify the problems. He added that digital recording was the future of the courts and important so the system moved forward with the times. Digital recording is set to eventually replace all short hand takers who for more than a century have recorded court proceedings. However, the system, installed at a cost of several millions dollars, has had its share of teething problems.

There have been long delays in getting transcripts of trials and sentencing proceedings. Transcripts play a vital role in the day to day running of the court system. Judges and lawyers use the transcripts extensively in trials while sentence remarks are vital in preparing appeals.

Both the Children's Court President, Judge Julie Dick, and the Court of Appeal's President, Margaret McMurdo, made mention of problems in their annual reports to parliament. Several other judges have also made complaints about the system in open court while many lawyers are also critical.

Vulgar Deposition Language - Not Condoned by the Federal Judge

2008-03-05T15:10:00.000-08:00

When a deposition goes south, sanctions will most certainly head north!!

- the Beagle

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Lawyer and Client Sanctioned Over Client's Conduct, Use of 'F Word' During Deposition

Shannon P. Duffy - The Legal Intelligencer 03-05-2008

A federal judge has levied sanctions of more than $29,000 on a lawyer and his client after finding that a deposition was a "spectacular failure" because of the client's constant use of vulgar language and insults and dodging or refusing to answer questions, and his lawyer's failure to rein him in.

In his 44-page opinion in GMAC Bank v. HTFC Corp., U.S. District Judge Eduardo C. Robreno found that Aaron Wider, the CEO of HTFC, engaged in "hostile, uncivil, and vulgar conduct, which persisted throughout the nearly 12 hours of deposition testimony."

Robreno noted that Wider used the "F word" or variations of it 73 times during the deposition and that the video shows that his lawyer, Joseph R. Ziccardi of Chicago, at one point "snickered" at his client's conduct.

Ziccardi was also to blame, Robreno found, because he failed to stop his client's tirades and persuade him to answer questions.

"The nature of Wider's misconduct was so severe and pervasive, and his violations of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure so frequent and blatant, that any reasonable attorney representing Wider would have intervened in an effort to curb Wider's misconduct," Robreno wrote.

"Ziccardi's failure to address, then and there, Wider's misconduct could have no other effect but to empower Wider to persist in his behavior. Under these circumstances, the court equates Ziccardi's silence with endorsement and ratification of Wider's misconduct," Robreno wrote.

As a result, Robreno concluded that both Wider and Ziccardi should be sanctioned under Rule 30 and Rule 37, and that Wider must appear for a new deposition which will be taken under the supervision of a federal magistrate judge.

Ziccardi declined to be interviewed, saying he did not want to make any public comments because the matter "is still pending."

In a footnote, Robreno seemed to apologize to readers for the coarse language he included in the opinion, but said "while the use of profanity in the opinion is distasteful, it is necessary in order to capture the nature of the offensive conduct displayed by the deponent."

The opinion includes lengthy quotes from Wider's deposition which Robreno said were "only a few examples" of Wider's misconduct.

"Wider's assault on the deposition proceedings involved three types of inappropriate behavior: 1) engaging in hostile, uncivil, and vulgar conduct; 2) impeding, delaying, and frustrating fair examination; and 3) failing to answer and providing intentionally evasive answers to deposition questions," Robreno wrote.

Throughout the deposition, Robreno said, Wider "sought to intimidate opposing counsel by maintaining a persistently hostile demeanor, employing uncivil insults, and using profuse vulgarity."

In one passage, GMAC's lawyer, Robert B. Bodzin of Kleinbard Bell & Brecker in Philadelphia, asked Wider to open a file so that Bodzin could ask questions about certain documents.

According to the transcript, as quoted in Robreno's opinion, Wider erupted, saying: "'I'm taking a break. F--- him. You open up the document. You want me to look at something, you get the document out. Earn your f------ money, a------. Isn't the law wonderful?'"

In another passage, Bodzin said: "We're going to adjourn this deposition if this happens again because you are offending every single person."

According to Robreno's opinion, Wider responded: "'Don't speak for anybody in here except yourself f--- face.'"

When Bodzin said he was speaking for himself and the court reporter, Wider said: "'If she had a problem with me she would say something. She knows it's [not] directed toward her. It's directed to you because you're a piece of s--- and a piece of garbage and I'm the only person in your life that is f------ up your world and I enjoy it.'"

Robreno said the transcript showed that Wider "used the word 'f---' and variants thereof no less than 73 times."

By contrast, Robreno noted, the word "contract" was used only 14 times.
"Such profuse vulgarity had no constructive purpose," Robreno wrote. "The court is left with the impression that such abusive language was chosen solely to intimidate and demean opposing counsel."

Wider's vulgarity wasn't the only problem, Robreno said.

"Equally serious is Wider's willful exploitation of the discovery process. Wider impeded the deposition by improperly interposing his own objections, delayed the proceedings by providing unnecessarily protracted answers and repeatedly interrupting counsel for GMAC's questioning, and proudly expressed his intent to frustrate his examination," Robreno wrote.

Wider abruptly stormed out of the deposition on several occasions, Robreno said, and the video shows that Wider "would follow his inappropriate, obstructive, or dilatory remarks with a gleeful smirk directed at his counsel, at the transcriptionist, and even directly at the camera."

At one point, Robreno said, Wider patted himself on the back "after a particularly odious instance of obstruction," in order to flaunt his abuse of the deposition process.

Robreno also found that Wider "often refused to answer questions, and, when he did answer questions, provided intentionally uncooperative and long-winded answers to straightforward questions."

In court papers, Ziccardi argued that Wider's refusal to respond to questions during his deposition was justified because many of GMAC's questions were irrelevant.

Robreno disagreed, saying the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure require a deponent to answer all questions -- even questions for which there is an objection -- unless the witness's lawyer explicitly instructs him not to answer or moves to suspend the deposition.

Ziccardi also argued that Wider's conduct was the result of provocative and accusatory questions from Bodzin.

Robreno flatly rejected that, saying: "This argument is simply astonishing. As evidenced in the video ... counsel for GMAC comported himself with courtesy, respect, and professionalism; this was no easy feat, considering Wider's unrelenting insults, vulgarity, and mockery, most of which were a direct assault on counsel for GMAC."

Bodzin's questions were "far from provocative," Robreno found, but instead were "relevant questions of the type seen in the ordinary course of a deposition in a commercial case."
Robreno found that Bodzin "exercised great restraint in the face of Wider's persistent attempts to incite him to anger" and "could not have been less provocative."

Ziccardi also argued that Wider suffers from a mental condition that explains his conduct and should be considered a "mitigating factor" in imposing any sanctions.

But Robreno refused to consider the argument, noting that Wider's doctor was present at a recent hearing, but was never called to the stand.

Ziccardi filed medical records under seal, Robreno noted, but failed to give copies of the records to opposing counsel even after he was ordered to do so by the court.

In a footnote, Robreno said that in the hearing, Ziccardi "purported to offer an apology to the court" for his client's conduct, but that "Wider himself remained silent throughout the proceedings."

In the final section of the opinion, Robreno explained why Ziccardi, too, must be sanctioned for Wider's misconduct.

"Throughout the deposition, notwithstanding the severe and repeated nature of Wider's misconduct, Ziccardi persistently failed to intercede and correct Wider's violations of the Federal Rules," Robreno wrote.

"Instead, Ziccardi sat idly by as a mere spectator to Wider's abusive, obstructive, and evasive behavior; and when he did speak, he either incorrectly directed the witness not to answer, dared opposing counsel to file a motion to compel, or even joined in Wider's offensive conduct," Robreno wrote.

In a footnote, Robreno said the video showed Ziccardi "chuckling at Wider's abusive behavior" and Bodzin's comment that "'your snickering counsel is not appropriate either, because all you're doing is encouraging the behavior of your client.'"

In court papers, Ziccardi argued that he believed he had tried to curb his client's behavior, but that most of his efforts to do so occurred off the record.

Robreno was unimpressed, saying "even if this assertion is to be believed, Wider's continuing misconduct indicates that whatever efforts Ziccardi made were woefully ineffectual. In fact, Ziccardi's meek attempts to intercede and his otherwise silent toleration of Wider's conduct only emboldened Wider to further flout the procedural rules."

Although a lawyer may at times be "blindsided" by a client's misconduct, Robreno found that such a lawyer "cannot, however, simply sit back, allow the deposition to proceed, and then blame the client when the deposition process breaks down."

Veritext Court Reporting Firm - Growing Larger & Larger

2008-03-04T19:24:00.000-08:00

Veritext is growing and growing and growing ~ what's next? Maybe they will purchase Merrill Legal....

~ the Beagle

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Veritext, a court reporting firm owned by The Riverside Company, has acquired Staten Island-based Priority One Court Reporting Services Inc. No financial terms were disclosed.

PRESS RELEASE
Veritext, a platform company owned by The Riverside Company and among the largest court-reporting firms in the United States, has sworn-in Priority One Court Reporting Services, Inc. ("Priority One") as an add-on acquisition. Priority One is a court-reporting firm based in Staten Island, New York with a specialized list of clients. Riverside acquired Veritext as a platform in August 2005 with equity from its 2003 Capital Appreciation Fund. In the latest fiscal year, Veritext has driven 16% organic growth year-over-year while successfully integrating seven add-on acquisitions. This latest purchase marks Riverside's fifth of the year.

"Acquisitions are core to Riverside's investment strategy for Veritext," said Andrew Strauss, Riverside Partner. "The company has proven its ability to execute and integrate add-ons smoothly and without interruption to other initiatives. We expect Veritext to incorporate Priority One equally well and expect the acquisition to enhance Veritext's value as the leading consolidation platform in its industry."

Headquartered in Florham Park, New Jersey, and operating 11 regional offices, Veritext works with a national network of 500 independent contractors and has affiliations with more than 600 court-reporting agencies and 9,000 individual court reporters. Court reporters provide the transcriptions of legal proceedings including depositions, trials and arbitrations, as well as events such as hearings, board meetings, stockholder meetings, conferences, conventions and media events.

Founded in 1993, Priority One complements Veritext's New York presence. Priority One focuses on providing transcription services for asbestos litigation and, as a result, has become known as a specialist in these complex cases. In the highly fragmented court-reporting industry, Priority One fuels Veritext's already strong brand recognition as an industry leader in all aspects of court reporting.

"Riverside's ongoing support for acquisitions has helped us assimilate a rapid succession of add-ons during the past few years while continuing our organic growth," said Michael Sandler, President and Chief Executive Officer of Veritext. "As Priority One becomes part of Veritext, we will use the same successful partnership to drive our success. We look forward to Priority One strengthening our number one presence in our key strategic New York market and enriching our specialized capabilities."

Working with Strauss on the transaction from Riverside were Chip Walker, Principal and Adam Friend, Senior Associate.

The Riverside Company
The Riverside Company is the largest global private equity firm focused on the smaller end of the middle market ("SEMM") and is one of the industry's most experienced leveraged buyout investors. Riverside specializes in investing in premier SEMM companies (those with enterprise values of less than $150 million) and partners with strong management teams to build companies through acquisitions and value-added growth. Since 1988, the firm has invested in 181 transactions with a total enterprise value of $3.4 billion. Its current portfolio in the U.S. and Europe numbers 60, with combined annual sales of $3 billion, EBITDA of $428 million and more than 11,000 employees. Riverside offers the resources to complete acquisitions smoothly and in as little as 30 days � thanks to its sizeable pool of capital under management (nearly $2 billion in nine funds), over 150 professionals in 17 offices (Amsterdam, Atlanta, Budapest, Brussels, Chicago, Cleveland, Dallas, Los Angeles, Madrid, Munich, New York, Prague, San Francisco, Seoul, Stockholm, Tokyo and Warsaw), and long-standing relationships with partner lenders. Five of seven of the firm's mature vintages are currently top quartile, and the firm's investors include the world's leading pension funds, endowments, funds-of-funds, insurance companies and banks. Please visit www.riversidecompany.com and www.riversideeurope.com for more information.

Veritext Corp.
Veritext is a national provider of court-reporting services headquartered in New Jersey and is one of the largest court-reporting firms in the country. Veritext is supported nationally by over 500 independent contractors, complemented by more than 600 additional affiliate agencies. This enables Veritext to provide deposition and litigation services for its clients anywhere in the United States, as well as internationally. In addition to traditional deposition services such as daily copy delivery, delivery through E-mail, condensed transcripts, conference rooms, interpreting of languages and video services, Veritext provides advanced services such as Internet document repository, Internet scheduling, real-time transcription and remote video transcription. For more information, please visit www.veritext.com.

Priority One Reporting Services, Inc.
Since 1993, from its Staten Island headquarters, Priority One has provided court reporting services to the New York and New Jersey legal community. Often focused on the most complex cases, including asbestos litigation, the company delivers its sought-after services through its network of experienced, reliable and accurate court reporters.

Court Reporters Chided for Falling Down Unsafe Stairs

2008-03-04T12:54:00.000-08:00

Jeez, you would think that worker safety would be rather important in the eyes of our justice system...but think again if you work in the courthouse that is overseen by this chief justice. Fall down here and you might find yourself in a lot of trouble!! Worker safety should be a very high priority and that's just not my opinion either.

~ the Beagle

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Court reporters warned against broadcasting grouses to the media
Paul HenryTuesday, March 04, 2008

UPSET that the fall of a female court reporter down 11 flights of steps was published in the Observer, Chief Justice Zaila McCalla last Monday warned against any of the court reporters going to the media.

According to several court reporters present in the department at the visit, McCalla advised in no uncertain terms that she does not like when "the media get wind of these things" and that nothing will be accomplished by them "running" to the media.

"She was obviously upset," said one court reporter, "you could see it."
Other disgruntled court reporters told the Observer that McCalla's concern should not be whether the media get wind of court workers tumbling down steps but what can be done to prevent a reoccurrence.

They said that allowing a second elevator currently being installed to terminate on the third floor, where their department is located, is the only solution to using the steep stairwell with its "dangerous" slippery tiles.

Court reporter Sharon Patterson, 35, had two weeks ago, plunged headlong down the 11 flights of steps spilling onto the second floor, damaging tissues in her left shoulder and right knee in the process. She should have started physiotherapy yesterday, the Observer was told.

The week before, another court reporter fell from the same staircase, narrowly escaping injuries. In 1996 another court reporter broke an arm after falling down the same steps, the Observer was told. Patterson's colleagues blamed the steepness of the staircase, the slippery tiles and metal strips on the steps for the frequent falls. They complained that the steps are made even harder to ascend when they are carrying the weighty stenograph machines used in court.

Coupled with the chief justice's warning, the court reporters were the more upset to learn that the elevator now being installed is solely for the transport of accused from the court's holding cell on the ground floor to the three courtrooms on the first floor.

"All they care about is things not coming in the newspapers, the building and prisoners," lamented one staffer, before asking, "what about us, the workers?"

State Faces Shortage of Court Reporters

2008-03-03T21:31:00.000-08:00

It seems as though that there are lots of jobs available ~ they simply need qualified applicants.

~ the Beagle

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WISCONSIN STATE JOURNALSUN., DEC 23, 2007
State faces shortage of court reporters
By Ed Treleven

In courtrooms, lawyers question, witnesses recall and judges rule and opine. But if the court reporter isn't there to take down every last word, it might as well not have ever happened.

Creating a record of what goes on in the courtroom is such an important function that state court officials are concerned about a growing shortage of qualified court reporters, the people — usually women these days — who sit quietly at the front of courtrooms everywhere and write down everything that's said.

"This is really a big issue for the system," said state courts director John Voelker. "Of our major business functions, making the record is one of them. We can't have court without it. We don't want to be in a situation where we have to cancel proceedings."

With a growing number of state court reporters reaching retirement eligibility in coming years — about a third of the state's 311 court reporters are expected to retire in the next 10 years — the problem could become even more urgent.

Currently, three of Wisconsin's 72 counties do not have a court reporter because nobody who was qualified applied for open positions. Instead those counties use digital voice recorders to keep the record of court proceedings, Voelker said. That's despite efforts by the state court system to attract qualified reporters to the profession and to the court system.

Part of the problem, according to some in the field, is that it's a job that gets very little exposure and one that few young people consider as a career. Another is that the training for the job is difficult and demanding: nationally, about 13 percent of those who start training for it finish their degree.

"A lot of people don't know what judicial reporting is," said Rachel Baker, who has taught the subject at Madison Area Technical College for about 20 years. "Unless you've ever been to court, you've never seen a court reporter. You don't think as a child, 'I'm going to grow up and be a court reporter.'"

But for those who make it in the field, the pay is good. It ranges from $36,000 to $70,000 per year in the state court system. Freelance reporters, who work at such things as depositions and arbitration sessions, can earn even more. And with a federal mandate to provide closed captioning for all television broadcasts, those trained for court reporting can also become television captioners, often working from their homes.

Great variety ~ On any given day, Dane County court reporters Ann Albert and Linda Flakne will listen intently to a great variety of court cases, from serious crime to restraining orders to divorce. They're among about 25 who work for the state court system in Dane County. "Our job is to be quiet and listen," said Flakne, who has been a court reporter for 29 years and is the "floater" for District 5 of the state court system, which takes her to courtrooms in and out of Dane County.

She got into the profession at the suggestion of her father, who knew a court reporter, after taking secretarial courses in high school. It's a decision she has never regretted. "It's the variety," she said. "It's like reading a book. We hear different things every day. It's just fun."

Albert, who has been a court reporter for about 24 years, got into the profession at the suggestion of her mother, who watched a reporter at work one day while attending court.

As a member of the Wisconsin Court Reporters Association's public relations committee, Albert has been involved in finding ways to expose high schoolers to court reporting and get them interested in pursuing it as a career. She has worked with MATC students, gone to career fairs and met with high school classes and guidance counselors to attract young people to the profession.

The committee is also trying to attract job candidates from other parts of the U.S. to Wisconsin, she said.

The court system has taken similar measures, Voelker said, along with a few others. For one, it used to cap its experience credit — used to determine pay and seniority for new reporters to the state system — at 10 years. To attract experienced reporters, the cap is now 20 years.

The court system also no longer requires that job candidates pass the National Court Reporters Association speed and accuracy test, he said, which proved difficult for some qualified candidates who graduated from accredited school programs.

But even with those changes, Voelker said, looming court reporter retirements and the shortage of students getting into the profession leaves a gap that needs to be filled. Bayfield, St. Croix and Grant counties are using digital voice recording systems because the court system was unable to hire court reporters for those counties, Voelker said. While a monitor runs the audio equipment and prepares transcripts when needed, live court reporters are preferred.

The shortage is a widespread problem. Pete Wacht, spokesman for the National Court Reporters Association in Vienna, Va., said it's in part due to growing government mandates for services for the hearing impaired. Real-time reporters, who use the same technology as court reporters to provide voice-to-text services for the hearing impaired, are in great demand. The government has also mandated closed captioning on television programs. "The demand is really continuing to grow exponentially," Wacht said.

Voice-to-text computer software has not been the answer, he said. It doesn't work in situations where more than one person is speaking, as in a courtroom, because in order to work, the software needs to be "trained" to the sound of an individual's voice. It also requires speakers to speak slowly.

"We don't know when it will be there, if it will be there," Wacht said.

Demanding job ~ Meanwhile, Madison Area Technical College's court reporting program, one of two in Wisconsin, produces about five graduates per year out of the 25 or so that start taking the two-year course every year. Most people take 33 months to complete the coursework.
The numbers alone show how demanding the job can be, said Baker.

"You have to concentrate," she said. "You have to really enjoy words and the English language. You need to be strong at grammar. You just need to have that interest in what you're doing to keep you sitting at that machine and building your speed. So you need to have a good vocabulary. You need to be well-read. And then, just the tenacity to stick with it."

And it takes practice, practice and more practice. To graduate, court reporters must write 225 words per minute for five minutes at 95 percent accuracy. "You can't just wait until the night before a test to practice," Baker said. It's got to be every day, and we recommend two to three hours a day outside of class."

The machine that court reporters use, called a stenotype, consists of 23 keys, each representing a phonetic sound. Those keys are pushed individually or in combinations to re-create those phonetic sounds into a kind of coded format. Creating words and sentences on a stenotype is not unlike playing several keys at once on a piano to create a chord. Computer software is used to translate those coded phonetic sounds into English. In the old days, court reporters had to type out transcripts from their phonetic notes.

Students learn how to write typical phrases they might use on a daily basis, such as "beyond a reasonable doubt," and to do it in one stroke using a combination of keys.

"I liken it to, you've never played the piano before, but I'm going to teach you to play the piano and in two to three years you're going to play Carnegie Hall," said Lisa Hubacher, who also teaches at MATC. She said it's a tough skill to learn, "but it's worth every painstaking moment."

Court Electronic Taping System Knocked Out By Ceiling Tiles

2008-03-03T21:14:00.000-08:00

Buyer Beware ~

If you employ human beings in the justice system, they cannot be knocked out by a few ceiling tiles and cause huge delays in bringing fairness and the right to speedy trials as outlined by the Constitution. Read what happened recently in Florida. It would be enough to make me want to find out who authorized the purchase of the equipment and also find the person responsible for maintaining the courthouse!!

~ the Beagle

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NewsHerald.com
Jury out on ceiling repairs
By David Angier
PANAMA CITY [Florida]

Another portion of the Bay County Courthouse ceiling fell Monday as clerks were moving back into a room that was vacated for about three months when the ceiling fell there. Plaster fell in a small room where the courthouse’s electronic recording equipment, known as CourtSmart, is stored. It knocked the system out of commission.

Clerk of Court Harold Bazzel said he did not yet know how badly the system was damaged, but feared it could be an expensive repair. “It’s an old building in need of service,” he said. “What the county needs to do is conduct a study on it to determine what needs to be done.”

At lunchtime on Nov. 26, two newly installed air conditioners crashed into the ceiling tiles of Room 111, with one woman in the room. A heavy air-conditioning unit held to a beam by a rod broke free of the beam. It pulled another unit down with it. The damage displaced 10 clerks and the room was unusable until Monday. “They worked through the weekend to get it ready,” Bazzel said.

Clerks returned to their desks, eyeing the clean new ceiling panels and identifying which seats were beneath the air conditioner units. Recent rains, some of which seeped into the building, likely caused the damage Monday. A leaky roof also is blamed for another failure in a corner of Circuit Judge Michael Overstreet’s office on the third floor. Bazzel said workers are grouting that side of the building to try to seal it from further seepage.

Bob Packman, county facilities maintenance manager, said Monday that the courthouse was inspected after the ceiling collapse in Room 111 and a few problems were identified.

He said over the next few years, county workers will be inspecting conduits and ductwork to make sure it is supported correctly. “We identified some areas of minor concern that we’ll be looking at,” he said. Room 111 was given a general renovation at the same time the ceiling was being repaired, but Packman didn’t have a total on the amount spent. He said it will probably be around $35,000.

The air conditioning company did much of the ceiling repair, even though no one knows why the units fell, Packman said. “The AC company did it out of the graciousness of their heart,” he said.

A Very Sad Day at the Allegheny County Courthouse

2008-03-03T21:06:00.000-08:00

The court reporting profession lost a very talented person in Cheryl Wilds not only in her ability to make the legal justice system click in PA but with everyone she touched in her life!! We will miss you, Cheryl.

~ the Beagle

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Court reporter shot at North Side bus stop dies

By Jill King GreenwoodTRIBUNE-REVIEWFriday, February 29, 2008
Friends and co-workers called Cheryl Wilds the "Hines Ward" of the Allegheny County Courthouse.

Like the Steelers receiver, the longtime court reporter had an infectious laugh and quick smile for everyone, friends said, and could bring light to any situation.

"The world is a much darker place today since she died," said James Sheets, an attorney who knew Wilds for about seven years. "She was full of life and just to be in her presence made you happy. This is a tragedy of the worst kind."

Wilds, 47, a mother of three, died late Wednesday, more than three months after being shot near her North Side home. Police said they added a homicide charge against the teen already in custody in connection with the shooting of Wilds as she stepped off a Port Authority bus Nov. 21, Thanksgiving groceries in hand. Jayquan Massey, 18, was held for court following a December preliminary hearing on attempted homicide and other charges. He was awaiting arraignment on the new charge last night.

Police say Massey fired several shots that night at a sport utility vehicle on Bonvue Street in Wilds' Perry North neighborhood because several occupants of the SUV had been taunting him for days. One shot struck Wilds in the neck, police said, severing an artery.

Wilds' relatives said she had been improving since the shooting and was responding well to treatment after being transferred from Allegheny General Hospital to Shadyside Nursing Rehabilitation Center. Workers there found Wilds dead in her bed about 10:30 p.m. Wednesday.
The Allegheny County Medical Examiner's Office will perform an autopsy.
Her family had just gathered at her side on Sunday, said her brother, Don Wilds, 53. Though she couldn't talk and remained paralyzed on her left side, she was in good spirits, he said.
"It's shocking to all of us because we were all looking forward to the day when we could bring her home," her brother said. "We don't know what to say. We loved her."
Family, including Wilds' sons, ages 25, 16 and 14, visited her regularly, said her sister-in-law, Carol Wilds. She could use her right hand to write notes to visitors and recognized relatives, Carol Wilds said.

"She was moving and responding and could shake her head yes or no," Carol Wilds said. "When we would get ready to leave, she'd get upset and start to cry and we'd have to calm her down. We're just devastated."

Neighbor Bill Schmidt said that he had visited Wilds at the nursing home Monday and she had recently returned from emergency treatment for a tracheotomy infection at UPMC Shadyside. She seemed to be improving and was moving her legs and arm and blowing kisses.
Schmidt's wife had told Wilds she was "going to come back to us, as smiling and as beautiful as ever."

"She looked at us and she nodded, 'No.' But I said she would be coming back, and I believed it," said Schmidt. "Cheryl Wilds was the backdrop to the entire neighborhood. If I close my eyes, I can see her now."

The youngest of four children, Wilds graduated from Wilkinsburg High School and went to Duff's Business Institute to learn court reporting, according to her brother. Courthouse colleagues said Wilds started to work for the county in 1994. Jo Lynne Ross, manager of the county's Office of Court Reporters, said Wilds' co-workers were having trouble believing that she had died.

"One of the attorneys said, 'I'll give you $50 to walk through the courthouse and if you find one person who says anything bad about Cheryl Wilds, you can keep the money,' " Ross said. "That sums up Cheryl's spirit perfectly. Everyone loved her."

For Want of a Tape ~ Court Reporters Needed

2008-03-02T14:26:00.000-08:00

Here is another prime example of a recording system failure that cost the litigants time and money with the courthouse saving a few dollars by not employing a competent court reporter.

One has to wonder the wisdom of investing in mechanical equipment when investing in people in the courtroom is really a wiser investment. It is the Beagle's observation herein that a qualified "court reporter" would have saved the day again.

I can only hope that courthouses across the nation actually share this type of information so that other failures, mechanical or otherwise, can be avoided.

~ the Beagle

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Subject:

Good read, good lesson--this was on Courts Tech site

For Want of a Tape, a Case Was Lost
Judge orders mistrial when failure to record testimony leaves jury hung
By Henry Gottlieb New Jersey Law Journal November 2, 2007

A mistrial caused by a courtroom recording failure may have cost a
medical malpractice plaintiff in Essex County up to $560,000 of a
high-low settlement, and it is stirring calls for more stenographers
in New Jersey courts.

The incident also prompted administrators in Essex to order an
overhaul of the courts' entire stock of aging tape machines ? the
audio version of used cars from the early 1990s.

Judge Verna Leath declared the mistrial on Sept. 26 after she was
unable to meet the jury's request for a playback of crucial testimony
during a six-day trial. Without the testimony, the jury declared it was deadlocked.

Leath did not know at the time that the lawyers went to trial with a
high-low agreement to cap any verdict at $800,000, but give the
plaintiff at least $240,000 in case of a verdict below that, a no
cause, or a hung jury.

So Leath's grant of a mistrial didn't give the plaintiff's lawyer
another chance to try the case. A strict reading of the high-low
agreement requires the plaintiff to take the $240,000 minimum.

"Who could have anticipated something so strange," says plaintiff's
lawyer Larry Leifer of Maplewood. He wrote to Chief Justice Stuart
Rabner to complain, and his client says an award dictated by a
reporting glitch is a travesty of justice.

Last week, Leifer asked the trial judge to set aside the high-low
agreement and order a retrial on grounds the pact did not contemplate
a mistrial due to technical error.

"This was not a hung jury, this was a mistrial due to a loose plug,"
he says in a motion returnable Nov. 16.

Defense lawyer David Weeks of Ruprecht Hart & Weeks in Millburn wants
the agreement enforced.

Parties who make high-low deals know that no matter what a judge or
jury rules, there will be no right of appeal or post-trial motions, Weeks says.

"Sure it's unusual, but it's no different than the many things we all
agree to waive so that there is finality," he says. "The bottom line
of these things is that when it's over it's over."

In Branham v. Raina, Esx-L-744-05, Justine Branham is suing as the
executrix of the estate of her sister, Annabelle Jones, who died of
breast cancer in 2006.

The plaintiff's evidence at the trial said defendant Suresh Raina, a
doctor at the University of Medicine and Dentistry-New Jersey,
misdiagnosed a mass in Jones' breast in 2002 and failed to order a
biopsy, causing the cancer to flourish and, ultimately, Jones' death.

The defense countered that Raina met the standards for care and that
even if she had ordered more tests the outcome would have been the same.

Leifer says he thought he had a good case, but he also says there was
good expert evidence on the other side. So the day the trial started on Sept.
17, Weeks wrote the high-low agreement in longhand and he and Leifer
signed it.

"As is standard in such agreements, the net verdict governs and any
verdict of $240,000 or less (including a judgment of no cause for
action or other dismissal) or a mistrial due to a hung jury will
result in the defendant paying $240,000," the agreement says.

The judge wasn't told. Weeks says that's common because lawyers don't
want judges to be influenced by the fact that their rulings are not
going to be subject to appeal.

About two hours after the jury began deliberating, it requested a
playback of the cross-examination of a defense expert. But when a
clerk played the tape it was inaudible. Leath declared a mistrial.

Leifer argues in his motion that the phrase "mistrial due to a hung jury"
is inapplicable because the mistrial was due to audio failure. And if
the phrase is ambiguous it should be construed against the defense
because Weeks was the scrivener.

"There was no meeting of the minds and no contemplation by the parties
to the events which befell the parties to this litigation, in terms of
a 'loose plug,'" he says.

Weeks says the phrase "mistrial due to a hung jury" is designed for
the protection of the plaintiff and insures against a defense lawyer
engineering a mistrial through mischief.

What caused the jury to fail to reach a verdict doesn't matter, Weeks
says. "They said they couldn't reach a verdict and that's a hung jury."

He says he has made eight or 10 high-low agreements in the 100 or so
cases he has tried and that these pacts, whether written or oral and
regardless of clauses, contain an irrevocable assumption.

"It is final, it is over, no matter what happens," he says. "When this
is over it's done and you're going to get one of the numbers, whether
it's the high the low or the one that falls in the middle."

Paul Piantino III of White and Williams in Paramus, who represents
defendants and plaintiffs and has made high-low agreements, says it's
hard to imagine a repeat of what happened in the Essex case.

He says the only problem he has encountered results from failure of
the lawyers to be specific about prejudgment interest. Plaintiffs who
come out on the low end will sometimes argue that they also are
entitled to prejudgment interest, as long as it doesn't take the final
payment above the high figure.

Dated Equipment Still in Use

The day of the mishap in Leath's court, a technician declared that a
loose plug was responsible, but court officials are now blaming a part
in the recorder and it remains unclear whether human error was responsible, too.

"These machines we are using now are very, very old and are no longer
in production," Essex Trial Court Administrator Collins Ijoma says of
the 15-year-old Sony BM246 recorders in use in Leath's court and most
other tribunals in New Jersey. "They were the Cadillac of systems for
many years, but now we are in a digital age."

He says all the indicators on the machine showed that sound was coming
in during the trial before Leath and he says the operator took all the
required precautions. The final investigation showed that a spindle
wasn't working so the tape wasn't moving, he says.

So he ordered the replacement of all the spindles on at least 30 tape
machines. "We have not experienced it in the past, but obviously this
can happen again," he says.

Under the system now in use, an operator monitors the machine to make
sure it is running and listens with earphones to a delayed play of the
recorded version of the tape, to ensure that the voices are registering.

But if the operator was listening, why didn't he know nothing was
registering?

"It's not possible," says Thomas Graziano, whose company, Gramco
Business Communications in Clifton, is doing the repair work on the
Essex recorders. He doesn't know what happened to the monitoring in
Leath's court, but he says, in general, "We go through this every day
in the Superior Court and municipal court. They rarely use the monitor."

Essex County is currently discarding tape for digital recording that
will send sound directly to a central disc system, with a backup for
each individual court.

But Graziano says, "They'll have their troubles with that, too.
Whether it's tape or digital, nothing is 100 percent."

Leifer says what happened to him proves that stenographers, not
electronics, should be used for any trial with significant money at
stake, perhaps all medical malpractice trials.

Amos Gern, president of the New Jersey chapter of the Association of
Trial Lawyers of America, says he agrees.

"What happened in this case is an indictment of the New Jersey court
system and its inadequacies," says Gern, of Starr, Gern, Davison &
Rubin in Roseland.

Jeffrey Newman, who heads the state courts' reporting services branch,
says technical glitches like the one in Essex are unfortunate, but
rare, and that the court is trying to increase the number of stenographers.

But they are hard to recruit, he says. Out of about 70 slots, 16 are
vacant, he says, and the first priority is to use them for criminal cases.

Rick Paone, president of the Certified Court Reporters Association-New
Jersey, says, however, the courts caused the shortage of reporters by
replacing them in the early 1990s. The problem now is that freelance
work is more lucrative than court work, which drives reporters out of
the state system, he says.

Plaintiff Branham, a Newark police officer, says she wishes there had
been a shorthand reporter in the courtroom.

She says she was upset that Leath insisted the problem wasn't anyone's
fault. "We were prepared to hear a verdict from a jury, not 'oh, well
we're going to give you a mistrial because our equipment wasn't working.'"

"You would think someone would check the equipment, because everything
we went through was in vain," she says.

Murder Conviction Overturned - Stolen Tapes

2008-03-02T11:34:00.000-08:00

What can happen to a trial that is tape recorded? Here is an example of a system gone bad and seemingly it's only going to get worse.

The majority of our everyday tax paying people of this country are probably not aware of the changes taking place inside courtrooms as the audio/video companies who manufacture products for installation into courtrooms and cut cozy deals with court administrators.

What we need rather than ineffective video cameras or audio recording equipment are people to populate our courtrooms, a judge, a bailiff, a clerk, and a "qualified court reporter." Although it is unclear, it would seem in this instance the court reporter was an "audio" court reporter.

~ The Beagle

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Friday, February 29, 2008
Detroit
Murder conviction overturned after trial tape theft
Paul Egan / The Detroit News
DETROIT -- The Michigan Court of Appeals has overturned a murder conviction because the trial transcript of the convicted killer, Elroy Lucky Jones, was reported stolen from a court reporter's car in Detroit.

The appeals court also ordered a review of the court reporting license of Glenda J. Merritt, whose car was reportedly burglarized, and her "character and fitness as a court reporter."

The Wayne County Prosecutor's Office had no immediate comment Thursday on the order issued Wednesday that Jones -- sentenced to life in prison in January in connection with a 2006 Detroit murder -- get a new trial.

Craig Tank, a Macomb Township lawyer representing the 28-year-old Jones, said he will seek bond for his client. "It's certainly an extraordinary situation," Tank said Thursday. "I'm really not cognizant of many other cases like it."

Merritt told Detroit police last March that her briefcase containing tapes from the Jones trial and other cases was stolen from her vehicle while the auto was parked outside a drugstore at East Jefferson and Walker. "I don't care to talk about it," Merritt said Thursday before hanging up the phone.

At the time of the theft, Tank was planning to appeal the Jones case, which was handled by Wayne Circuit Judge Cynthia Gray Hathaway. The loss of the transcripts made the appeal impossible.

Prosecutors said at the time of the theft that up to four cases could be affected by the missing tapes. It wasn't clear Thursday whether any other convictions had been overturned.

Jones' mother, Beverly Jones, said Jones' father named him Lucky after the notorious gangster Charles "Lucky" Luciano. "He liked watching gangster movies," she said of Jones' father.

At the time of the theft, court officials said that they were investigating whether Merritt violated the court's rules regarding the number of tapes she was transporting at one time.

You can reach Paul Egan at (313) 222-2069 or pegan@detnews.com.

Reporter Ken Gangler Retires - Congratulations from the Beagle!!

2008-03-02T10:37:00.000-08:00

The Beagle would like to share the following article written by Tom Gilchrist about a court reporter who is retiring after 39 years of service!! Congratulations, Ken, on a job well done.

I am sure that you will be missed by all of those you have freely shared your knowledge and wisdom.

~ The Beagle

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Tuscola County court reporter makes his exit after a 39-year career
Saturday, March 01, 2008

By Tom Gilchristtgilchrist@bc-times.com 894-9649
CARO - Kenneth A. Gangler may be a vanishing breed, but the documents he produced as Tuscola County's court reporter should last for a while.

''They're permanent - they'll last until the paper falls apart,'' said Gangler, 65, of Unionville, who retired Friday after a career spanning five decades in Tuscola County Circuit Court.
As he cleans out his office, Gangler is boxing up hundreds of pads of used stenotype - the official records of thousands of court proceedings he has documented as the county circuit court reporter.

Then-Gov. William Milliken appointed Gangler to the job in 1969. Since then, Gangler has been a fixture in the venerable courtroom, typing on his American-made shorthand machine behind a wooden desk he said ''came with the courthouse (when it opened) in 1932.''
Gangler, a Tuscola County native, said he knows ''a good portion'' of the parties who come to court. He said run-ins with the law seem to run in some families.
''There are times when we handled the grandpa, the dad and now we're working on the kids coming through our criminal justice system,'' Gangler said. ''You ask me 'How long have you been here?' ''Well, long enough to deal with three generations.''

Gangler admits there are days when he chuckles at what transpires before him. His job, however, is serious business. The stenotype pads he has placed in boxes will end up in a heated, locked storage building where the county will keep them for 15 years. ''I wrote the transcripts for a couple cases that ended up at the U.S. Supreme Court,'' Gangler said. ''They left here and were appealed, and made it to the ultimate end of the judicial chain.''

Caro lawyer Amy Grace Gierhart, 38, said she and county Prosecutor Mark E. Reene sometimes race to Gangler's office following a court matter to get Gangler's take on the proceeding.
''I bounce stuff off him,'' Gierhart said. ''I'll say 'What do you think about this?' and he'll say 'Oooh, I don't like that.'''
Gangler, in fact, is an honorary member of the Tuscola County Bar Association - the only non-lawyer in the group.

''He's probably the best attorney in Tuscola County, and he's not an attorney,'' Gierhart said. ''He probably has more courtroom experience than any lawyers.'' Gangler has worked in the courtroom with former Tuscola County circuit judges James P. Churchill, Norman A. Baguley and Martin E. Clements.

For 29 years, though, Gangler has worked for Circuit Judge Patrick R. Joslyn, known for his colorful language, spats with Tuscola County commissioners and apathy toward state legislators' sentencing guidelines.

In 2001, Joslyn sent police to a cafe near the Tuscola County Courthouse to round up prospective jurors after 10 county residents failed to show up for jury duty.
''(Joslyn) makes the work entertaining,'' Gangler said. ''When you consider some of the messes people get themselves in, it's just mindboggling.''

Advances in technology test a court reporter's mind. ''It's like going to school every day, with the expert witnesses, the doctors, and the lab analysis,'' Gangler said. ''The DNA evidence came along and there are a whole bunch of terms coming into court along with it.''
Technology ''is causing the court reporter to become a dying breed,'' Judge Joslyn said.

A medical-malpractice case, for example, requires a court reporter to have learned scientific terms in college. ''A lot of courts today don't have a stenographer any more,'' Joslyn said. ''They have a 'recorder,' which is someone with a high-school education who has taken a test and knows how to punch a button, and knows how to type. ''That's a hell of a lot different than a court stenographer who not only can repeat what I said, but when he certifies it, ensures the transcript will be accurate.''

Tuscola County Circuit Court officials will use substitute court reporters until the county hires a successor to Gangler. Joslyn described Gangler as ''a hard-working, very conscientious, very dedicated public servant'' who frequently came to work 30 to 45 minutes early.
In April 1969, Gangler began writing numbers, in a notebook, that correspond with stenotype pads containing records of proceedings he documented as Tuscola County Circuit Court reporter.
He still has the notebook, and said he has numbered about 5,250 stenotype pads - each referring to a day of court proceedings, or a multi-day trial, or other court event.
That may seem prolific for a man who might have kept working on the assembly line at a Buick Motor Co. plant in Flint, were it not for his older brother.

Donald ''Buff'' Gangler, also of Unionville and also a court reporter, had Kenneth Gangler all set up when the younger brother returned home from the U.S. Navy in 1962. ''I returned home one day from the Navy, and the next morning I reported to classes at the Northeastern School of Commerce on Madison Avenue in Bay City,'' Kenneth Gangler said.

After a year of college, Kenneth Gangler said he gave up on court reporting to work at the Buick plant. Eventually, he would quit that job to work at Bay City's Defoe Shipbuilding Co. and start attending court-reporting night classes at Saginaw Business Institute. Donald Gangler ''found a school for me again,'' Kenneth Gangler said. ''My brother was really the motivating factor in my career,'' he said.

New: Court reporting students earn high ranking - NEWS

2008-03-02T10:19:00.000-08:00

New: Court reporting students earn high ranking - NEWS

Court Reporters Needed

2008-03-02T09:32:00.000-08:00

The Beagle points out another failed "recorded" court proceeding. I would like to thank Mr. Vogrin for his article. The Beagle advocates having people populate our judicial system rather than machines. In the scenario outlined below, by employing a "live" court reporter, it more likely than not would have resulted in an accurate record of proceedings rather than the failure to be able to produce a transcript.

The Beagle supports all efforts to provide educational funding to provide more live court reporters who also can provide captioning for television and computer-aided realtime for the hearing impaired on our college campuses.

I have heard people refer to "court reporters" as the Cadillac of recordkeeping but I would simply think it the "necessary" means to keep our justice system from developing into a morass of messy inaudible recordings.

Thank you for reading ~ The Beagle

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Colorado Springs Gazette ~ Town bully of Manitou may get another day in court
By BILL VOGRIN
THE GAZETTE
January 28, 2008

Some community fights go on and on, even when they appear to be over. One of the most bitter in the area, a 10-year battle between Manitou Springs and Stephen Beisel, looks poised to re-erupt after 16 months of calm.

It quieted down after a jury convicted Beisel of misdemeanor assault and harassment for allegedly shoving, slugging and throwing down Manitou City Councilman Marc Snyder in August 2005. El Paso County Judge Sylvia Manzanares gave Beisel 30 days in jail and probation. Manitou officials celebrated, describing Beisel as a “town bully” who had harassed and intimidated the City Council and everyone at City Hall during a decade-long dispute with the community.

But now Beisel’s conviction is in question and may be overturned. District Attorney John Newsome has submitted a rare “confession of reversible error” to Judge Rebecca Bromley, who is hearing Beisel’s appeal. Seems Manzanares, who retired last May, failed to properly advise Beisel of his right to an attorney before the trial began — called an Arguello advisement.

It’s similar to the “Miranda warning” made by police during every arrest, advising people of their rights. “Upon a review of the record, the district attorney agrees that there is no evidence that the trial judge properly advised the defendant of his right,” Newsome said in a brief prepared by deputy prosecutors Deborah Pearson and Doyle Baker. “It is extremely rare for the prosecution to concede reversible error in a criminal case,” said Beisel’s Castle Rock attorney, Anne Gill. She said Newsome’s office fessed up after she and Baker spent hours listening to audio of the trial.

Not only was there no Arguello advisement, but much of the recording was inaudible, making it hard to write an appeal. Even worse, Gill said, the court had lost all the evidence presented during the two-day trial — further grounds for vacating the conviction. “I found none of the exhibits,” she said, listing missing photos, medical bills, police reports, witness statements. Gill said she would “never try to predict” Bromley’s response.

But a prosecutor’s confession of reversible error is solid grounds for a new trial. “I think we have a good shot at a new trial,” she said. And if Beisel gets another shot, don’t expect him to plea bargain the charges away. “Mr. Beisel does maintain his innocence and feels quite strongly about that,” Gill said. “He believes he’d be completely vindicated if he went through another trial.” Newsome’s spokeswoman Denise Minish described the confession as the “responsible thing to do.” “The best thing to do is get the case back where it belongs and set for retrial,” she said. A decade ago, Beisel angered Manitou officials by trying to develop 70 acres he owns on Sheep Mountain, adjacent to the town’s southern border.

The town blocked him, Beisel says illegally, saying his plans would ruin the town’s scenic mountain backdrop. Beisel responded by blocking a trail across his land and citing trespassers. He says the spat with Snyder was the result of trespassing, which Snyder denies. Here we go again.

Legal Beagle Online Blogger

2008-02-27T06:07:00.000-08:00

I would like to take this brief moment to welcome all of you who are interested in learning more about our legal system not only here in the great state of Washington but as other articles are published concerning other jurisdictions across the USA.

Have a great day and look forward to seeing more and more readers follow our news, tips and heady gossip.

Have a great day,

The Beagle