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Archive for February, 2021

Do You Need a Service Like CourtScribes

Posted on: February 22nd, 2021 by joshw No Comments

If you weren’t aware, CourtScribes is a team of highly professional court reporters & stenographers that lead the industry in top of the line court reporting technology for a fraction of the price. An experienced court reporter is essential to every case. This includes federal, state and local jurisdictions.

Did you know that digital recording is now the exclusive method for all Supreme Court cases. With professional legal videography, ease of access databases, and transcripts that are made with effective and precise support services, CourtScribes provides a service that paralegals and attorneys alike can rely on. Whether it’s a trial, deposition, arbitration, mediation, or a hearing, visit CourtScribes.com or call 1-833-SCRIBES today to inquire about their services.

 

Top of the Line Services

 

Audio Recording

CourtScribes audio recording equipment is designed to record every voice clearly and precisely. Each sound channel is dedicated to another person. Without having interfering channels, each voice will be captured in its own time allowing for playback at any time. Regardless of outside noise, accents or low speaking voices, there should be zero issues with our court reporters’ abilities to capture every moment.

Videography

CourtScribes provides live and on-demand video streaming for your proceedings. These videos are also kept in our database for needed use. We use video-to-text synchronization for easy research into a past video. Using our time-recorded transcripts, you’ll be able to lookup statements from a perfect text record that matches up with both video and audio in perfection. Our top of the line technology will ensure that your case will be recorded with precision and accuracy.

Audio Transcripts

Each sample of audio will be replayed, documented and time-stamped for future review if needed. There won’t be any issues if a previous statement needs to be retraced or disputed. These transcripts are available through our 24/7 online database.

If you need court reporting services that handle digital recoding then CourtScribes.com which supports all states and programs that aid in the court reporting world are ready to serve you in your court reporting, videography services, interpreters, live-streaming, and video-to-text synchronization.

 

Although the majority of cities that offer CourtScribes’ services are in Florida, the company home base, other cities all across these United States that CourtScribes offers services in, are the following: Jacksonville, Miami, Tampa, Port St. Lucie, Fort Lauderdale, Cape Coral, Coral Springs, Clearwater, Palm Bay, Fort Myers, Weston, Sarasota, Orlando, St. Petersburg, Hialeah, Stuart, Hollywood, Naples, West Palm Beach, Boca Raton, Deerfield Beach, Jupiter, Key West, Coral Gables, Maryland, Manhattan, Buffalo, Washington DC, Baltimore, Bowie, Virginia, Frederick, Albany, New York, Brooklyn,  Westchester, Gaithersberg, and Rockville.

Boulder County in Colorado Feeling Impact of Court Reporter Layoffs

Posted on: February 15th, 2021 by joshw No Comments

CourtScribes is reporting that after the 20th Judicial District laid off its court reporting staff due to budget constraints, attorneys in Boulder County, Colorado are trying to adjust to not having appointed employees creating a record during hearings and trials.

When the pandemic hit in March and led to budget chaos for the state, Boulder County court reporters knew there was a chance some of them could be impacted.

Unfortunately, that is what ended up happening as the 20th Judicial District laid off all of its court reporters.

Officials with the 20th Judicial District said they could not comment on the decision as it related to internal employee matters.

“I think Boulder made the decision that they thought was best for the district,” Kim Ritter said. “COVID has hit everybody really, really hard. It was scary for all of us, because we had been there for so long. When you get laid off it’s hard. And its scary because you don’t know what’s next.”

But understanding the decision did not make it any easier. Ritter has been a court reporter in Boulder County for 20 years full time and more than that if you count her time as a substitute court reporter to start her career.

The Effects are Everywhere

In addition to the hardships faced by the court reporters who got laid off, the decision has also affected the courts and attorneys.

“The impact of cutting court reports has been significant,” Boulder District Attorney Michael Dougherty said. “The court reporters are incredibly important, highly skilled people who do the difficult job of taking down every single word spoken in court.”

Without reporters, judges and attorneys were suddenly relying on a recording device to transcribe court proceedings. And it has been an adjustment.

Attorneys said the recording device has not been as effective in picking up sound from every part of the courtroom and sometimes does not catch what every witness is saying, especially with witnesses now wearing masks into court and some hearings taking place over spotty video feeds.

There have even been points when in a particular trial they went a half-day without realizing the recording device had malfunctioned.

 

The Importance of Having a Court Reporter

Recognizing the importance of having a court reporter for serious cases, some have looked into bringing in freelance reporters, and hired one for the Isaiah Rios trial, the one murder case that took place during the brief period when Boulder resumed trials in fall 2020.

In fact, the 20th Judicial District has now issued court orders helping regulate the use of freelance court reporters.

Freelancers can charge their own rates, which means using one is expensive. In the Rios case, the freelancer charged $600 a day, and the DA’s Office ended up paying $15,000 for the full trial.

Dougherty noted Boulder County currently has 40 serious cases that would warrant hiring a freelance court reporter set to go once court resumes.

As for the reporters themselves, Ritter said most court reporters were already doing freelance work.

“I took some weeks to kind of process everything, but I have been very blessed and have been able to work,” Ritter said. “As court reporters, most of us have two careers, one as official for the state of Colorado, the other as a freelancer doing depositions.”

Added Ritter, “You form friendships, and it’s a lot of very professional people that you highly respect and you enjoy working with.

“We’re very appreciative for the time that we had in Boulder, it was a great district to work in,” Ritter said. “Sadly, COVID has wreaked havoc on millions of peoples lives. Luckily for us, I think it worked out, and we’re in a good place.”

If you need court reporting services (with a little more experience than Lumsden) that handle digital recoding then CourtScribes.com which supports all states and programs that aid in the court reporting world are ready to serve you in your court reporting, videography services, interpreters, live-streaming, and video-to-text synchronization.

Although the majority of cities that offer CourtScribes’ services are in Florida, the company home base, other cities all across these United States that CourtScribes offers services in, are the following: Jacksonville, Miami, Tampa, Port St. Lucie, Fort Lauderdale, Cape Coral, Coral Springs, Clearwater, Palm Bay, Fort Myers, Weston, Sarasota, Orlando, St. Petersburg, Hialeah, Stuart, Hollywood, Naples, West Palm Beach, Boca Raton, Deerfield Beach, Jupiter, Key West, Coral Gables, Maryland, Manhattan, Buffalo, Washington DC, Baltimore, Bowie, Virginia, Frederick, Albany, New York, Brooklyn,  Westchester, Gaithersberg, and Rockville.

 

What is Stenography

Posted on: February 8th, 2021 by joshw No Comments

The “art” of stenography is about recording what is being said as quickly and as accurately as possible.

Stenography is mostly used in a courtroom or legal setting, ensuring that everything is being transcribed for the record. This is important because important decisions are being made on what is said during trials, depositions, and arbitrations.

“Steno” uses a complicated machine (a stenotype) to record all this information, and people who are specially trained to use these machines are called stenographers.

But keep in mind that stenographers are not just restricted to the inside of a courtroom. Stenography is also used for live captioning you see on TV. Like the type, you’ll find on the 6 o’clock news or press conferences.

It’s also used for deaf and hard-of-hearing students in places of learning to help follow what’s being said in a lecture, classroom, or video conference.

 

Why Would I Need a Stenographer

Many companies are now looking to stenographers (like those at CourtScribes) for live captioning services.

Live captioning is a way to level the playing field for everyone, while at the same time ensure your company is meeting its obligation when it comes to the law.

If you need court reporting services (with a little more experience than Lumsden) that handle digital recoding then CourtScribes.com which supports all states and programs that aid in the court reporting world are ready to serve you in your court reporting, videography services, interpreters, live-streaming, and video-to-text synchronization.

Although the majority of cities that offer CourtScribes’ services are in Florida, the company home base, other cities all across these United States that CourtScribes offers services in, are the following: Jacksonville, Miami, Tampa, Port St. Lucie, Fort Lauderdale, Cape Coral, Coral Springs, Clearwater, Palm Bay, Fort Myers, Weston, Sarasota, Orlando, St. Petersburg, Hialeah, Stuart, Hollywood, Naples, West Palm Beach, Boca Raton, Deerfield Beach, Jupiter, Key West, Coral Gables, Maryland, Manhattan, Buffalo, Washington DC, Baltimore, Bowie, Virginia, Frederick, Albany, New York, Brooklyn,  Westchester, Gaithersberg, and Rockville.

Canadian Stenography Student Becomes TikTok Star

Posted on: February 1st, 2021 by joshw No Comments

Stenography is getting a popularity boost thanks to a series of how-to videos posted by a female Edmonton, Alberta, Canada student. Isabelle Lumsden, who is taking a stenography course at the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology, featured her stenotype “steno” machine in a video that she posted on the social media app TikTok in September, 2020.

The people were hooked. Soon enough there were 3.3 million views on the video, close to half a million likes, and the 23-year-old was fielding a flood of questions.

 

“People were most fascinated by the keys and actually just how they work,” said Lumsden. “Lots of people were commenting, saying it was like witchcraft and very thrown off by it.”

 

Stenotype machines are used by court reporters who capture testimony verbatim during trials, hearings or depositions. The shorthand tapped into the stenotype looks like an alien language before being translated into proper sentences using a connected computer. Unlike the standard QWERTY keyboard, the stenotype machine has only 22 keys.

Shortage of court reporters

Stenography is often described as one of the original careers for women, dating back to the 1880s. But the profession seems to have lost its luster. The North American shortage of court reporters is why many feel this way. According to a 2019 article in the Wall Street Journal, the school dropout rate for court reporters is around 80 to 85 percent.

When her mom suggested she consider court reporting as a career, Lumsden was intrigued.

After the success of her first video, Lumsden dedicated her TikTok channel to stenography and court reporting. She’s gained about 80,000 followers and has been featured on BuzzFeed.

Because TikTok videos are only a minute long, Lumsden has released several that explain exactly how the machine works and how the keys form words.

With so many transcription tools available online, some people have asked if she is concerned about seeing her job taken over by artificial intelligence.

On average, court reporters can type between 180 to 225 words per minute.

Lumsden was told to practice a minimum of two hours a day. So far she can capture up to 80 words per minute but is working her way to 100.

With the shortage of stenographers in Canada and the United States, combined with the surprising popularity of her TikTok videos, Lumsden is confident about her future employment prospects.

If you need court reporting services (with a little more experience than Lumsden) that handle digital recoding then CourtScribes.com which supports all states and programs that aid in the court reporting world are ready to serve you in your court reporting, videography services, interpreters, live-streaming, and video-to-text synchronization.

Although the majority of cities that offer CourtScribes’ services are in Florida, the company home base, other cities all across these United States that CourtScribes offers services in, are the following: Jacksonville, Miami, Tampa, Port St. Lucie, Fort Lauderdale, Cape Coral, Coral Springs, Clearwater, Palm Bay, Fort Myers, Weston, Sarasota, Orlando, St. Petersburg, Hialeah, Stuart, Hollywood, Naples, West Palm Beach, Boca Raton, Deerfield Beach, Jupiter, Key West, Coral Gables, Maryland, Manhattan, Buffalo, Washington DC, Baltimore, Bowie, Virginia, Frederick, Albany, New York, Brooklyn,  Westchester, Gaithersberg, and Rockville.