December 2021 - CourtScribes, Inc. | Court Reporting & Litigation Support Archive - CourtScribes, Inc.

Court Scribes Asks: Do You Need to Hire a Digital Court Reporter?

Posted on: December 27th, 2021 by Sfl Media No Comments

As CourtScribes has noted there is a continued growing shortage of stenographers. This reality combined with the fact that the average age of a court reporter is 53 years old, leaves cause for concern about the profession’s future. Additional contributing factors to the shortage include a significant decrease in graduates from professional stenographic training and the closure of many training schools.

To overcome these hurdles, the court reporting industry has been tapping into digital court recording systems, such as audio and video recordings of proceedings and advanced transcription technologies, which provide accurate court reporting.

What is a Digital Court Reporter?

Like a stenographer, a digital court reporter is a notary. Their responsibilities include swearing in witnesses and marking exhibits.

Instead of the traditional stenography machine, these professionals record the proceedings using digital technology. This usually means audio, but also includes video. Professionals take notes during the recordings either manually or by annotating in a software platform, and then submit these for transcription into a cohesive document afterward.

How Does Digital Court Reporting Future-Proof Your Business?

The biggest difference between digital and standard stenographic court reporting is that digital court recording systems allow businesses to grow and future-proof their operations.

Both clients and the legal system as a whole are transitioning into digital. There’s little dispute that digital court reporting is more efficient. Companies can get faster transcripts at better prices and avoid unwanted delays due to the stenographer shortage.

Cost savings is also a significant factor. Based on data from the AAERT, court reporting companies that transition into digital are expected to save nearly $250K USD over the next decade simply by transitioning from stenography to digital court reporting systems. Advanced technologies, therefore, provide the opportunity to lower costs, while also serving more clients faster.

How Digital Court Reporting Improves Turnaround and Quality

It has been learned that legal clients prefer to work with digital court reporters due to the faster turnaround that advanced transcription software provides. Due to artificial intelligence, instantaneous transcription also continues to be more accurate, as the software learns from its mistakes. Even if the transcription provider offers additional review by humans, the process is faster.

A top concern and also deciding factor is the quality and accuracy of court reports. Since the software is trained to understand both legal terms and a client’s own specific situation, the most advanced products provide 99% accuracy. Similarly, if selected software features an automatic sound recognition (ASR) engine, it can distinguish between different speakers to avoid confusion.

If you need court reporting services that handle digital recording 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, Gaithersburg, and Rockville.

CourtScribes Shows the Importance of a Court Reporter

Posted on: December 20th, 2021 by Sfl Media No Comments

Technology has seen an increase in jobs being taken over by their mechanical counterparts. This is just a sign of technological times. Some people believe that the court reporter may soon be one of the jobs that loses its value when this much technology is available. However, certain jobs, such as this one, requires a human quality to properly function.

The court reporter is the person in charge of making a verbatim legal record using a stenograph. Using this stenograph, they transcribe the court proceedings in shorthand. Instead of being replaced, the addition of audio technology allows a court reporter to now complete their job with even greater efficiency. So maybe the two can co-exist together.

Efficiency and Reliability

When you’re looking at the reason for transferring to technology it usually comes down to whichever option is more efficient and reliable. So, we’ll have to go into a little detail about the necessity of the court reporter.

Audio technology has given people a way to record conversations in detailed manners. However, some things are unable to be recorded if there is a crossover in a speech by multiple people. This means that there needs to be a human also recording everything being said in order to capture the full truth. Yes, technology has now given people a way to record, but this should mean that the occupation is now enhanced and requires training with audio recording technology on the side. This would be the most efficient and reliable way.

Can’t Take that Chance

Court reporters’ main focus is to record every single word that is uttered within the courtroom. All while differentiating between those who are speaking, and ignoring the background noises. One of the hardest situations is when two attorneys or legal participants speaking over each other. Audio technology has advanced to a much higher stage than its tape recorder predecessors. However, if there is any chance that this device may lose speech during a situation where two people are speaking over each other, then that entire passage of speech has been lost to the case. This especially matters if there is an appeal to the case. In other words, until it is perfect, we can’t take that chance.

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.

The Art of Stenography

Posted on: December 13th, 2021 by Sfl Media No Comments

The CourtScribes company are masters in stenography? 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.

Why are Court Reporters Important to CourtScribes

Posted on: December 6th, 2021 by Sfl Media No Comments

As time has gone forward, technology jobs increase as more mechanical-type jobs go by the wayside. In court reporting circles, that you have read about here at CourtScribes, many believe that this too will happen to the profession. As a matter of fact, it is happening right now as we speak. As the technology expands in the field, fewer and fewer actual court reporters are needed.

However, certain jobs require a human quality to properly function. Court reporting is definitely one of those jobs.

Who or what is a court reporter?

Well, the court reporter is the person in charge of transcribing a verbatim legal record using a typing tool called a stenograph. Using the stenograph, the reporter transcribes the court proceedings in a sort of shorthand. But, instead of being replaced, the technological addition of audio tech allows the court reporter to complete the job with even greater efficiency.

Reliability is Key

If one is trying to understand why technology is taking over this industry, it basically comes down to the option that is more efficient and more reliable. While the ability for a human being (court reporter) to take in proper notes and hear all that is going on crystal clear, many times that is just not the case.

Due to the simple advancement of tech, we can now record conversations and have audio renditions. However, some things are unable to be recorded if there is a crossover in speech by multiple people. This means that there needs to be a human also recording everything being said in order to capture the full truth.

So that while technology has now given people a way to record, this should mean that court reporting is now enhanced and requires training with audio recording technology on the side. This would actually be the most efficient and reliable way to conduct transcribing.

Don’t Leave it to Chance

A court reporter’s main focus should be to record every single word that is spoken in the courtroom. They must do this, all while differentiating between those who are speaking, and ignoring the background noises. This is tough because one of the hardest situations to deal with is when two attorneys or legal participants speaking over each other.

The audio technology at CourtScribes has advanced to a much higher stage than its tape recorder predecessors. But if there is any chance that the device may lose speech during a situation where two people are speaking over each other, then that entire passage of speech has been lost. This especially matters if there is an appeal to the case. Imagine that someone has grounds all because the words were not properly transcribed?

If you need court reporting services like those described in this blog, 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.

Archive for December, 2021