Posted on: March 4th, 2019 by Dependable Website Management No Comments
Audio and digital recording in court can make all the difference.
So picture this scenario:
You are African American. A court reporter taking notes during your criminal case makes an error in the transcript that ends up becoming a point of contention in an appeal. An appeal that you lose. You probably would not have lost the case if your words had been reported accurately. Now you’re facing penalties, or even worse, prison time because of that court reporter’s mistake.
If you’re a person who uses a dialect like African-American Vernacular English, also known as AAVE, that situation is much more likely to happen to you, according to research in Philadelphia. This is why having a digital court reporter via Courtscribes is so very important. It can be the difference between jail and freedom.
This study found serious errors in court transcripts that materially changed what people said or rendered their speech as incomprehensible gibberish. People perceived as speaking “incorrectly” already deal with a substantial social stigma, and apparently, that includes courtroom settings.
How Can We Solve This Problem?
When a court reporter is not familiar with a given dialect, their lack of understanding can influence the way they record one’s speech (testimony). Unless someone reviews and contests the transcript in a timely manner, it may go on the record as incorrect. This will become a much more difficult problem to correct months or years in the future.
This problem can even reinforce biases that put certain people at a disadvantage in the courtroom. For black defendants, testifying in ‘AAVE’ may have a serious impact on how those defendants are perceived by juries, as well as how their words are recorded for posterity.
Many states are starting to transition away from the classic court recorder to audio or video recordings, which capture a complete digital record of everything that was said. This can be used instead of or in addition to transcripts for accuracy. Much like the services that Courtscribes offers. One thing courts shouldn’t be relying on though is an automated transcription. Anyone who has spoken text into their cellphone in an attempt at transcribing a message would agree.
The technologies used for speech recognition just aren’t there yet. This is true in the case of many accents and dialects, where word order and inflection can carry very different meanings.
Solutions are Coming
The solution to this problem is multifaceted. Court reporters across the country may need more training to improve their accuracy with both transcribing and paraphrasing when people speak with accents or dialects. That training should be regionally-appropriate as well because different aspects and dialects have variable representations depending on locale.
Also using digital recordings as a backup may be a good idea. Transcripts can ensure that information is available in multiple formats, with the original recordings retained to cross-reference. The stakes are simply too high for these kinds of mistakes.
Detailed digital recordkeeping benefits both courts and defendants. Not only does it serve that purpose, but it will also aid future dialect researchers who may be interested in looking at a large body of material stored from year to year to learn more about how dialects and accents evolve.
Posted on: February 25th, 2019 by Dependable Website Management No Comments
Technology in the court room, like the state-of-the-art court reporting technology used by Court Scribes, enhances the accuracy of legal transcripts and court cases.
Court reporters document millions of court cases with transcripts each year, and 14 states allow the use of audio or video recorders in place of court reporters, according to a 2015 study by the National Center for State Courts, The Marshall Project reported.
Many have made the move to reduce rising costs in their court systems.
The project reports that according to a 2009 Iowa Judicial Council study, the state could save more than $10 million a year in court reporter salaries by going to a digital recording system. Utah eliminated court reporters almost entirely in 2009, saving $1.3 million a year, according to a 2012 study conducted by the NCSC and the State Justice Institute.
The Iowa Council’s study found that at the time, speech to text dictation was “not sufficiently advanced” to handle court transcription, but since then, court reporting technology has dramatically improved although dialects and accents and conversational speech can still be challenging.
“When you talk to Alexa you are mostly using the same five sentences. Turn the light off, or order me this. Play this song,” said Gerald Friedland, an adjunct associate professor in electrical engineering and computer science at the University of California, Berkeley. “The moment you go from humans talking to computers to humans talking to humans, things get much harder.”
Audio tapes of trials are very beneficial when a written transcription is contested, or a lawyer has a particular portion that they want to hear again complete with the inflection of the speaker.
But the Project found that transcripts made from audio recordings are rarely changed. For example, in Connecticut, which uses audio recordings, only 30 of 17,000 transcripts were challenged for a perceived discrepancy between the written record and the audio recording. Of those requests, revisions ultimately only made in 13 of the cases.
Drew Findling, president of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, said the question is not whether court reporting technology is better than human court reporters, but about whether the defendant is getting a fair trial. For example, court reporters can read back something that was said in real-time if there’s a question.
Posted on: February 18th, 2019 by Dependable Website Management No Comments
Several students from Queens, Brooklyn, Bronx and Staten Island, New York, were recently named winners in the National Court Reporting Association Student Speed Competition held at Plaza College.
Plaza College in Forest Hills, New York the hosted the 2019 National Court Reporters Association (NCRA) Student Speed Contest competition Feb. 13 as part of their court reporting and captioning week. More than 100 students who are training to be court stenographers competed in conteststo test their speed and accuracy.
“We are the guardians of the record. Our role is crucial because we record and preserve the accurate accounts of trials, depositions, grand juries and other crucial aspects of the legal system which are essential to ensuring the fair administration of justice,” Karen Santucci, Plaza College court reporting program chair and vice president of the NYS Court Reporters Association, told QNS.
“We are extremely proud of the professionals who graduate this program and go on to not only work in the courts but also perform closed captioning and provide services for the hearing impaired. Our students are well prepared for these crucially important well-paying jobs in which they can build their careers,” Santucci said.
Two hundred students are currently enrolled in the Plaza College program, which is
Several students from Queens, Brooklyn, Bronx and Staten Island, New York, were rnamed winners in the student speed competition.
Students transcribe using a specialized shorthand machine which interfaces with a customized laptop computer, taking dictation at various speeds as they train to join the ranks of court reporters.
Court reporters’ records are key to ensuring fair trials, often serving as the basis for appeals. Court reporting professionals are responsible for preserving the historical record of legal proceedings and serving as documentarians that ensure the exacting reliability.
Winners of the 2019 National Court Reporters Association (NCRA) Student Speed Contest include Bianna Lewis of Brooklyn; Dishawn Williams of New Jersey; Taylor Mascari of Staten Island; Letizia Yemma of Staten Island; Paula Mullen of Queens; Christina Penna of Staten Island; Alexandra Bourekas of Queens; Emily Nicholson of Staten Island; Rachel Salatino of Long Island; Tikiya Etchison of Staten Island; Michelle Paluszek of New Jersey, and Maia Morgan of Bronx.
Posted on: February 11th, 2019 by Dependable Website Management No Comments
Things are changing in the court reporting industry, and CourtScribes offers services that will help clients keep up with the major changes driven by budget cuts, court reporter shortages and new technology.
Although some proceedings in Florida still call for the presence of a traditional stenographer, the profession is being driven by technological change. Courts can no longer afford to have a stenographer in every courtroom and at every hearing, and the shortage of qualified stenographers makes the situation even more difficult.
CourtScribes remains at the forefront of technological changes by combining video, audio, and cloud technology with traditional stenography to offer unparalleled speed and accuracy in its verbatim record keeping.
The company uses professional-level recording systems to bring the most sophisticated digital technology into the private marketplace and provide the highest-quality transcripts, using computer-based digital systems with enhanced features that perform recording functions with convenience, flexibility, and economy.
Electronic recording equipment is overseen by an experienced reporter at all times. The reporter simultaneously takes notes that are time-linked to the corresponding recording, so people involved with the case can instantly find the point in the record where they want to re-listen.
Because primary participants are assigned to separate, discrete sound channels, it’s easy to identify who’s who.
“This voice isolation feature permits a full and accurate transcription of exactly what was said — and who said it — because each channel can be listened to individually,” entrepreneur and professor Barry Unger wrote in a company white paper.
A typical four-channel system individually records the judge, witness, plaintiff’s attorney and defendant’s attorney. When two or more parties talk at the same time, digital reporting captures each voice clearly on its own separate sound channel.
The recording process captures all words exactly as they are spoken without worrying about a person being unable to understand accents or dialects — which can lead to misunderstanding the meaning of testimony — as well as complex medical or technical terms.
Any portion of a recorded proceeding can be played back over audio speakers whenever the judge or counsel requires it.Audio also can be replayed for jurors if they wish to review actual spoken testimony during deliberations.
Counsel can also obtain copies of the actual recording with digital annotations “hot-linked” to the audio so points of interest can be located quickly and efficiently.
Another benefit is that both log notes and audio files are transmitted over the internet, reducing or eliminating shipping costs and delivery delays. Storage and archiving are efficient because audio and log notes are saved as computer files.
Storage and archiving are efficient and compact because there are cassettes to store or reporters’ paper notes to file.
Posted on: February 4th, 2019 by Dependable Website Management No Comments
Many people are beginning to question whether a four-year college degree is worth the high cost of tuition, especially since many students now have to take out student loans that they will be paying off for years in order to afford their schooling.
Many are returning to institutions that teach specific skills like court reporting, usually in two years. They used to be known as “business colleges.”
Forbes reported that students attending Chicago-based MacCormac pay about $25,000 a year for a two-year court reporting program, but most students get some form of financial aid, bringing their cost to $13,520 a year.
A court reporting student who gets a degree at MacCormac is likely to come out with about $30,000 in debt but will likely get a job paying at least $40,000 annually, Forbes said.
As they progress in their field, students will probably make between $50,000 and $100,000 court reporting, depending on where they work.
Other jobs such as medical records clerk, paramedic, welder or long-distance truck driver also pay good wages without a college degree.
According to the National Center for Education 19.9 million, which is higher than the enrollment of 15.3 million students in fall 2000. Total enrollment is expected to increase between fall 2018 and fall 2027 to 20.5 million.
Women are expected to account for the majority of college and university students in fall 2018, with about 11.2 million women enrolled compared with 8.7 million men. Also, more students are expected to attend full time (an estimated 12.1 million students) than part time (7.8 million students).
About 6.7 million students will attend 2-year institutions and 13.3 million will attend 4-year colleges. About 17 million students are expected to enroll in undergraduate programs.
During the 2018–19 school year, colleges and universities are expected to award 1.0 million associate‘s degrees; 1.9 million bachelor’s degrees; 780,000 master’s degrees; and 182,000 doctor’s degrees. In 2015–16, postsecondary institutions awarded 939,000 certificates below the associate‘s degree level, 1 million associate‘s degrees, 1.9 million bachelor‘s degrees, 786,000 master‘s degrees, and 178,000 doctor‘s degrees.
Posted on: January 28th, 2019 by Dependable Website Management No Comments
A study set to be published in the journal Language looked at how well court reporters in Philadelphia transcribe dialects and found that 40 percent of the sentences they had transcribed were wrong, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported.
Linguists from the University of Pennsylvania, a sociologist from New York University and a co-founder of Philadelphia Lawyers for Social Equity found that among the 27 court reporters they tested, 67 percent of their attempts at paraphrasing inaccurate, and 11 percent were called “gibberish.”
Court reporters must test at a 95 percent accuracy rate to be certified in Pennsylvania.
Linguists note that African American English is a dialect that has its own grammatical rules.
African American English speakers have “a very reasonable expectation” to be understood in the court system, said Jessica Kalbfeld, a doctoral candidate in sociology at New York University and co-researcher on the study.
“They’re not getting the benefits of those rights, because people aren’t understanding them and don’t even know that that’s happening,” she told the Inquirer.
In one example, a speaker in the study said, “That cop partner been got transferred,” meaning that the police officer had been transferred a while ago, and the court reporter recorded the line as: “That cop partner, Ben, got transferred.”
Black court reporters in the study scored higher in paraphrasing and syntax, but their transcriptions weren’t any more accurate.
Researchers also tested seven lawyers, three of whom spoke African American English, and found that black lawyers scored much higher in their comprehension of African American English than attorneys of other races.
Researchers said it’s possible that social differences and enduring disapproval of African American English, even among black people who speak it, may be a reason why black court reporters as well as non-black reporters scored poorly on their transcription.
“It could be they’re coming across forms that could not be in their speech community,” said researcher Taylor Jones, a doctoral candidate in linguistics at the University of Pennsylvania.
Posted on: January 21st, 2019 by Dependable Website Management No Comments
Technology has changed the way court reporting is done, and electronic medical transcription is not far behind.
The global medical transcription market is expected to grow annually at a rate of more than 6 percent over the period 2018-2022, according to the latest market research report by Technavio, a leading global technology research and advisory company.
A key factor driving the market’s growth is the increase in healthcare IT spending, the company reported. And specifically, they said, growth in IT spending on medical transcription will drive the market growth. The need for digital documentation and integration of data will lead to increased IT spending on healthcare.
In its report, Technavio highlights the emergence of voice recognition technologies as one of the key emerging trends in the global medical transcription market.
It notes how voice recognition software can automate the process of transcribing medical reports. The software converts audio files to text without human intervention. This software also reduces the efforts by physicians to record and send voice files for transcription.
Despite language barriers, speed of speech, and incorrect pronunciations, the software reduces the time needed to transcribe medical reports. However, transcriptionists will be required to edit and proofread these automated transcripts.
“Software automated text data is easy to incorporate in information systems and for sharing information with other healthcare professionals for further treatment. For instance, Dragon medical speech recognition software by Nuance Communications has advanced features such as increased accuracy and vocabulary with a rapid process involving end-to-end security. This software can also be integrated with almost all information systems such as EMR,” says a senior analyst at Technavio.
The Americas held the highest share of the global medical transcription market in 2017, accounting for a market share of around 48 percent. The Asia Pacific area currently holds the smallest share of the market and is expected to see the biggest increase in its market share over the forecast period.
Posted on: January 14th, 2019 by Dependable Website Management No Comments
A precise, accurate record of legal proceedings is a vital part of the justice system. Although electronic court reporting technology is making headway, there is still a need for court reporters to ensure those records exist.
Court reporters are in demand in what can be a great career.
However, projections indicate that the shortage represents nearly 5,500 qualified reporters. That means current court reporters will experience an increased demand for their services. Court reporting firms and freelance reporters will likely encounter more and more opportunities for business. Some experienced professionals may even find themselves caught up in bidding wars for their expertise.
Some of the benefits of pursuing court reporting include:
Less demanding education requirements — An expensive, four-year college education financed by loans is not necessary to become a court reporter. You can become a certified voice reporter in as little as six months by studying online.
High earning potential — The earning potential for a verbatim court reporter right out of school is an average of $40,000 nationwide, and wages increase with experience.
Freelance options — With the variety of industries in need of court reporters, professionals can create freelance careers, choosing their own hours and creating a flexible.
Stable career, growing demand and increased opportunities
Since a growing number of fields including business, politics, medicine, professional sports and television need real-time court reporters and transcriptions of conferences, seminars and video, the need for people with these skills will continue to grow.
The median age of working court reporters is 51 years old, which is almost 10 years older than the median age of workers in all occupations, 42 years old. More than 70 percent of the court reporting population is 46 years or older.
And who will replace all of the retiring workers? Again, technology is progressing at a rapid rate, but court reporters are still needed for the time being. But court reporting schools across the nation have reported a steady decrease in enrollment over the last two decades.
Posted on: January 7th, 2019 by Dependable Website Management No Comments
Having an accurate court reporting service on hand is an important part of any trial, and Court Scribes is one of the best. But there are obviously a lot of other parties involved in making a trail successful: attorneys and their staff members, an impartial judge, and in the case of a criminal prosecution a jury of your peers.
But how does that panel of people hearing the case come to be seated?
The Sixth Amendment of the United States Constitution grants criminal defendants the right to a speedy and public trial by an impartial jury representing a cross-section of the community. The right to a jury only applies to offenses in which the penalty is imprisonment for longer than six months.
The jury’s job is to review the evidence presented in a trail and deliberating then coming to a conclusion about what the penalty for the accused should be.
Jury selection happens in two parts, random selection and “voir dire,” when attorneys question potential jurors to see if they are suitable to sit on that specific jury.
In the random selection process, the state or federal district chooses names randomly from lists including rosters of registered voters, people who hold driver’s licenses in the state, or people receiving unemployment benefits, for example, according to findlaw.com.
People who are randomly selected from one of these lists will receive a notice in the mail telling they will be expected to report to serve on a certain date.
“Voir Dire” is the process the court and the attorneys use to narrow down the pool of candidates to 12. Sometimes a judge will randomly excuse some people from duty if there are too many.
But usually, during the voir dire process, the judge and attorneys will interview each juror about their background and beliefs and look for reasons to object to jurors. The two types of objections include “peremptory challenges” and “challenges for cause.”
When an attorney challenges a juror for cause, it usually means there is something in the juror’s background that would prevent them from being objective about a case. In federal courts, each side has an unlimited number of challenges for cause, but each side only gets a limited number of peremptory challenges. Attorneys do not need to give reasons for peremptory challenges.
Posted on: December 31st, 2018 by Dependable Website Management No Comments
Technology is catching up to the sophistication of the human ear when it comes to accurate transcribing.
Artificial intelligence-driven transcription and voice-to-text solutions have improved 80 percent in accuracy over the past decade, IT News Africa reported. Although human-driven transcription solutions are still a little further ahead, technology is not far behind.
Microsoft reported that its transcription abilities had a reduced error rate of 12 percent from 2016 to 2017, which meant its automated transcriptions were 94.9 percent accurate.
Voice recognition software turns talk into text, but it occasionally runs into issues. The biggest advantage a human transcriber has over artificial intelligence is that a human knows what to keep and what to factor out.
Humans are better at disregarding background noise. Humans also are better at understanding different cultural contexts and identifying different accents than machines.
IT News Africa cited a 2018 study that found Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant had difficulty “understanding” accents even when the speakers spoke fluent English.Accuracy dropped by 2.6 percent when speakers had a Chinese accent and by as much as 4.2 percent for Spanish accents.
AI-driven services also have difficulty understanding interlocked speech and colloquial and slang terms, while humansare able to achieve accuracy rates of between 99 percent and 100 percent.
“We cannot doubt the fact that the advancements AI has made in the transcription sphere in recent years is phenomenal,” said Peter Trebek, the CEO of GoTranscript. “However, with error rates over 5 percent, there are still some considerable improvements to be made.”
Programmers need to work closely with language experts to clear up the problems.
CourtScribes uses professional-level recording systems to bring the most sophisticated digital technology into the courtroom to produce the highest-quality transcripts.
Electronic recording equipment is overseen by an experienced reporter who simultaneously takes notes that are time-linked to the corresponding recording, so people involved with the case can instantly find the point in the record where they want to re-listen.
Posted on: December 24th, 2018 by Dependable Website Management No Comments
Looking for something to do in your free time that will include service to your country? Love history as much as court reporting?
Then the Library of Congress has a volunteer job for you.
The Library of Congress is looking for volunteers to volunteers to transcribe writings left behind by some of the greatest names in history, including Abraham Lincoln, American Red Cross founder Clara Barton, Civil War veterans, Civil Rights campaigner Rosa Parks, leaders of the woman’s suffrage movement, American poets, important figures in the history of psychiatry, and other important historical figures, Mental Floss reported.
The Abraham Lincoln Papers at the Library of Congress contain more than 40,550 documents written by or to Abraham Lincoln when he was a lawyer, representative from Illinois, and 16th president of the United State, about half of which are available online. Of those 20,000, about half have already been transcribed, the Library said.
The Library’s goal is to have volunteers transcribe all of the remaining materials as well so that they are easy for people to search online using key words.
The goal of the Letters to Lincoln Challenge 2018 is to transcribe all 28,000 pages by December 31, but more opportunities will be available beyond the end of the year.
Documents include not only letters written by Lincoln but also by correspondents including friends and associates, well-known political figures and reformers, and individuals and organizations.
Because the documents are hand written, they are difficult for computers to read and decode. Some are faded and written in difficult to read cursive, Mental Floss said.
To learn how to help with the project, log on to crowd.loc.gov, the library’s crowdsourcing site, and create an account on the registration page. Documents that are transcribed are then reviewed by another registered volunteer.
Carla Hayden, a librarian at the Library of Congress, said the project is a good way to serve the public good while learning about history at the same time.
“The pages awaiting transcription at crowd.loc.gov represent some of the diversity of the Library’s treasure, and the metadata that will result from these transcriptions mean these digitized documents will have even greater use to classrooms, researchers, or anyone who is curious about these historical figures,” Hayden said.
For more detailed instructions on how to help, visit the library’s guide here.
Posted on: December 17th, 2018 by Dependable Website Management No Comments
A Pennsylvania court stenographer’s job led to her landing a part in a television drama, The Mercury, a newspaper published in Pottstown, Pennsylvania.
Emilie Posnan, who has been a Montgomery County Court stenographer for 13 years, got a role on a Showtime drama, “Escape At Dannemora,” about a 2015 prison break in upstate New York.
The series premiered Nov. 18 and will continue through Dec. 30, Sundays at 10 p.m. on Showtime.
The limited-event series is based on the escape from Clinton Correctional Facility by inmates Richard Matt and David Sweat that spawned the largest manhunt in the history of New York State. The escapees were helped by prison employee, Joyce “Tilly” Mitchell, “who reportedly carried on affairs with both men while supervising them in the tailor shop,” according to Showtime.
The series stars Benicio Del Toro, Paul Dano, Patricia Arquette and Bonnie. Ben Stiller is the director and executive producer.
The creators of the series wanted areal-life stenographer to appear in the series to properly portray the typing rhythm and the locked-in attention that are the trademarks of the craft.
During the first scene of the series, Hunt’s character says she won’t begin until the stenographer, portrayed by Posnan, arrives.
Posnan held a screening party at her home for the series premiere.
She learned about the role from an actress friend who had read a casting notice from a talent agency. She submitted a photo and was one of seven stenographers who were called to Brooklyn for an audition.
On her drive home from the audition, she learned she had gotten the part.
The following week, she went to Queens, N.Y. for two days of filming. She was told to actually record what the characters said during the scene to make her role appear authentic.
Posnan, her husband, some relatives and friends traveled to Lincoln Center in New York for the November premiere of the series.
The Showtime series has been nominated for several Golden Globes.
Posted on: December 10th, 2018 by Dependable Website Management No Comments
A former student at a for-profit court reporting school that had locations in Seattle and Tacoma, Washington is suing the U.S. Department of Education for not forgiving her student loans.
The school, called the Court Reporting Institute, went out of business.
The school allegedly told students that its three-year program in legal transcription would get them a high-paying job, the Seattle Times reported.
State investigators shut down the school in 2006, saying it used deceptive business practices.
The former student who filed the lawsuit, Christine Gold, said she incurred nearly $36,000 in debt while attending the school.
Borrowers misled by a school are eligible for federal student-loan forgiveness, per the Times.
The nonprofit National Student Legal Defense Network filed the suit in the District of Columbia last week, naming the Department of Education and its secretary, Betsy DeVos, as defendants.
The Department of Education had no comment for the Times because the litigation is pending.
DeVos’ critics say her department has been slow to process claims and is too easy on for-profit colleges.
According to the lawsuit, Gold was the sole earner in her household when she started attending the Court Reporting Institute in 2001. She says she was told by an admissions officer that she would make $65,000 a year after she graduated from a three-year program.
Complaints against the school showed that it repeatedly misrepresented educational practices, instructor qualifications, graduation rates, program length, employment prospects and the amount of financial aid available, and that it did not make mandated changes.
Gold said she never seemed to be making progress toward graduation despite the classes she finished and after nearly three-and-a-half years, she withdrew in 2005 with $35,750 in federal loans.
Because she was unable to pay the money back without a better job and because of interest accrued, she now owes around $62,000.
Posted on: December 3rd, 2018 by Dependable Website Management No Comments
Court transcription keeps judges and lawyers well informed of what’s going on in a trial and gives them a resource to turn to when they need clarification of details.
The court reporting technology that Court Scribes uses today is state-of-the-art, but the skill of recording court proceedings is an old one that has been practiced for more than a century.
As a matter of fact, even one of the 19th Century’s most famous authors got his start in writing as a court stenographer, the San Diego Reader said.
None other than Charles Dickens, author of A Christmas Carol, Oliver Twist and Great Expectations, among other classic books, worked as a law clerk, and his tasks included delivering documents and running errands.
He soon became bored with the low-level duties and decided he wanted to be a court stenographer. Court stenographers recorded the proceedings of a trial in a shorthand system called Gurney, which could take three years to learn.But Dickens mastered “that savage stenographic mystery” in three months, per the Reader.
After he met that challenge, he became skilled in stenography but wanted to take his career a step further. Soon he began covering Parliament for his uncle’s newspaper, reporting on debates between politicians.
His experience in the courtroom and in Parliament exposed him to many different kinds of people whose personalities and accents he later captured in his novels. He also learned to work quickly and was able to produce 15 novels in his lifetime, including the unfinished book The Mystery of Edwin Drood.
Dickens died of a stroke on June 9, 1870. He is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian era, and his books are still widely read today. This time of year, many theaters stage productions of his story A Christmas Carol, featuring well-known characters Ebenezer Scrooge, Bob Crachit and the ghosts of Christmas past, present and future. He is recognized by 21st century critics and scholars as a literary genius.
Posted on: November 26th, 2018 by Dependable Website Management No Comments
Court reporter shortages are reported across the country, and court reporting technology like the services provided by Court Scribes in Florida and other states may be a solution in some situations.
South Dakota is one of the states that’s feeling the effects of the court reporter shortage, according to KELO of Keloland Media Group in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
Court reporting is one of several skilled trades that’s facing a shortage in South Dakota, along with plumbers and electricians, KELO reported.
“We know we’re going to have positions open, and we need bodies to fill them,” Official Court Reporter Carla Dedula of South Dakota’s Unified Judicial System said. Dedula is one of just 50 court reporters in the system. Of the 50, almost half will be eligible to retire in the next 10 years, and there are not necessarily younger people coming up behind them to fill the empty positions.
“Nationally there were 5,500 open positions last year,” Freelance Court Reporter Pat Beck told the TV station.
He pointed out that in some states, courts are having to reschedule court cases because there aren’t enough reporters to make a record of what’s going on in the courtroom.
There aren’t any brick and mortar programs in South Dakota any more where people can learn the skill of court reporting, meaning if people in the state are interested in pursuing the field, they have to get a degree online, which usually takes a couple of years.
CourtScribes uses professional-level recording systems to bring the most sophisticated digital technology into the private marketplace and provide the highest quality transcripts.
Advanced technology helps make trials easier in many ways. There are many benefits of court technology, the most important being that people who can’t attend the trial can view the transcript in real-time if they have an internet connection.
Posted on: November 19th, 2018 by Dependable Website Management No Comments
Professional court reporting services like Court Scribes are an important part of any trial, a fact that attorneys recognize.
Conservative Daily News recently listed several benefits of hiring a skilled court reporting service:
Expertise
Court reporters have to complete training that gives them the necessary knowledge and skills they need to provide their services in a courtroom. Most professional court reporters complete a two-year training course.
Experienced court reporters and stenographers have a good famliarity with legal documents, legal terms, and how court cases progress. They also are comfortable dealing with interruptions, delays, and background noise that are often associated with most depositions.
Peace of mind
Hiring a reliable court reporting agency will help the lawyer run the case smoothly, eliminating stress and headaches. A skilled court reporting agency willhandle all logistics and any last-minute.
Court reporters have a strong understanding of the importance of confidentiality and with the concept of neutrality. They understand they must always behave as an unbiased third party.
Prompt services
Agencies like Court Scribes that offer professional court reporting services, deposition services, and transcription have experience dealing with the needs of different attorneys and services are very efficient and reliable.
High level of accuracy
Court reporting services like Court Scribes have the background and experience to produce high-quality, accurate transcripts thanks to the cutting-edge technology they use and the quality people they employ.
CourtScribes uses professional-level recording systems to bring the most sophisticated digital technology into the private marketplace and provide the highest quality transcripts.
The company uses computer-based digital systems with enhanced features that perform recording functions with convenience, flexibility, and economy.
Electronic recording equipment is overseen by an experienced reporter at all times. The reporter simultaneously takes notes that are time-linked to the corresponding recording, so people involved with the case can instantly find the point in the record where they want to re-listen.
Posted on: November 12th, 2018 by Dependable Website Management No Comments
Advanced technology helps make trials easier in many ways. Christianity Today recently listed some of the benefits of court technology, the most important being that people who can’t attend the trial can view the transcript in real-time if they have an internet connection.
Attorneys can see the transcript while the trial is still going on, enabling them to quickly change their tactics if need be and strategize how to best question a witness. It also enables them to see clearly what was asked and answered earlier in the trial so they can re-state information if they need clarification.
Private messaging off the record
Attorneys can record off-the-record conversations via real-time instant messaging, saving time and averting any interruptions that might delay of the trial.
Live review
Real-time reporting allows the counsel’s teammates to see thetranscript instantly and formulate follow-up questions. They can also rephrase their queries if they did not get the response from the witness that they were looking for.
Cost efficiency
Attorneys can see a rough draft of the transcript before the final and official, making it much easier for them to prepare for the next day of questioning, which is cost-efficient for both the client and the attorney.
Testimonies can get impeached instantly
An instant transcript helps an attorney in the courtroom to impeach a witness instantly if necessary.
CourtScribes uses professional-level recording systems to bring the most sophisticated digital technology into the private marketplace and provide the highest quality transcripts.
The company uses computer-based digital systems with enhanced features that perform recording functions with convenience, flexibility, and economy.
Electronic recording equipment is overseen by an experienced reporter at all times. The reporter simultaneously takes notes that are time-linked to the corresponding recording, so people involved with the case can instantly find the point in the record where they want to re-listen.
Posted on: November 5th, 2018 by Dependable Website Management No Comments
The National Court Reporters Association (NCRA), the country’s leading organization representing stenographic court reporters, captioners, and legal videographers, announced that the head of its philanthropic arm will retire in January.
BJ Shorak, Deputy Executive Director of the National Court Reporters Foundation (NCRF), will be replaced by NCRA Senior Director of External Affairs Mary Petto.
“Today’s announcement does not mark the end of an era for NCRA and NCRF, but rather a step into the future for both organizations as they continue to work together to advance the court reporting and captioning professions,” said Marcia Ferranto, CEO and Executive Director of NCRA.
“BJ has committed the last 28 years of her career to building lasting relationships between NCRF and like-minded organizations, establishing unprecedented programs that benefit our members, students, and the legal profession as a whole and creating a legacy on which the Foundation will continue to grow,” she added.
Petto, who has been with NCRA for a year, most recently established NCRA’s Corporate Partnership Program to strengthen the Association’s mission to promote and protect the court reporting and captioning professions.
“I’ve had the privilege to work closely with Mary over the past year on a variety of fundraising activities for NCRF and am confident that her experience and fundraising talents will carry NCRF on its strategic path well into the future,” Shorak said.” I am confident that NCRF’s presence in the industry will remain strong and viable with the leadership of Mary and Marcia, who also has extensive experience in the fundraising arena.”
Shorak joined NCRA in 1987 as Director of Research and Technology. She was named Deputy Executive Director of the Foundation in 1992 when it began operating separately from NCRA.
Throughout her tenure, Shorak has successfully built lasting relationships with organizations and individuals that have led to dozens of meaningful programs
“I know I speak for hundreds of others whose lives BJ has touched through her work with the Foundation, that as she begins this new journey in her life, we will always be grateful for her commitment that has created the legacy she leaves behind: making a difference in the court reporting and captioning professions, and a smile in our hearts and on our faces whenever we think of her,” said NCRA Past President Tami Keenan.
Posted on: October 29th, 2018 by Dependable Website Management No Comments
On Oct.17, Canada became the second country in the world to legalize marijuana. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t any rules or laws that apply to marijuana smokers, The Washington Post reported.
Canadian law allows people 18 and older to buy marijuana, but some provinces have set a minimum age of 19 to match the drinking age, and Quebec has announced its intentions to raise it to 21.
The new federal law sets a 30-gram limit on how much marijuana people can buy or possess in public. That’s equivalent to about one ounce. In addition, some cities have specific rules that apply to where you can consume your legal lmarijuana.
The legal sale of pot is limited to fresh buds, oil, plants and seeds. Edibles are not available for legal purchase although you can cook and consume them in someone’s home.
Driving under the influence of drugs is illegal, with different penalties in different provinces.
You cannot bring marijuana legally purchased in Canada back into the United States, even if you are bringing it into a U.S. state where marijuana has been legalized. It will be considered both possession and drug smuggling.
Although medical cannabis is legal in 46 states, marijuana is still an illegal substance under federal law. The federal government regulates drugs through the Controlled Substances Act (CSA). This act does distinguish between medical and recreational use of cannabis. Marijuana laws are used to prosecute people who possess, cultivate, or distribute large quantities of cannabis, according to Americans for Safe Access.
Under federal law, cannabis is treated like every other controlled substance, such as cocaine and heroin.. Under the CSA, cannabis is classified as a Schedule I drug, which means the federal government considers it to be highly addictive and that it has no medical value.
Although doctors can’t “prescribe” cannabis for medical use under federal law, they can “recommend” its use under the First Amendment, ASA said.
Posted on: October 22nd, 2018 by Dependable Website Management No Comments
Court workers are important to the smooth operation of the American court system, but when workers find it’s necessary to strike to protest work conditions, the system can grind to a halt.
CourtScribes court reporting agency is working to change the industry by having fewer workers in the courtroom, using internet-age technology to create the official record of court proceedings, using remote transcriptionists and charging attorneys up to 50 percent less. The attorneys not only benefit from a less-expensive transcript, but video and/or audio recording also provides them with a more accurate and verifiable record.
Fresno County, California is one place that could be facing court proceeding disruptions because nearly 300 courtroom workers could walk off the job if they don’t reach an agreement with court administrators on increased pay, hours and benefits.
Clerks, assistants, and court reporters have been working without a contract since September 30th, looking for a raise and protesting steep increases in health care costs as well as seeking better benefits.
Six years ago during the economic crisis, court reporters had their 40 hour week reduced to 35 hour week, according to ABC 30 Action News. The latest proposal would increase the work week to 37.5 hours, but court reporters would not get a pay raise, although clerks, judicial assistants and office assistants would get a 3 percent raise.
Workers protested that the eight to nine percent increase in the cost of health benefits would mean workers would still have to pay more out of pocket, even with the increase in hours. They rejected the proposal and are heading back to the negotiation table but are still considering a strike.
Court administrators issued a statement saying, “We are very disappointed to hear rumors about the employees’ vote to not accept the Court’s offer. The Court has no more money to offer.”
Posted on: October 15th, 2018 by Dependable Website Management No Comments
Law enforcement is any important part of the legal process, just as court reporting plays a crucial role.
A new National Law Enforcement Museum has opened in Washington, D.C. offering interactive exhibits the founders hope will help bridge the gap between law enforcement and the community.
Among the more than 21,000 artifacts housed at the new museum are the phone that received the first 911 emergency call, the desk J. Edgar Hoover used as FBI director, and the handcuffs used by a police officer to arrest Sirhan Sirhan, the man who assassinated Sen. Robert F. Kennedy.
The purpose of the museum is to honor law enforcement professionals and to give people a greater appreciation for what officers do, CEO Craig Floyd told Fox News.
“People are, hopefully, going to come away with a better understanding and appreciation of the value and the vital role that law enforcement plays in our society,” Floyd said.
The Day in the Life exhibit allows visitors to see what a typical day is like for a patrol officer in various cities. Visitors can also go inside a real prison cell.
Visitors can learn what it’s like to be a 911 emergency by visiting the 911 dispatch center and going through a simulation, taking mock calls and deciding how to proceed and get help to “victims.”
A key feature of the museum is the Hall of Remembrance, which honors fallen law enforcement professionals by displaying photos of officers killed in the line of duty.
Congress approved the use of federal land for the museum, but developers were required to build most of the museum underground. Two of the floors of the 58,000-square-foot building are underground.
Tickets for the museum, located at 444 E Street N.W., are $21.95 for adults, $16 for seniors ($14.50 for military, veterans, law enforcement and students with valid ID) and $12 for children under the age of 12.
Posted on: October 8th, 2018 by Dependable Website Management No Comments
Technology is advancing the way that court reporting is handled in United States Courts, and technology is being instituted in courts around the world.
China is so invested in the legal aspects of future technological developments that it has set up an entire court system not only set up to deal with technology-related cases but also run by technology.
The Chinese government in Beijing has put into place an internet court powered by facial and speech recognition technology, the China Money Network reported. The goal of the new system is to provide more efficient legal services for the city’s fast-developing technology companies.
The Beijing Internet Court, which is located in Fengtai district, is primarily focused on hearing cases regarding the internet and intellectual property rights, including disputes caused by online loans, online shopping contracts and online copyright cases.
The average duration of an internettrial is 41 days, about half that of a conventional court trial in China, and a hearing lasts 28 minutes, whichis 60 percent.
Beijing’s internet court is the second in the country. An internet court was opened in 2017 in Hangzhou, and China plans to set up a third internet court in Guangzhou.
“The judges and all the parties are connected via a screen, where the plaintiffs and the defendants can participate in court hearings via their computers or mobile-phones,” Zhu Ting, a judge at the Beijing Internet Court, told state-owned Chinese media outlet Xinhua News Agency.
The court uses facial recognition and speech recognition technology during the online proceedings that draws on a national ID system curated by the country’s public security bureaus to verify participants’ identities. Electronic signatures are used to sign any documents.
The Beijing internet court also can automatically generate legal documents, use machine translation and allow voice interactions with its knowledge system.
According to Xinhaua, Beijing handled 45,382 internet-related cases including online shopping and online service contracts in 2017. In the eight months from January to August 2018, cases increased to 37,631, with a growth rate of nearly 25 percent.
Posted on: October 1st, 2018 by Dependable Website Management No Comments
High-tech solutions like the court reporting technology CourtScribes provides make the courtroom run more smoothly. And there are other important technological advances coming to courtrooms as well. One of them that increases efficiency and saves time and money is electronic filing.
For example, the Indiana Supreme Court is turning to electronic filing to reduce the paperwork that was created by the 1.3 million cases filed in Indiana’s state courts in the past year, The Statehouse File of Franklin College reported.
Indiana Supreme Court Chief Justice Loretta Rush said in the court’s 2017-2018 annual report that the goal is to switch almost every county court system to electronic filing over the next year.
Part of the problem is that more than a million cases being filed each year, courts are running out of room to file and store the paperwork, and electronic filing will create a more efficient, more accessible system while saving the court system money.
The electronic document filing system, along with new notification systems, will also help create more transparency among the courts and the public, Rush said. The court system also recently started sending reminder messages to defendants via text reminding them of important appointments like court dates.
Counties in the system have sent more than 160,000 text reminders in the past month alone.
“There was a real push with the courts with regards to advancing technology. We had about 90 percent of our counties involved in electronic filing in some form and we had 80 percent of our counties in a unified case management system,” Rush told The Statehouse File.
The court system has also increased security measures to make sure that the electronic records are fully protected, including putting theentire system is behind the state’s technology firewall,
“We have a team in court administration for technology working on cyber security,” Rush said.
Posted on: September 24th, 2018 by Dependable Website Management No Comments
There’s a nationwide shortage of court reporters, and while technology like the systems provided by CourtScribes help, skilled people are still needed to help with courtroom communications.
Horry Georgetown Technical College is one school that wants to start offering a court reporter program to help ease the shortage, which is especially severe in South Carolina, TV station WPDE ABC15 reported.
Horry Georgetown Technical College is a two-year technical college with three campuses, one in Georgetown, South Carolina, one in Conway, and one in Myrtle Beach. It is a part of the South Carolina Technical College System and is the fourth-largest technical college in the state, offering more than 80 degree and certificate programs.
The Miami court reporters of CourtScribes incorporate technology into their work.
The president of the college, Dr. Marilyn Fore, said the first step to setting up a program at the school is to figure out what credentials are needed for the job and to determine whether the program should be a degree program or certificate program.
Next, the college will build a curriculum then find qualified instructors to teach the classes.
“I think there are private contractors that teach court reporting but they would like for a college to do this, so they’re also volunteering to teach. I’m going to seek those folks out and see how they can help us to structure the program,” she said.
Fore said she hopes to have a plan in place by January.
A recent National Court Reporters Association found there will be 5,500 job openings available in the court reporting field across the country in the next five years.
Part of the reason for the strong demand is that many court reporters are retiring, so jobs are opening up, but there aren’t enough studying court reporting so there aren’t enough people to fill the jobs.
Also, a lack of awareness about the profession means people don’t often think of it as a career choice, something that court reporting programs are working locally and nationally to change.
Posted on: September 19th, 2018 by Dependable Website Management No Comments
The use of courtroom technology like CourtScribes provides for courtrooms can make the practice of law easier. But practicing law can be difficult for military spouses who frequently have to move from place to place, meaning they are not necessarily licensed to practice law in the state in which they find themselves currently living.
But the Georgia Supreme Court recently overruled the state Board of Examiners’ denial of a military spouse’s request to practice law without having to pass the state bar exam, saying the board denied the request without giving a reason.
“Harriet O’Neal filed a waiver petition with the Board of Bar Examiners on November 30, 2017, asking that she be allowed to practice law in Georgia without sitting for the Georgia bar exam and without meeting the usual requirements for admission without examination. Specifically, O’Neal based her request for a waiver on her status as the spouse of an active member of the military who had been transferred here,” the court said in a unanimous unsigned opinion, per Law.com.
The opinion continued that O’Neal did not meet the general requirements for admission to the Georgia Bar “on motion without examination, as outlined in the Rules Governing Admission to the Practice of Law, because (1) she passed the bar in Louisiana, which does not offer reciprocity with Georgia or any other state, and (2) she has not been ‘primarily engaged in the active practice of law’ for the preceding five years, as she has only been a lawyer for three years,” the court said.
O’Neal graduated from Louisiana State University Law School in 2014, took and passed the Louisiana bar exam and was admitted to practice in Louisiana in October 2014, but requested a waiver of the requirements based on the board’s policy for military spouses.
The court told the board “to clearly apply the military waiver policy and explain why.”
“Given the incredibly high unemployment rate among spouses of active duty service members, we need initiatives such as the military spouse waiver program,” said Linda Klein of Baker Donelson, former president of the American Bar Association. “Military spouse underemployment creates many problems that threaten our national defense.”
Posted on: September 17th, 2018 by Dependable Website Management No Comments
Accurate court reporting is an important part of the criminal justice system, and so is fairness in prosecution.
New York state is working to reform its court system, and as part of that effort, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo has signed legislation establishing the nation’s first State Commission on Prosecutorial Conduct.
The Commission will review and investigate prosecutorial conduct to address allegations of misconduct which lead to malicious prosecutions and wrongful convictions, frequently impacting people of color and marginalized communities.
By avoiding wrongful convictions and associated retrial costs and settlements, the Commission will save taxpayers money, the state said in a statement.
“Our criminal justice system must fairly convict the guilty and exonerate the innocent,” Governor Cuomo said. “When any prosecutor consciously disregards that fundamental duty, communities suffer and lose faith in the system, and they must have a forum to be heard and seek justice. This first-in-the-nation Commission will serve to give New Yorkers comfort that there is a system of checks and balances in the criminal justice system, and to root out any potential abuses of power to ensure that our justice system is just for all New Yorkers.”
Senator John DeFrancisco said, “There have been many cases of individuals who’ve been wrongfully convicted and who’ve served jail time because of the misconduct of some prosecutors. Despite the good work of most prosecutors, there must be a remedy against those who violate the law. This prosecutorial conduct commission legislation, signed by the Governor today, will provide that remedy and also provide oversight by an independent body, which over time will change the conduct of the wrongdoing of prosecutors, and help to ensure all a fairer criminal justice system.”
Governor Cuomo also led a successful effort to expand New York’s DNA databank in 2012, making New York the first state in the nation to require DNA samples from anyone convicted of a felony or Penal Law misdemeanor.
The Governor also established the Work for Success Initiative which has helped over 18,000 formerly incarcerated people find work upon their release.
Posted on: September 4th, 2018 by Dependable Website Management No Comments
Becoming a court reporter is a sure-fire path to a good job, experts say.
A recent National Court Reporters Association survey that looked at the trends affecting job opportunities in the profession found there will be 5,500 job openings available in the field across the country in the next five years, Smart Business Cleveland reported.
The high tech solutions adopted by CourtScribes Miami court reporters could help solve personnel shortages.
“We have a 100 percent employment rate for graduates,” Kelly Moranz, program manager and adjunct faculty in the Captioning and Court Reporting program at Cuyahoga Community College, told Smart Business. “I’m always getting calls about job openings. Court reporters and captionists are being hired locally and all over the country.”
She said part of the reason for the strong demand is that many court reporters are retiring, so jobs are opening up but there aren’t enough people to fill them.
Also, a lack of awareness about the profession means people don’t often think of it as a career choice, something that court reporting programs are working locally and nationally change.
Moranz said flexibility is one attractive feature about the job. Captioners and court reporters often can work from home with significant earning potential. She said it’s not uncommon for experienced reporters to earn more than $100,000 a year.
She said new reporters might start out doing freelance work like deposition hearings, arbitrations or CART captioning for the deaf and hard-of-hearing community In court
There are also video captioning opportunities, including post-production jobs for companies like Nextflix and Hulu.
Training programs typically teach students the skills they need to earn their National Court Reporters Association or National Verbatim Reporters Association certification. There is also an associate degree option, which typically takes two years to complete.
The emphasis in court reporting is on accuracy and performance,so students need to practice regularly to be successful.
Moranz noted that captioning and court reporting is an in-demand field offering excellent pay and great flexibility for those willing to put in the work.
Posted on: August 27th, 2018 by Dependable Website Management No Comments
If you’re looking for the best way to create a record of court proceedings, you need the best court reporting system, so CourtScribes is where you should turn.
Digital court reporting is a relative newcomer to the field of court reporting, per CourtReporter.edu. But this subspecialty of court reporting has made its way into a number of courtrooms across the United States, thanks to advancements in digital recording.
The digital revolution led by people like the Miami court reporters of CourtScribes includes blockchain.
CourtScribes uses professional-level recording systems to bring the most sophisticated digital technology into the private marketplace and provide the highest quality transcripts.
The company uses computer-based digital systems with enhanced features that perform recording functions with convenience, flexibility, and economy.
Electronic recording equipment is overseen by an experienced reporter at all times. The reporter simultaneously takes notes that are time-linked to the corresponding recording, so people involved with the case can instantly find the point in the record where they want to re-listen.
Because primary participants are assigned to separate, discrete sound channels, it’s easy to identify who’s who. A typical four-channel system individually records the judge, witness, plaintiff’s attorney and defendant’s attorney. When two or more parties talk at the same time, digital reporting captures each voice clearly on its own separate sound channel.
The recording process captures all words exactly as they are spoken without worrying about a person being unable to understand accents or complex medical or technical terms. During the transcription process, the audio can be replayed as needed to verify any questions.
Any portion of a recorded proceeding can be played back over audio speakers whenever the judge or counsel requires it.Audio also can be replayed for jurors if they wish to review actual spoken testimony during deliberations.
Counsel can also obtain copies of the actual recording with digital annotations “hot-linked” to the audio so points of interest can be located quickly and efficiently.
Another benefit is that both log notes and audio files are transmitted over the internet, reducing or eliminating shipping costs and delivery delays. Storage and archiving are efficient because audio and log notes are saved as computer files.
Posted on: August 20th, 2018 by Dependable Website Management No Comments
A former paralegal at Amazon.com Inc. is suing the company, alleging that the online retail giant misclassified paralegals as exempt employees, The Puget Sound Business Journal reported.
Paralegals and court reporters are both crucial to the legal process.
Miami court reporters Courtscribes bring technology to the table.
The lawsuit alleges that Amazon wrongfully misclassified paralegals as exempt employees, meaning that they were not subject to state and federal rules that required the company to pay them overtime for working more than 40 hours a week and to give them scheduled, set times for meal and rest breaks,the Puget Sound Business Journal reported.
The lawsuit was filed in King County Superior Court in Seattle on Aug. 1. Filing the lawsuit wasformer Amazon employee, Lorraine Colby of Bellevue, who said she worked as a paralegal for Amazon from June 2012 to June 2017.
Amazon is headquartered in Seattle and is looking to open a second headquarters somewhere else in the United States. The company has not responded to the lawsuit in court and a spokeswoman declined to comment to the Puget Sound Business Journal when contacted Aug 16.
“In its never-ending search to save money from its employees, Amazon willfully misclassified its paralegals to save on overtime and avoid the requirements of meal and rest breaks under Washington state law,” the Business Journal quoted the lawsuit as saying.
The lawsuit alleges that Amazon’s legal department was “advised on multiple occasions that these employees were misclassified based on their job duties.”
Amazon onboarding documents told paralegals they were expected to work 50 hours per week to meet the minimum requirements of their job, the lawsuit said, but they were not paid 1.5 times their regular pay for working more than 40 hours per week.
The lawsuit said because paralegals can’t “independently determine their own work product, settle cases, and determine strategy or impact policy or procedure without the authorization of an in-house lawyer” they are not exempt employees.
The lawsuit seeks class-action status to include any paralegals who worked for Amazon in Washington state after August 2015 and were classified as exempt.
Posted on: August 13th, 2018 by Dependable Website Management No Comments
Who’s the fastest court reporter in the world? According to Guinness World Records, it’s
Mark Kislingbury, who can type 360 words per minute on his stenomachine.
Kislingbury set the record in 2004, securing his place in the Guinness World Record book as well as his place in history.
But Houston, Texas native Kislingbury is not happy to just sit back and relax now that he holds the world record, he told WGNO TV while he was attending the National Court Reporters Association convention in New Orleans recently.
There’s still a place for courtroom stenography in the technological revolution by court reporting agency CourtScribes.
“I’m going to keep practicing in hopes of breaking my own record. Hopefully in the next few years I can break it by typing 370 or 380 words per minute,” he said.
“It is wonderful to hold the record because only a small amount of people have a World Record, and I have one,” he said.
Kislingbury, who said he has been a court reporter for 35 years, uses a stenomachine. While he was at the recent convention in New Orleans, he competed in a “real-time” competition in which he had 99 percent accuracy.
“Using this machine is using shorthand. I make so many shortcuts, it allows me to go faster than most people,” Kislingbury said.
He encouraged more people to learn his profession, which is seeing shortages across the United States.
“There’s a big demand. There are jobs everywhere,” he said. “The money is good. The job satisfaction is good. The job is challenging, so not everyone can do it, but that’s why we get paid so well.”
Guinness World Records says its mission is to make the amazing official. They seek to inspire people — individuals, families, schools, teams, groups, companies and communities – of any age, in any city or country, to be inspired by reading, watching, listening to and participating in record-breaking.
To become the ultimate global authority on record breaking, Guiness World Records
researches, measures, documents and authorizes the world’s superlatives, then creates products that entertain, inform and inspire people through our unique window on the world.
Posted on: August 6th, 2018 by Dependable Website Management No Comments
The National Court Reporters Association (NCRA), the country’s leading organization representing stenographic captioners, court reporters, and legal videographers, announced that three major industry leaders serving or representing the court reporting and captioning professions have signed on to the Association’s corporate partnership program, NCRA said in a press release.
There’s still a place for courtroom stenography in the technological revolution by court reporting agency CourtScribes.
NCRA welcomed MacCormac College, Chicago, Ill., Magna Legal Services, Philadelphia, Pa., And U.S. and Legal Support, Washington, D.C., as corporate partners.
NCRA’s Corporate Partnership program, which ranges in levels of support from $10,000 to $100,000, aids in business and workforce development efforts by NCRA and the National Court Reporters Foundation (NCRF).
“We continue to focus on the next generation of captioners and court reporters by illustrating that these professions are viable and lucrative career opportunities,” said NCRA executive director and CEO Marcia Ferranto. “We’re excited about the diversity of the organizations that are joining our commitment to closing the shortage gap of stenographers nationally.”
“NCRA recognizes that there are various methods available to capture the spoken word, but our emphasis is on ensuring that both the general public and the legal industry understand that stenography is by far the most effective and desired method,” Ferranto said
The court reporting and captioning professions offer viable career choices that do not require a four-year college degree and yet offer good salaries, flexible schedules, and interesting venues. There is currently an increasing demand for more reporters and captioners to meet the growing number of employment opportunities available nationwide and abroad.
Court reporters and captioners rely on the latest in technology to use stenographic machines to capture the spoken word and translate it into written text in real time. These professionals work both in and out of the courtroom recording legal cases and depositions, providing live captioning of events, and assisting members of the deaf and hard-of-hearing communities with gaining access to information, entertainment, educational opportunities, and more.
Posted on: July 30th, 2018 by Dependable Website Management No Comments
The shortage of court reporters is being felt in Horry County, South Carolina, and Bobbi Fisher of Myrtle Beach, who works as a court reporter in Horry County’s Family Court, says she’s afraidthat when her generation leaves the courtroom there won’t be anyone to replace them.
Ginny Jones, spokesperson for the S.C. Judicial Department, said that since fewer people are entering the profession and the numbers of new court reporters hasn’t kept up with retirements, machines are the obvious choice to remedy the problem.
She said the South Carolina Court Administration is already experimenting with digital recorders.
“In January 2018, the S.C. Supreme Court issued an order for a Digital Courtroom Recorder Project,” Jones told The Horry Independent. “This proven technology, which is operated in courtrooms by trained staff, is now capturing the record effectively in five courtrooms and is coming to more this year.”
But Jones went on to note that technology is not replacing human court reporters where they are available.
“It is important to note that we view digital recording as a supplement to court reporting; it has never replaced an existing court reporter, nor do we intend for it to.”
If no court reporters are available, the courts are more likely to take plea bargains over trials. Defendants who opt for a trial will have to wait until the proper staff is available.
South Carolina Senator Greg Hembree called the court reporter shortage a “huge” problem.
“Yes, it is a huge problem, especially in Family Court,” he said. “We’ve got judges that can’t hold court because they don’t have court reporters.”
He said the government is willing to increase court reporter salaries ifneed be.
He calls letting machines help with recording court proceedings “a good experiment” but said, “In the meantime, we’ve got cases that are not getting heard.”
Posted on: July 23rd, 2018 by Dependable Website Management No Comments
The Judicial Council in San Diego has added an amendment to its budget asking for funding for court reporters when poor people qualify for fee waivers under the recent Supreme Court ruling.
The funding will cover a verbatim record obtained through court reporting, electronic recording or some other means.
The high court’s ruling in Jameson v. Desta earlier this month affirmed an indigent litigant’s right to have a free court reporter in a civil trial. The Supreme Court said an accurate trial record is especially important in the appeal stage of a case.
“While we don’t know the scope of that budget obligation at this stage, we know that it will become one,” said council member Judge David Rubin of San Diego, chair of the Judicial Branch Budget Committee.
Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye wrote in the court’s unanimous decision, “Without an exception for fee waiver recipients, the policy at issue here places indigent civil litigants at a significant disadvantage with respect to the right of appeal compared to those litigants who can afford to pay for a private shorthand reporter,” Courthouse News reported.
Some judges requested language allowing for other ways to record proceedings besides court reporters, anticipating a potential shortage of court reporters in the future.
“I’m not necessarily advocating that we switch to electric recording for all proceedings, but it is something that maybe we should be looking at as we begin to propose budgets that are years from now,” said Judge Stuart Rice of Los Angeles, outgoing president of the California Judges Association.
The Supreme Court’s ruling does not limit recording to court reporters, and the Council noted there are “many technologies out there that will convert voice to text.”
“This is certainly not meant to say, ‘Hey, we are now against court reporters,’” Rice said. “We just want to be able to make sure that as we move forward we have the ability to provide access, provide a verbatim record, by whatever means the future holds for us.”
Judge Marla Anderson of Monterey County said the proposal should be for “an inclusive world that includes court reporters as well as any means of getting a verbatim record.”
Cantil-Sakauye said,“There is no ill-will toward court reporters. It is a nod to the future if need be for the courts.”
Posted on: July 16th, 2018 by Dependable Website Management No Comments
The California Supreme Court has ruled everyone is entitled to a court reporter in that state.
The California Supreme Court has enshrined the right to a private court reporter in civil cases, whether they can afford one or not.
Judges on the court ruled unanimously that everyone is entitled to a verbatim record of their proceeding. The ruling is a reaction to cost-cutting in San Diego County that deprived some civil litigants of the services of a court reporter.
According to Courthouse News Service:
“By precluding an indigent litigant from obtaining the attendance of an official court reporter (to which the litigant would be entitled without payment of a fee), while at the same time preserving the right of financially able litigants to obtain an officially recognized pro tempore court reporter, the challenged court policy creates the type of restriction of meaningful access to the civil judicial process that the relevant California in forma pauperis precedents and legislative policy render impermissible,” Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye wrote. “Accordingly, we conclude that the court policy in question is invalid as applied to plaintiff and other fee waiver recipients, and that an official court reporter, or other valid means to create an official verbatim record for purposes of appeal, must generally be made available to in forma pauperis litigants upon request.”
The ruling acknowledges the importance of a verbatim record from a qualified court reporter in such issues as appeals.
Michael Shipley, who argued the case before the California Supreme Court on behalf of Barry Jameson, a prison inmate who brought the suit, said, “I practice in state court all the time for nonindigent litigants and we’re all sensitive to the fact that the courts don’t have unlimited amounts of money. But the court was clear that the solution to that problem cannot exist to deny access to justice for poor litigants. Access to justice is a huge civil rights issue and we had 40 different organizations that either filed or joined amicus briefs because this issue was affecting in a negative way all kinds of people’s rights to petition the government for redress of their grievances.”
Posted on: July 9th, 2018 by Dependable Website Management No Comments
Legal firms embrace technology.
Technology seems to be changing every aspect of the legal system, from court reporting to law offices. In fact, some court reporting firms such as CourtScribes are leading the way in technology, and some law offices need to do some catching up.
A recent article in LawFuel outlines some of the reasons lawyers need to jump aboard the tech bandwagon. Here’s a look at a few of those reasons.
Clients expect cost savings
Technology is helping to drive down the cost and increase the quality of many services. We’ve found that to be true for court reporting, and it’s also true for lawyers.
According to LawFuel, “Customers know that technology is creating savings in time and money for lawyers and they expect those savings to be passed on. Clients want to experience the savings. The expectation from clients is that they want to see their lawyers doing the heavy lifting, but don’t want to pay for routine work.”
Accuracy is more important than ever
As CourtScribes shows in court reporting with its capacity for creating accurate, verbatim records combined with video and cloud technology, the demands for excellence only grow with technological improvements.
“When your clients have the whole internet at their fingertips they will have higher expectations for you. In a world where knowledge is everywhere, it’s important to preserve high standards of accuracy and precision,” the LawFuel editors write.
Technology doesn’t mean just one thing
CourtScribes has embraced a range of technology in order to become a leader in court reporting. Lawyers who want to be successful in the current age need to do something very similar.
According to LawFuel, “The future of technology is speculative, but rapidly changing, and all successful firms need to leverage technology in the delivery of legal services – predictive analytics in law, rule systems, matter standards in law firms, legal education reform, and customer perspectives.”
Posted on: July 2nd, 2018 by Dependable Website Management No Comments
Court reporters are missing from many courtrooms.
Courthouses across the country are lacking some key people as court reporters reach retirement age without replacements.
That’s just what has happened in Macon County, Illinois, when a court reporter there retired, according to the local newspaper, the Herald & Review. The paper reports that the lack of court reporters is playing out across Illinois.
According to the newspaper:
A snapshot of the problem: There are job openings listed online for court reporters, or stenographers, in 11 of the state’s 24 judicial circuits, and officials say that may not cover every opening in the state. Illinois had 506 licensed court reporters as of January 2017, and 136 of those were eligible for retirement, according to data from the court reporting division of the Administrative Office of Illinois Courts.
“We definitely need a new generation to come in,” said Kathryn Thomas, president of the Illinois Court Reporter Association, which has more than 300 members.
The shortage of court reporters has officials such as Winnebago, Ill., County Judge Eugene Doherty concerned, according to television station WREX.
“We are concerned. Of that 500 we’re looking at maybe half of them or more being replaced in the next ten years,” says Chief Judge Doherty.
As the current workforce prepares to retire, court systems like Winnebago County are working to recruit the next generation of workers…
“A court reporter has to keep up with a lot of things and we rely on them and their skill in order to make sure that record is accurate,” says Doherty.
Firms such as CourtScribes are growing, though, thanks to a combination of technology and highly-trained traditional stenographers.
We pride ourselves on creating completely accurate verbatim transcripts, no matter how chaotic the environment. The best way to do that is through hiring the best court reporters and combining them with unique, powerful, industry-leading technology.
Posted on: June 25th, 2018 by Dependable Website Management No Comments
Artificial intelligence is making inroads in the legal profession.
A recent experiment sheds light on the changes technology has in store for the legal profession. In this case, artificial intelligence bested lawyers in one aspect of legal work.
A new study, conducted by legal AI platform LawGeex in consultation with law professors from Stanford University, Duke University School of Law, and University of Southern California, pitted twenty experienced lawyers against an AI trained to evaluate legal contracts.
Competitors were given four hours to review five non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) and identify 30 legal issues, including arbitration, confidentiality of relationship, and indemnification. They were scored by how accurately they identified each issue.
Unfortunately for humanity, we lost the competition — badly.
Human lawyers were 85 percent accurate, while the machines were 95 percent accurate. The technology was also way faster, taking 26 seconds to complete their task, while humans took 92 minutes.
All that isn’t actually bad news for humans. “Having the AI do a first review of an NDA, much like having a paralegal issue spot, would free up valuable time for lawyers to focus on client counseling and other higher-value work,” said Erika Buell, clinical professor at Duke University School of Law.
In fact, attorneys are already using AI in the real world to enhance their work, according to Small Firm Central.
If you envision some kind of futuristic world with robots running the show, you’re thinking way too far into the future. Artificial intelligence (AI) is already here. In our everyday lives – and in our professional lives. It’s prevalent in the workflows of legal professionals everywhere, not only helping automate common tasks to make our jobs easier and more efficient, but also helping us practice law more confidently, allowing us to provide better service to our clients. Here are five ways AI is being used in the legal industry today.
Posted on: June 18th, 2018 by Dependable Website Management No Comments
There’s still a place for courtroom stenography in the technological revolution by court reporting agency CourtScribes.
All aspects of the legal profession are being altered by technology, as are those of court reporting.
Billionaire 365 points out that technology has changed the way lawyers bill their clients, how corporate legal departments operate, how legal filings are done, and has improved research. According to Billionaire 365 reports:
Technology in the courtroom isn’t just limited to software. Many courtrooms today are equipped with state of the art technology that allows lawyers to present their cases on built-in monitors, and while cameras and other equipment have increased courtroom security.
Lastly, technology has made legal researcha more efficient and less time consuming. Legal professionals can now access a wide range of legal databases to do their research and verify case laws. While law libraries still do exist, and may not yet be near extinction, electronic research is now the most common method of gathering information.
With all these changes and advantages in technology, and the enormous impact it has had on the legal profession, it is imperative for lawyers, paralegals and other legal professionals to become tech savvy. Those who want to be successful in the legal field must be open to learning about and using new technology in their practices, or get left behind.
CourtScribes knows a thing or two about leveraging technology to improve both its business and the legal system.
Here’s a rundown of some of Courtscribes’ services:
An experienced court reporter oversees recording equipment and takes simultaneous notes. Digital annotations are time-linked to the recording so it’s a simple process to find and listen to actual testimony.
Each primary participant in the proceeding is given a discreet sound channel so that each voice is distinct, eliminating confusion caused by cross talk. “This voice isolation feature permits a full and accurate transcription of exactly what was said — and who said it — because each channel can be listened to individually,” Unger writes.
Because of the quality of the recordings, court reporters are less obtrusive than in more traditional court stenography. Unger writes, “The recording process captures all words exactly as spoken — then in transcription the audio can be replayed as needed to verify verbatim accuracy.”
Lawyers or other interested parties can obtain copies of the digital recording as well as the transcript, and, “With digital annotations directly “hot-linked” to the audio, points of interest are located quickly and efficiently,” Unger writes.
Notes and audio files can be delivered over the Internet. Unger writes, “Both log notes and audio files are transmitted over the Internet, reducing or eliminating shipping costs and delivery delays. Storage and archiving are efficient and compact. When the audio and log notes are saved as computer files, there are no cassettes to store, nor files of reporters’ paper notes to maintain.”
Posted on: June 11th, 2018 by Dependable Website Management No Comments
Miami court reporters Courtscribes bring technology to the table.
The national court reporter shortage has reared its head in Florida, as Broward County wrestles with fallout from too-few qualified people.
The South Florida Sun-Sentinel reports that administrators in Broward County are being urged to boost the attractiveness of the profession before the shortage affects felony cases. According to the newspaper:
Court reporters in Broward are paid $100 for a morning of work and $100 for an afternoon in the felony division. On the civil side, they are not mandatory. When they are hired, they are not paid with taxpayer money.
Private lawyers are charged — $250 each for the morning and afternoon session.
Broward is just one of many places that finds itself facing a shortage of qualified court reporters, as we noted here.
According to Ducker Worldwide: “Increased legal activity and new opportunities will drive demand despite the steady transition of some courts to digital recording. Decreased enrollment and graduation rates for court reporters, combined with significant retirement rates, will create by 2018 a critical shortfall projected to represent nearly 5,500 court reporting positions.”
Ducker Worldwide predicts there will still be a strong market for courtroom stenography in the years to come.
CourtScribes is a pioneer in using technology to help enhance court reporting.
Entrepreneur and professor Barry Unger, in a white paper, writes that the court reporting agency is leading a wave of change to disrupt the centuries-old profession.
Unger writes: “CourtScribes is changing the court reporting industry by using Internet age technology to create the official record of court proceedings, using remote transcriptionists and charging attorneys up to 50% less than what they now pay, and as … a disruptive technology will not only improve the quality of services, but also ultimately extend and even democratize the use of services that are today often restricted only to high profile or high dollar value cases.”
Posted on: June 4th, 2018 by Dependable Website Management No Comments
A court reporter shortage means choosing the career could set you up for success in the job market.
All around the country, there’s a court reporter shortage. In South Carolina, that shortage has become particularly acute.
The Charleston Post and Courier reports that more than a quarter of that state’s court reporter positions are vacant. Those vacancies are resulting in delays and last-minute cancellations of proceedings across the state, the newspaper reports.
Rescheduled hearings can mean additional expenses for litigants, according to a Family Court judge who said she and others on the bench are upset by how they say the state has failed to recruit and hire reporters.
The S.C. Court Administration supervises the trained stenographers who transcribe verbatim records of Circuit and Family Court proceedings. A wave of retirements and a lack of training at state technical colleges has created the shortage, the office says.
The judge, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, disagrees with that explanation.
“This whole shortage has been a creation of the court system. It’s a total disruption. … Court reporters are trying to apply and not getting hired.”
The South Carolina troubles are an extreme example of a nationwide trend, and one that’s expected to grow more acute. Retirements and increased demand are leading to court reporter shortages across the country.
A study by Ducker Worldwide predicts a shortage of court reporters in the coming year, as court reporting professionals retire without enough replacements ready to fill their shoes.
According to Ducker Worldwide: “Increased legal activity and new opportunities will drive demand despite the steady transition of some courts to digital recording. Decreased enrollment and graduation rates for court reporters, combined with significant retirement rates, will create by 2018 a critical shortfall projected to represent nearly 5,500 court reporting positions.”
Ducker Worldwide predicts there will still be a strong market for courtroom stenography in the years to come.
Court reporters, also known as stenographers, use a 6-pound stenotype machine, which features 22 keys, to capture, verbatim, the court record. The keys do not spell out letters, but rather they spell out syllables phonetically, using a combination of letters. Originally, reporters took shorthand notes and typed them onto carbon copy paper. Now, they are able in real time to connect to paperless machines that hook up to iPads, laptops and computers to capture the record at a typing pace of 225 words per minute.
In Brainerd, court reporters have a combined 130 years of experience and want people to know the demand for the profession is high.
Ducker Worldwide, a Troy, Mich.-based global consulting and research firm, estimates the aging pool of current court reporters, plus the declining enrollment rates in training programs, will create a shortfall of nearly 5,500 this year alone. Forbes has named court reporting as one of the best career options that does not require a traditional four-year degree and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports the court reporting field is expected to grow by 14 percent through the year 2020.
Depending on the industry, their experience and the amount of work they take on, court reporters can make upward of six figures a year, statistics show. Official reporters working for the courts receive a salary, benefits and extra income for transcripts.
By most measures, court reporters have a truly rewarding career in an expanding field. CourtScribes is working hard to keep up with demand, while continuing to expand. Thanks to our unique blend of traditional stenography with cutting edge video, cloud and telecommunications technology, we’re able to offer services that are second to none.
Posted on: May 21st, 2018 by Dependable Website Management No Comments
The Supreme Court slowly adopts new technology
If you want to follow a strong career path and become a court reporter, there are some practical steps you can take.
Here are a few of them.
Pick an area of specialization
According to CourtReporter EDU.org, there are multiple paths you can take in this versatile career. “Although all court reporter programs have the same, basic structure as to prepare students for state licensure and/or professional certification, some schools divide their court reporter programs in a number of ways to best prepare students for specific areas of court reporting, while others provide a more comprehensive approach to court reporting.”
Be sure you’re prepared for the court reporter program
CourtReporter EDU.org writes, “Students are then often required to rent or purchase a model computerized writer for CAT classes. Purchasing a new computerized writer may cost upwards of $2,000, while used models can be purchased for as little as $400. Given the cost of computerized writers, many students choose to rent these models. Software for the computerized writers may also cost an additional $100 to $500. Individuals should also be prepared to take entrance exams prior to being accepted into a court reporter program. Entrance exams are usually in typing and English, and students should have an excellent grasp of the English language before applying to a court reporter program.”
Complete your program
“The path to a court reporting career is rather standard in terms of education. Specifically, individuals must complete a recognized court reporting program. However, where this education is obtained may differ, as court reporting programs are available in a number of institutions, from community colleges to dedicated court reporter schools. A court reporting program may therefore result in an associate’s degree or professional diploma or certificate, depending on the institution in which the program is located,” writes CourtReporter EDU.org. “It is common for court reporting programs to be quite flexible, with many institutions offering a number of online courses and day and evening classes to accommodate today’s busy lifestyles.”
Posted on: May 14th, 2018 by Dependable Website Management No Comments
There’s still a place for courtroom stenography in the technological revolution by court reporting agency CourtScribes.
With a shortage looming, a group of Texas court reporters has taken the unusual step of raising money to educate the next generation of court reporters.
The Texas Deposition Reporters Association has raised $11,000 to help fund Project Steno, which provides educational opportunities for stenographers. According to a press release:
There is a very critical nationwide shortage of court reporters affecting the legal system, and many in the industry are coming together to employ creative solutions to solve this looming crisis. Project Steno is designed to help promising new reporting students, recruited through a free introduction to court reporting known as the Steno A to Z Program, with their court reporting school tuition. TEXDRA recently concluded its first successful Steno A to Z class, and there are several more classes happening statewide; the program is also now featured online.
The initial first step in Project Steno’s 4-step plan is to engage prospective court reporting students in one of many A to Z programs being delivered by volunteer court reporters across the U.S. Students who graduate from an A to Z program and are then accepted by Project Steno will be offered tuition assistance when they choose to attend a Project Steno Partner Program. TEXDRA is very proud to be engaged in this complementary, innovative and unprecedented effort.
“Nothing we face as a profession is more important than joining forces to stimulate interest in the opportunities available through a career in court reporting,” said David Ross, president of TEXDRA. “We put out an appeal to our members for Project Steno, and we raised over $10,000 in what felt like a blink of an eye. TEXDRA’s members are the best!”
While there is the possibility of shortages of court reporters, in many ways, there’s never been a better time to be part of the business, thanks to advances in technology, solid salaries, and increasing demand.
Posted on: May 7th, 2018 by Dependable Website Management No Comments
Court reporting agency CourtScribes combines competence with tech prowess.
Technological disruption can spark justifiable fear for jobs in any industry. But it can also be a huge boon, as is the case for court reporters.
That’s because, despite major technological breakthroughs by companies such as court reporting agency CourtScribes, the demand for traditional courtroom stenography remains strong at the same time tech helps drive service improvements.
As Los Angeles business writer Jesse Caitland writes:
Thanks to the increase of litigation in the fields of business law, medical malpractice, probate law and other areas of practice, the sheer volume of requests for deposition experts has increased in a corresponding number as the American economy grows. This means that court reporting firms large and small, are experiencing a sort of renaissance…
While developments like automatic checkout (without the presence of a cashier) and electronic banking, have heavily negatively impacted the job force, forcing many people to look for new careers, the legal professions as diverse as expert witnesses, videographers, stenographers, marketers and others have all experienced a steady and improved series of workload increases.
No firm better exemplifies the combination of traditional services with cutting edge technology than CourtScribes.
Professor and entrepreneur Barry Unger writes: “As a cofounder of Kurzweil Computer Products, Inc., an early artificial intelligence and digital imaging company which then became Xerox Imaging Systems, I saw first-hand the enormous positive impact of what is now called digital photography, and how this new capability has both improved the quality of photography and equally importantly opened up active photography to a much bigger audience and to new uses. Think for example how many of the countless unforeseen ways we now on a regular basis use the electronic cameras built into our phones to communicate with each other and facilitate our work flow, and even recording images like damage to our cars or receipts for expense reports or to identify items for purchase, or to make video calls around the world, and how integral video recording is becoming to law enforcement activities. This of course is the impact disruptive technologies can have. Looking at the already successful implementations of CourtScribes’ technology and internet based service, I can see an analogous type of phenomenon beginning to happen in the legal industry, where court reporting and videography will become a new standard, a “no-brainer” as it were.”
Legal stenography has changed from long rolls of paper to digital transcription. Facing budget cuts, courts can no longer afford to have a stenographer in every courtroom and at every hearing.
Technology is allowing both sides to continue to survive and succeed.
In Florida, some proceedings still call for the presence of a traditional stenographer, while others are staffed by a recorder. Either one, though, is driven by technological change.
Court reporting agency CourtScribes has been at the forefront of technological changes in the profession. The company combines video, audio, and cloud technology with traditional stenography to offer unparalleled speed and accuracy in its verbatim record keeping.
CourtScribes process includes:
An experienced court reporter oversees recording equipment and takes simultaneous notes. Digital annotations are time-linked to the recording so it’s a simple process to find and listen to actual testimony.
Each primary participant in the proceeding is given a discreet sound channel so that each voice is distinct, eliminating confusion caused by cross talk. “This voice isolation feature permits a full and accurate transcription of exactly what was said — and who said it — because each channel can be listened to individually,” entrepreneur and professor Barry Unger writes in a white paper for the company.
Because of the quality of the recordings, court reporters are less obtrusive than in more traditional court stenography. Unger writes, “The recording process captures all words exactly as spoken — then in transcription the audio can be replayed as needed to verify verbatim accuracy.”
Lawyers or other interested parties can obtain copies of the digital recording as well as the transcript, and, “With digital annotations directly “hot-linked” to the audio, points of interest are located quickly and efficiently,” Unger writes.
Notes and audio files can be delivered over the Internet. Unger writes, “Both log notes and audio files are transmitted over the Internet, reducing or eliminating shipping costs and delivery delays. Storage and archiving are efficient and compact. When the audio and log notes are saved as computer files, there are no cassettes to store, nor files of reporters’ paper notes to maintain.”
Posted on: April 23rd, 2018 by Dependable Website Management No Comments
Court reporting agency CourtScribes prides itself on competence.
Not all court reporting firms are created equal. That’s why it pays to get it right when it comes to choosing the right court reporting agency.
Some of those important considerations include.
Experience
You’ll want to check on the longevity of the court reporting agency you work with. That’s not the only indicator of quality, certainly, but it can help you choose.
“If a firm that has been operating for many years, this may be a sign that it is stable,” according to The Global Dispatch. “It means that it has been able to sustain the services it offers to its clients. It would have built its systems to provide its clients’ with what it needs.”
CourtScribes’ executive team has decades of experience working in the legal system.
Reliability
Accuracy, punctuality and reliability are crucial in choosing the court reporting agency to help you.
“Dealing with a professional firm ensures reliable service,” according to Global Dispatch. “You will expect the court reporter from the company to be professional in how they work. They will be punctual and thus allow smooth proceedings to happen.”
CourtScribes takes pride in creating an accurate, verbatim record of proceedings no matter how chaotic the environment is and uses unique, industry-leading technology in that quest.
Offers innovative services
The world doesn’t stand still. The legal profession doesn’t stand still. Your court reporting agency shouldn’t stand still either.
CourtScribes works on the cutting edge of technology, including providing on-demand video. Entrepreneur and professor Barry Unger, in a white paper, writes, “CourtScribes is able to leverage its process and technology to provide live and on-demand video or audio recording to attorneys in the office at marginal cost. Attorneys not only benefit from a less expensive transcript but the video and/or audio recording provides them with a more accurate and complete record. The digital recording reveals the demeanor of a witness and whether, for instance, they were being sarcastic. In addition, the live video and/or audio feed can be watched by attorneys in the office, allowing the office team to monitor the proceedings and more effectively assist the attorneys in the courtroom.”
Posted on: April 16th, 2018 by Dependable Website Management No Comments
There’s still a place for courtroom stenography in the technological revolution by court reporting agency CourtScribes.
The legal system can seem stuffy, hidebound and resistant to change. But firms like court reporting agency CourtScribes are changing that.
And that’s very much a good thing. The changes the court reporting agency and others are bringing about amount to a revolution in the courthouse that will bring costs down and democratize access to the legal system.
Courtscribes sees the changes as an opportunity rather than a threat.
Cloud computing combined with digital and audio advances put Courtscribes ahead of the pack when it comes to both the accuracy and cost of its court reporting.
“CourtScribes is changing the court reporting industry by using Internet age technology to create the official record of court proceedings, using remote transcriptionists and charging attorneys up to 50% less than what they now pay, and as … a disruptive technology will not only improve the quality of services, but also ultimately extend and even democratize the use of services that are today often restricted only to high profile or high dollar value cases,” writes Barry Unger, a professor and entrepreneur, in a white paper.
CourtScribes’ services include:
An experienced court reporter oversees recording equipment and takes simultaneous notes. Digital annotations are time-linked to the recording so it’s a simple process to find and listen to actual testimony.
Each primary participant in the proceeding is given a discreet sound channel so that each voice is distinct, eliminating confusion caused by cross talk. “This voice isolation feature permits a full and accurate transcription of exactly what was said — and who said it — because each channel can be listened to individually,” Unger writes.
Because of the quality of the recordings, court reporters are less obtrusive than in more traditional court stenography. Unger writes, “The recording process captures all words exactly as spoken — then in transcription the audio can be replayed as needed to verify verbatim accuracy.”
Lawyers or other interested parties can obtain copies of the digital recording as well as the transcript, and, “With digital annotations directly “hot-linked” to the audio, points of interest are located quickly and efficiently,” Unger writes.
Notes and audio files can be delivered over the Internet. Unger writes, “Both log notes and audio files are transmitted over the Internet, reducing or eliminating shipping costs and delivery delays. Storage and archiving are efficient and compact. When the audio and log notes are saved as computer files, there are no cassettes to store, nor files of reporters’ paper notes to maintain.”
Posted on: April 9th, 2018 by Dependable Website Management No Comments
The Miami court reporters of CourtScribes incorporate technology into their work.
Court reporting doesn’t get the love it deserves as a profession. As the Miami court reporters of CourtScribes know, court reporting is not just growing, but changing thanks to innovation.
According to Planet Depos, “It’s obvious we need talented doctors, dentists, and teachers. But there are other indispensable professionals who have amazing mental processing skills in essential positions. A court reporting career showcases those stars.”
That lack of marketing has led to serious shortages of court reporting talent, according to the National Court Reporters Association, which estimates there will be a surplus of 5,500 jobs in the field this year.
The Miami court reporters of CourtScribes are one of the innovative companies helping both make the profession more attractive and respond to such things as court reporter shortages through technology.
According to Jesse Caitland of essentialbusinsses.com, more technology in the courtroom has not meant job losses for court reporters, as it has for some other fields. In fact, she writes: “Court reporters have benefited in a significant way by embracing key technologies and maintaining the traditional values of professionalism, punctuality and other traits.”
Barry Unger, a professor and entrepreneur, in a white paper, “CourtScribes is changing the court reporting industry by using Internet age technology to create the official record of court proceedings, using remote transcriptionists and charging attorneys up to 50% less than what they now pay, and as … a disruptive technology will not only improve the quality of services, but also ultimately extend and even democratize the use of services that are today often restricted only to high profile or high dollar value cases.”
With its combination of high-tech tools and experienced professionals, Courtscribes is able to create completely accurate verbatim records, no matter how chaotic the environment, leading the court reporting agency’s clients to expect nothing less than perfection.
Posted on: April 2nd, 2018 by Dependable Website Management No Comments
Court reporting agency CourtScribes is all about innovation.
Theranos promised cutting edge health care results. The trouble was, those claims weren’t true, and that’s something innovators in the legal industry should take seriously. Court reporting agency CourtScribes certainly does.
Carolyn Elefant, writing for Above The Law, points out that there are lessons for legal innovators in the story of Theranos.
Theranos’s technology wasn’t ready for prime time.
But rather than come clean, Theranos kept the fairy tale going long after the clock struck midnight. According to the SEC complaint, Theranos employed third-parties to run its purportedly innovative blood tests using conventional technology, while continuing to represent to investors that it ran the tests in-house. (Complaint ¶49). Theranos also told investors that it had multiple contracts with the military and that its testing devices had been employed on the battlefield and in medevac helicopters when the Department of Defense had only used it once in a study. (Complaint ¶68). In late 2015, a Wall Street Journalreport exposed many of Theranos’s false claims and in turn set in motion investigations by other regulators, including the SEC.
So how does something like this happen with sophisticated investors and wide media coverage of technology companies? Easy. Everyone loves a disruptor.
Enfant argues that similar things happen in the legal industry.
At the same time, true innovators like the CourtScribes court reporting agency really are changing things up.
“CourtScribes is changing the court reporting industry by using Internet age technology to create the official record of court proceedings, using remote transcriptionists and charging attorneys up to 50% less than what they now pay, and as … a disruptive technology will not only improve the quality of services, but also ultimately extend and even democratize the use of services that are today often restricted only to high profile or high dollar value cases,” writes Barry Unger, a professor and entrepreneur, in a white paper.
Posted on: March 26th, 2018 by Dependable Website Management No Comments
Technological advances are changing the legal system and court reporting agency CourtScribes is at the forefront.
Lawyers are not well-known for their embrace of digital technology. Still, slowly but surely, the legal profession is changing, helped along by pioneers like Florida court reporting agency CourtScribes.
The digital disruption of the legal system can be seen in everything from the way evidence is presented to how CourtScribes uses technology to enhance traditional courtroom stenography.
The formal, ceremonious nature of the law has never been synonymous with advanced technology and electronics. Even in as late as 2010, only 20 percent of attorneys surveyed by the American Bar Association reported using a laptop for courtroom presentations. However, in recent years, attorneys both in and out of the courtroom have been slowly but surely adapting to the digital age and utilizing certain computer technologies to assist in their case. After all, in only the past five years, there has been a 484% increase in global patent filings for new legal services technology.
Companies like court reporting agency CourtScribes are playing a large role in the digital transformation of the legal industry. Thanks to video, cloud computing and Internet communications technology, CourtScribes is able to provide an expanded suite of services that includes traditional stenography, but also video feeds and other services.
Entrepreneur and professor Barry Unger, in a white paper, writes that the court reporting agency is leading a wave of change to disrupt the centuries-old profession.
Unger writes: “CourtScribes is changing the court reporting industry by using Internet age technology to create the official record of court proceedings, using remote transcriptionists and charging attorneys up to 50% less than what they now pay, and as … a disruptive technology will not only improve the quality of services, but also ultimately extend and even democratize the use of services that are today often restricted only to high profile or high dollar value cases.”
Court reporters document millions of court cases with transcripts each year, and 14 states allow the use of audio or video recorders in place of court reporters, according to a 2015 study by the National Center for State Courts, 
Plaza College
Although s
A court reporting student who gets a degree at MacCormac is likely to come out with about $30,000 in debt but will likely get a job paying at least $40,000 annually, Forbes said.
Linguists from the University of Pennsylvania, a sociologist from New York University and a co-founder of Philadelphia Lawyers for Social Equity found that among the 27 court reporters they tested, 67 percent of their attempts at paraphrasing inaccurate, and 11 percent were called “gibberish.”
A key factor driving the market’s growth is the increase in healthcare IT spending, the company reported. And specifically, they said, growth in IT spending on medical transcription will drive the market growth. The need for digital documentation and integration of data will lead to increased IT spending on healthcare.
The Sixth Amendment of the United States Constitution grants criminal defendants the right to a speedy and public trial by an impartial 
Microsoft
The Library of Congress is looking for volunteers to volunteers to transcribe writings left behind by some of the greatest names in history, including 
Emilie Posnan, who has been a Montgomery County Court stenographer for 13 years, got a role on a Showtime drama, “Escape At Dannemora,” about a 2015 prison break in upstate New York.
None other than Charles Dickens, author of A Christmas Carol, Oliver Twist and Great Expectations, among other classic books, worked as a law clerk, and his tasks included delivering documents and running errands. 
South Dakota is one of the states that’s feeling the effects of the court reporter shortage, according to KELO of 
Attorneys can see the transcript while the trial is still going on, enabling them to quickly change their tactics if need be and strategize how to best question a witness. It also enables them to see clearly what was asked and answered earlier in the trial so they can re-state information if they need clarification.
“Today’s announcement does not mark the end of an era for NCRA and NCRF, but rather a step into the future for both organizations as they continue to work together to advance the court reporting and captioning professions,” said Marcia Ferranto, CEO and Executive Director of NCRA.
The new federal law sets a 30-gram limit on how much marijuana people can buy or possess in public. That’s equivalent to about one ounce. In addition, some cities have specific rules that apply to where you can consume your legal lmarijuana.
Fresno County, California is one place that could be facing court proceeding disruptions because nearly 300 courtroom workers could walk off the job if they don’t reach an agreement with court administrators on increased pay, hours and benefits.
A new National Law Enforcement Museum has opened in Washington, D.C. offering interactive exhibits the founders hope will help bridge the gap between law enforcement and the community.
Part of the problem is that more than a million cases being filed each year, courts are running out of room to file and store the paperwork, and electronic filing will create a more efficient, more accessible system while saving the court system money.
“Harriet O’Neal filed a waiver petition with the Board of Bar Examiners on November 30, 2017, asking that she be allowed to practice law in Georgia without sitting for the Georgia bar exam and without meeting the usual requirements for admission without examination. Specifically, O’Neal based her request for a waiver on her status as the spouse of an active member of the military who had been transferred here,” the court said in a unanimous unsigned opinion, per 
She said the South Carolina Court Administration is already experimenting with digital recorders.
