Court Reporting Internship Experiences

It's been a little while since I last updated you on how my court reporting internship hours are going, so let me me get you up to speed. What I'm working on right now for school is the 40 hours of writing time in court, depos, etc. that I have to get out of the way before I start my official internship.

A few weeks ago, I hauled my steno machine downtown and sat in on a jury trial. It ended up being a really interesting substantial battery case.  If I were to continue working in this town after I get out of school, I suspect that would not be the last bar fight case I'd report.  My writer's memory filled up at about the 2-hour mark, but I stayed and took more testimony down until I had three hours under my belt for the day.  I eventually had to leave to move my car, but it was like trying to get up and turn the TV off when your favorite show is on.The judge in the case spoke clearly and slowly, so I could really keep up during the judge's charge to the jury and with his rulings.

The time after that, I went with another steno student to court for a barrage of motion hearings and pleadings.  That day was really fast-paced, and at times it was hard to hear the parties because we were at the back of the courtroom and nobody was speaking into their microphones.  I just wrote whatever I could and did my best.  The cases were always changing, and it was tough to keep the names and party designations straight, so that was the challenge for the day. We also introduced ourselves to the court reporters and asked them some questions, and they seemed excited for us and wished us success. 

Last week, I wrote another jury trial with the same judge. This time involved a domestic disturbance, and the courtroom was full to the brim. When I first got there, I sat in the media room behind two-way glass where they piped in the audio. People were going in and out the whole time, and once the judge forgot to turn the audio back on after a sidebar, so I moved out into the gallery until the lunch break. I thought I'd give the media room a try again after lunch, but it turned out that a bunch of comedians decided to call a play-by-play of the proceedings in there, so I went back out in the gallery at the earliest break in the proceedings.

Last but not least, I had my first CART experience during the career spotlight day for the judicial reporting program.  Area high school students came to listen to what our profession was all about, and I took down what my teachers were saying as best I could, and my writing was projected on the big screen at the front of the classroom.  I also demonstrated my virtual piano/steno machine abilities by playing Let it Be, Fur Elise, and Bad Romance by Lady Gaga for them, and they completed a code-breaking/steno worksheet that I created. When all was said and done, I felt like I had a big part in the success of the presentation that day.

That's all that's fit to be written for today. If you just can't get enough court reporting internship stories, check out this link to read another student's experiences or this link to continue reading mine. 

First Court Reporting Internship Hour -- Mock Depo

A few weeks ago, one of my teachers approached me and a couple other students about reporting a mock deposition that would count toward my internship hours.  The purpose of the exercise, she said, was to show the new lawyers how they looked in print.  I quickly typed up a response saying that I'd do it, clicked send, and before I knew what had hit me, I was committed.  I'm the type of person who believes in going with their first instinct, though, so I came to the conclusion that this would be a great experience.  Here is how it went from start to finish.

I arrived at the law office at least a half hour early and told the administrative assistant I was there to report a mock deposition.  She directed me to a large conference room that looked out over the city skyline.  There were tables at either end of the room that held pitchers overflowing with juice and plates full of giant donuts.  Mmmmm... donuts.

All joking aside, though, I was too nervous to eat. ;)

Then I picked a seat, set up my equipment, and began warming up.  When the lawyers arrived, I introduced myself and asked the names of the parties in this case and created a seating chart on paper.  When we were ready to begin, I swore in the witness.  I went through the oath flawlessly, but forgot to have them raise their right hand with me.  Definitely won't forget that one again!

The lawyers at the deposition talked pretty fast for me, but it showed me what I need to work on.  Next time, I will interrupt when it gets too fast instead of trying to rely on the audio.  I was just so nervous, though, and everything I thought I knew went out the window other than my brain telling my fingers to write.  The funniest part?  I found out at the end of the first one that I had written Mr. Schmidt as Mr. /SHEUT throughout the whole depo.  Lather, rinse, and repeat with one more witness and questioning attorney.

Sitting down to edit has taught me so much about punctuation and has forced me to get better and smarter at using my CAT software.  I started using some hyperkeys I wasn't aware of before, and most importantly, I started defining my slop as \word\word in Eclipse so it translates but still flags me to check it in the transcript with the C hyperkey.

One piece of advice I have for editing is to do one thing at a time.  Define all untranslates on the first pass, then go back for periods and question marks, and then do another pass for commas and semicolons, etc.  Break it down into little tasks, and then it doesn't seem so overwhelming.  I turned in the final transcripts today, and am already thinking about the next one.  Bring it on!