courtreporting

Anyone get their certification results back?
I've been anxiously checking my snail mail every day in the last two weeks in hopes that they would send them out early (yeah, sure). I went to my mailbox this afternoon and low and behold..a big envelope from NCRA.

I open it up and...

It's about the damn voice writers! DOH!

Also, anyone live in the Indianapolis area? I just accepted a job there (moving at the end of next month) and was wondering if anyone lived around there. :)

Blargh.

First testimony class in six months and it SHOWS. I'd forgotten how hard it is.

In speed building, the dictation is rather easy: "Dear sir, your payment is overdue. Please fuck off. Yours truly." There are some hard words, but generally it's words I'm used to hearing.

In testimony, because we use real court transcripts, it's real language. "Gonna." "Ain't." And a whole LOT of contractions that I'm not used to writing. *sigh*

I need to put in a lot more practice than I have been lately.

At least this school lets you build up your speed in testimony from 80-140. Right now I'm working on my 80's in testimony. At the Academy it was just "You're done with letters, *plunk*, now go get 140 in testimony."

The LJ cut doesn't seem to be working for some reason for this community (it whites out my entire entry), so I apologize for the length of this entry, as it's pretty damn long.

Last week was the first time I wrote in five weeks. Part of that was due to time off I took to go home and work on wedding plans, and part of that was due to bad luck and having jobs either cancel or move on me.

The first job I wrote turned into a 13-hour day. It was a wrongful dismissal. I had to drive two hours to the job, and then I wrote from 10 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. with an hour's break for lunch. By the time I got home, it was almost 9 p.m.

The lawyers were great on the job, and was one even a dead ringer for Billy Bob Thorton in a nice suit. The witnesses left something to be desired though, which was only reiterated by both lawyers when after their clients left the courthouse, decided to talk settlement as both admitted their clients were anything but smart and it would be frustrating to go to trial and have to put them on the stand to be examined all over again.

Later in the week, I ended up writing a two-day job where the provincial government was being sued. The lawyer for the plaintiffs was someone I had had run-ins with at a previous firm I worked for. Rather than learning my name over the two days, he constantly referred to me as "the psycho cat lady" as I used to have pictures of one of my cats in my office at the previous firm. This lawyer also made constant comparisons to the firm I used to work for, to the firm I do work for now. It was frustrating, and the entire time, he was nothing but rude. He even criticized my outfit the second day I wrote, saying it was "too black."

Today I was scheduled to write an In-Aid. Like all In-Aids, because the defendants are no contra, you never know whether they will show up or not. And this morning was no exception, as five minutes after I arrived at the law firm I was writing at, the defendants called to say they filed for bankruptcy. And that was the end of my job today.

Tomorrow, I'm writing in Federal court. Even though you don't get to find out the name of the judge, counsel, or even what the case is about until you walk in the door, court has never been that bad to write in. In fact, I kind of writing in court as it's a nice change of pace from regular Discoveries. However, that has recently changed as well.

The previous firm I worked for, won out the contract for court clerks in the Federal court. The firm I work for now, however, won out the contract to write all the Federal cases for the next year. And you can probably see where I'm going with this... when I go into court now, I have to document EVERYTHING. I have to document how the judge acts, I have to document what time I arrived and left and if I take any breaks. I especially have to document how the court clerk treats me and if she fulfills her job duties. And apparently, she has to document ME as well.

The firm I work for now, and the previous firm I worked for, are the only two court reporting firms in the entire city. Needless to say, competition for job contracts gets vicious. This is the first year in 22 years that the firm I currently work for, has won the Federal court contract. The other firm is obviously choked, and now they are trying to make us look bad. One example...

When I was writing tax court back in March, on a recess, I asked the court clerk if I had enough time to pop out to the washroom. It was my first time in that particular court, so I had no idea where the washrooms are. The court clerk told me I had to get a key from this one office to use the washroom on that floor and that I wasn't allowed to use the public washrooms on the lower floor. I wasn't in the washroom more than two minutes before she was banging on the door saying I was holding up the proceedings and that EVERYONE was waiting on me. When I told my boss about this incident, apparently I was the second reporter this particular clerk had done this to. And, of course, the reporter not being present when the judge returns is never a good thing.

Next week, I'm writing four days out of five. Two of those days are in Yorkton, which is two hours from here, and a town I absolutely love to write in so I'm really looking forward to that. However, I'm told the lawyer I will be writing for is, in my boss's words, "a raging asshole" and a stickler on deadlines.

The last court reporter from our firm that wrote for him, who has over ten years experience under her belt, he made cry, and now she refuses to write on any jobs that involve him. I'm a little nervous, to say the least, but I'm good at keeping my cool, though, so I'm not overly worried.

The two other days are a continuation from a job all the way back from December 2002. It was a job my boss originally wrote, and I have a big memo that says the plaintiff in the case is allergic to almost EVERYTHING. For those two days, I cannot wear the following: Deodorant, body spray, perfume, baby powder, makeup, drycleaned clothes, hairspray, hand cream. It should be interesting, to say the least.

Yesterday was my cut-off deadline for getting a cheque at the end of the month. I was on holidays till the 7th of June, and out of the jobs I wrote last week, I accumulated over 500 pages worth of transcript. I had company from the 9th to the 12th and just didn't get a chance to get anything in on time for deadline. It's a tad frustrating to know that the cheque I did just get paid, will be the only money I see for the next month.

A previous firm I worked for (I've worked for three firms so far), there was no cut-off deadline, and whatever date you handed that job in, you were paid for it two weeks later. It was nice. I've noticed all three firms I have done work for, they each have their own way of paying you out, and they each have different rates.

The first firm I worked for, by far and away, I made the highest hourly wage at. The second firm I worked for, while the hourly wages weren't as high, I was writing pretty much five days a week every single week, that my cheques doubled. The firm I'm with now, I'm making about the least amount of money at, but I'm happy for the people I'm doing work for. But then I was dealt a blow this morning that I wasn't expecting...

My fiance picked my cheque up for me yesterday, as his office is in the building next to the firm I work for. When he got home, I looked at my cheque and noticed I was missing a cheque for mileage I had accumulated from two days on the road in Saskatoon, which is a 2 1/2 hour drive from here.

I called work this morning to inquire about it, only to be told that any job I write in Saskatoon or Prince Albert (which is a 4 hour drive from here), because we have offices there (manned by only one person in each location) and are only going out there to help with the overflow of jobs, we do not get to collect mileage for going out there. For the past six months, I've been submitting mileage invoices and thinking I was getting paid for them, only to discover this morning that I never have been, and no one bothered to correct me.

Apparently, any job I write outside of Saskatoon and Prince Albert, I can collect mileage on. This was a huge slap in the face though, because the jobs I did do in Saskatoon a bit back, out of my own pocket came hotel, food, mileage, and gas. The rate we get paid for our mileage covers all that, so I wasn't concerned at all - until I found this out.

My boss's reasoning is the money we make on writing the job is more than enough to cover hotel, food, mileage, etc. I disagree. Gas prices are high out here. To fill my tank, it costs me over $50. And the last two jobs I wrote in Saskatoon had a flat contract rate of $150. On each job, I got over 200 pages. Factor that in with mileage, food, gas, etc., and I made maybe 50 cents/page on it.

Right now, I'm a bit pissed off and need to vent. We have a big, big, big nation-wide media interest of a trial coming up in September in Saskatoon that I've been asked to be one of the reporters on. The trial is set to go till the following April. I'm debating removing myself from the trial now though because I can't afford to shell out for accommodation on a weekly basis, nevermind food and gas and the whatnot, and not get it back. The other two reporters on the job, one already lives in Saskatoon, the other reporter is my boss, so it's no big deal to either of them.

But this whole no mileage thing is absolutely just eating away at me right now. To find this out just now after working for this firm for the past six months and actually completely leaving the other firm I was doing work for (who did pay mileage to Saskatoon, etc., even though they have an office in Saskatoon as well) because this current firm asked me to work full-time for them, is just a big blow. I'm upset, grr. Grr. And it's not helping my frame of mind to get this transcript done that I'm currently sitting here working on.

Anyway. If you've gotten this far in my rant, thanks for listening to me and allowing me to get it out.

My new-to-me Stentura 200SRT is set up, plugged in, verified to be in working condition - except that the translation software has expired, again. [eyeroll] So Monday, I get to call the translation software place and say "Hey, my software registration expired, new code plzkthx." If that doesn't work, I'm seriously tempted to trytrytry to save up for the Stenograph software that I'd rather be using. $20 for a student version that's almost completely functional is a good deal... but the ways in which it isn't functional are extremely aggravating. If anybody here has any hints or tips for getting good student software on a seriously tight budget, please share. :]

Fortunately, this horror story isn't mine. I found out while I was away on vacation last week, one of the girls in our office, L, had a job at Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke's Medical Center in Chicago. Being that the hospital isn't in the Loop area where our agency's office is, she had to take a cab. When she was going /back/ to the office, she paid the cab driver, and as soon as she got out of the cab to fetch her machine from the trunk, she drove away.

Fortunately, the police were able to track the woman down the next day. She'd apparently not realized that L hadn't retrieved her bag from the trunk. To top it off, she'd leased the cab to a friend the next day, and so wasn't answering the pages from the garage because she was afraid she'd get in trouble for subletting the cab. She gave the cops her friend's address and they went over there at 9 o'clock at night, found the cab, and L's bag with her machine in it still in the trunk.

I've always lived in terror of this happening, since my machine case is way too big to easily get it in and out of the back seats of cabs, along with my laptop, and so when I'm paying the driver, I always remind him to pop the trunk, and then I remind him that I'm grabbing my stuff. And there have been a few times that I could tell that if I'd not said something, the driver would have forgotten about my stuff in the trunk.

Okay. This week is going better than last. I'm back in temporary control of my dark emotions and feeling productive. The head of my school paid me a visit that actually made me feel better, even though what he had to say was nothing incredibly insightful, and I know he wants me out of here for many reasons other than thoughts of my welfare. It still was nice.

I also had some encouraging words from another instructor here and it's amazing how much that can help. Sometimes this schooling can make you feel so alone. And it's true that everyone has to do it alone, but it's nice to remember that other people know what you're going through. Like you all.:)

I'm really working on QA this week, trying to write 240 and hit every stroke, even if it's messy. I'll come back down next week and see how it looks. Right now, aside from some time spent listening to the book, Jane Eyre, I'm not doing anything else but testimony. I really need to get out of here and this summer would be a great time to end it. See how hopeful I am again? It won't last, I'm sure, but it's nice for the while.

I'm still trying to figure a way to get past test anxiety. This is something I didn't think I had, but am coming to realize is a real thing for me. I've been taking the last few RPRs and some CSRs for practice and to try for the speeds that I have mastered in school, but have been unsuccessful every time. Since I don't get a lot of the advance signs of nervousness, I feel like I'm fine until the tape starts, then my mind just starts in on the commentary track to the test. I've pretty much gotten past the mental commenting on what the material is saying, but have trouble with the critiquing of my writing that I do concurrent to the actual writing. I've tried some visualization, but that sometimes works more as a distraction than an aid. I'm hoping to come up with something by the time of the next RPR that will be more helpful and "ironclad." What does everyone else out there do?

My summer semester just began this evening.
I wanted to share this with you guys because I think it helped me not completely suck during class tonight after a 3-week break.

I wrote this to myself at work today:

So I've made mistakes. I've slacked off. I've been lazy. I haven't had my priorities straight. I accept these things.
I do not want to spend another year living at home or in school. I am too qualified to sit in a cube all day long. I deserve to be a court reporter!
I'm only 25 words a minute away! That's nothing! An hour a day for a few months and it will all be over with. How wonderful will it be to have a career!?
Amanda, you can do this. Quit being scared of growing up. You can be the same person - just with a nicer place to live and extra money and all the pride in the world for doing it on your own!
All of that is only 25 words a minute away. So close! You can't let up now. You can't give the same. You have to give just a little more than you have been so it happens soon.
Wow them, Amanda. Show them who you can be; what you can accomplish. Just 25 words a minute more to go!

hehe
So, everyone should write themselves a similar letter and let this be the year/semester that things happen!!!!
:)

(By the way, I'm beginning my 4th year of court reporting school, night classes, working full-time in a cube, office space style)
here's my intro if you missed it

A relentless rant.
Ok so today was horrible too. The medical test I took went okay. I think I did fairly well. We'll see on that. My stomach was nauseaus this morning, which was hard to get past. Anyway due to the fact that I had an accident with my finger this weekend, and I ripped part of my nail off of the nail bed, and gushed blood everywhere, and had a bandaid on, didn't help my writing on my machine too much today. On top of that, I got that take back that I was sure I passed, and I failed by 3 errors. The 3 that put me over were 3 answers of: Yes, sir.



I capitalized the sirs for some stupid fucking reason. I HAVE NO IDEA WHY IN HELL I WOULD DO THAT. Maybe in my brain the comma was a period. Grrrrrrr. Now Im one of the only ones who is waiting to pass this take, and if this were last semester, punctuation wouldn't have even counted. Which makes me even more mad. This is the most frustrating school you could possibly be in. Studying isn't enough, you have to study your ass off for regular classes, and learn another language, AND be able to preform in class, under pressure. It's totally brutal. The stress that we are under, we might as well be in medical school. Everyone says you can't get paid the amount of money that I have the potential to make if I get through this, for doing something easy, But There are days when I just really wish I could kill someone. I hold out for a long time with these moods, and when everyone else at school is like this, I try to get them through it, But really it sucks. Ill end this bitchy rant by saying I have to go to work until about 4 am tonight so I can wake up late and tired and go fuck my next take up tomorrow at school. Great- I can't wait.


DO any of you take medical teminology or depostion or psychology classes? Do your shools offer an associates degree for court reporting? Do any of you have days like this?
~Blessings~

As someone who is a student of words, this is just too funny.

Whaddya wanna do, people, asterisk the conflicts? Silly people ;-p

Hello yall, My name is Danielle, Im 24 yrs old, and Im in my second semester of Full time (day) Court reporting At LIBI in NY. Im stuggling to pass my first 50. I quite possibly could have gotten it yesterday. A Q and A, I just turned it in. Oh I forgot to mention, I know the stenograph theory.
Anyway, this is a GREAT thing going on here, Many thanks to motherpuckett for starting this. I had thoughts of making one myself a while ago, but as you fellow court reporting students know, time is short.
I can't beleive the amount of stress and pressure this school entails. Although I quite enjoy it, Im not sure I would have gotten myself into this boat, had I had known. The out come and rewards at the end are far greater than the pain we have to suffer through (SO THEY SAY.)
What else? Im struggling with my punctuation. (you can probably see that in this lol) L.I.B.I. (Long Island Business Institue) Is one of the only N.C.R.A. approved schools in this area, I think one of two to be exact. To keep up with the other N.C.R.A approved schools, they recently changed the rules to make punctuation count in the 50-80 speed group, even though it never did before. I look for any support or help any of you have time to spare, as well as practice tips, and things like that. When I have more time, I could type up some of our finger drills and things like that from my school, if you all would be willing to do the same, we can swap. That way we can see how others learn and what others are doing in school ,as well as keep some variety. Im wodering what CAT programs you all use, if any? I currently have the student version of Eclipse which I find to be very good. We also take a real time class at school to help us learn the in's and out's of this program. I practice on an SRT400 I think? I ll have to double check, my machine is in the car due to the fact that I go back to school Wednesday nights for a 3 hours class that I haven't the time to take at 8 am. Ive been watching for quite some time, and figured it was time to introduce myself. Happy Writing!
~Blessings~
Danielle

Today we had Kathy DiLorenzo from Vitac come and speak to our class. She was very interesting and dynamic and told us a LOT of useful information. She really got me excited for graduating and getting OUT THERE! Too bad that time is a looooong way away.

She talked about how there is currently a waiting list at Vitac, but only 10% of the people on it are qualified. She also mentioned how INCREDIBLY important it is to keep up your certification. She said a few reporters had let their RPRs drop, and then a huge contract came in with the stipulation that only reporters with an RPR could caption it, and they were devastated.



I'm thinking that I'm going to drop the Advanced CAT class that I signed up for next quarter. It's an online class, as is the Beginning CAT class that I'm in this quarter. My teacher came up to me today before the speaker arrived and told me that I was the only one enrolled in Advanced CAT, and that she'd never held it online before. She gave me the option of going ahead and taking the class by myself and being her "guinea pig" and come in and meet with her once a week AND do all the reading and testing online, or waiting until it comes around as a "seat class" next Spring. I have heard a lot of horror stories about how hard Advanced CAT is, and Beginning CAT was hard enough to learn online. Plus, I'm already stretched pretty thin, if I get a job. So I think I will drop it and take a Vocabulary class that I need instead.

Hello :) My name is Jessica. I'm 21 years old and have been attending the Stenotype Institute of Jacksonville, FL since January. Phoenix Theory. I love love love it.

Prior to this, I was pursuing a degree in social work at Florida State University. It just wasn't for me. I don't want to break my back to earn 20k a year. Not worth it.

I'd never considered court reporting as a career until about a year ago. I was sitting on my parents' couch fretting about my future, and a commercial for the Stenotype Institute popped up on my tv. I made the phone call, scheduled a tour/interview, and here I am.

And when I'm not doing homework/practicing for school, I'm usually belly dancing. :o

Anyway, nice to meet all of you.

I passed my final 100wpm speed test yesterday. Now I just have to reclaim the 120s, and I'll be back to where I was before I left the Academy. *sigh* 120s are hard. We took two 120 tests yesterday and I did miserable on them. I had a hard time staying at 120 once I passed them last year.

I need to actually practice every day ^_~

First of all, I may be starting school in July instead of September! Yay!! I am so excited!

Now, has anyone bought a machine off ebay? If so please let me know what your experience was.

Also, if anyone knows a good place to get used equipment in SoCal (I am in San Diego and will travel as far as LA to get one), I would appreciate any info.

Thanks all!

Hi. I’ve just joined the community and I’ve responded to a couple of postings, but I haven’t introduced myself yet, so I thought I should get that done.

My name is Tami and I go to court reporting school in Portland, Oregon. I’ve been in school an unanticipated 4 years and have passed out of Literary and Jury Charge but have yet to get 200 and 225 Testimony. 180 Testimony took me forever; 200 is doing the same. I’m hoping 225 will go faster.

I work full-time at the bookstore doing some low-level computer support (mostly troubleshooting and following someone else’s directions) and inventory/data base management (not in the managerial sense).

Aside from work and school I don’t do much. I’m single and quite content with that. I live in a studio that’s not too bad, although I have to have most of my books boxed up. I watch Buffy and Angel DVDs, read Terry Pratchett, listen to community radio, and occasionally see my friends. That’s my exciting life.

I went into court reporting because it sounded interesting and had the potential for working from home. I was originally investigating medical transcription but this sounded more fun. Who knew I was so naïve? Still, even as I watch program after program of medical transcriptioners graduate, I don’t regret choosing this. It is more interesting and eventually will be more fun. I have a BA in English and love words and language, and that part of this comes most easily to me. It’s the physical part that’s kicking my butt.

Still, it’s getting better everyday, bit by bit, stroke by stroke, and I’m looking forward to getting out and moving ahead with my new career.

I don’t know what will become of me after school. I’d like to go into captioning, but don’t figure I’ll be able to do so right away. I’d love to go to a boot camp or seminar, but don’t have the dosh for it so will have to wait. I’m also interested in CART work. Deposition reporting interests me the least, but I will probably end up doing that for awhile at least after graduation. It’s kind of hard here in Portland because a lot of firms don’t hire students, even though there’s a lot of work to be done. Our officials almost all got laid off last year and have entered the freelance market. Still, depending on where you go, there seems to be a lot of work out there.

Well, this has gotten a lot longer than it needs to be so I’ll shut up now. Thanks for forming this community. I look forward to talking with you all. Tami

I think, "how did the reporter write that? Was it a ruf/ruf or a bow/wow"?

N.Y. Lawyer Fined for Barking at Witness

By SAMUEL MAULL, Associated Press Writer

NEW YORK - A lawyer who barked like a dog at a witness during a deposition has been fined $8,500 for misconduct and harassment of opponents.

The lawyer, David Fink, made false statements, failed to comply with court orders and engaged in frivolous conduct during a breach of contract suit over home furnishing designs, Manhattan state Supreme Court Justice Charles Ramos said.

Fink's client Carl Levine represents designers of home furnishings to manufacturers and other licensees. He sued a married couple, Laurette Angsten and Kit Kittle, alleging they did not pay him money they owed for marketing their products.

During a deposition in which Kittle was giving sworn statements on Jan. 16, 2002, he referred to letters he had received from Fink. He called them threatening, "mad dog lawyer" letters, according to Kittle's lawyer, Samuel Friedman.

At the continuation of the deposition the next day, Friedman said, Fink started barking like a dog when Kittle was asked about the letters by Donald Creadore, the lawyer who had taken over Levine's case from Fink.

Friedman said Fink "behaved in a very mocking manner, making the witness feel intimidated, speaking over other people and making it difficult for the court reporter to record much of anything."

Friedman complained to Ramos about Fink's behavior.

"Mr. Fink was barking up the wrong tree," the lawyer quipped as he recalled the deposition. "I don't know what motivated him to bark."

After having a special referee review Fink's behavior, Ramos followed the recommendations and fined Fink, according to the judge's 54-page decision, which was published Thursday. The lawyer had already been assessed another $1,400 for previous misconduct in the case.

The special referee also recommended that Ramos report Fink to the disciplinary committee that monitors lawyers' conduct. Ramos' decision did not reveal whether he reported Fink, and Friedman said he did not know whether the judge had done so.

Fink did not return calls for comment. Creadore said he had no comment.

Meanwhile, the judge ruled against Levine in the underlying case, saying he was not entitled to royalties or commissions from Kittle and Angsten.

I have a question for everyone:

How do you write time? I know we all have different theories, but I'd like to hear everyone's answer, because I never really learned it in my theory at my old school. So I figure I'll see what everyone else does, and apply the best-fitting one ^_~

I'm interested in knowing how to write 8:30 and 8 o'clock.

Thanks! ^_^

(edited to add: I just found out I passed my second 100wpm take! One more and I'll be back up to the 120's!)

Hello! My name is Carol & I'm working on finishing my theory class. I actually completed theory about 10 years ago, but never went on w/the program & have since lost everything I learned. Just got married & moved, so I am finding it difficult to be consistant with the practice/studying. Two children... but they are in school, so I have plenty of time to focus on school. >:/

I've got a Stentura 400, so I should be happy to study... right? :)

From NCRA's website:

Rome and Early Christianity

The shorthand of Tiro was much respected and in demand during the rise of early Christianity. "Pope Clement, in A.D. 196, divided Rome into seven districts and appointed a shorthand writer for each." Since accuracy of the record was important to the early Christian religious leaders, it was not unusual that Cyprian, the Bishop of Carthage, was instrumental in adding yet more symbols to improve on the record by creating "several thousand abbreviations to supplement Tiro's notes." These were religious in nature. All these additions, naturally, made learning shorthand more difficult.

Perhaps this discontent was what caused the early demise of Cassianus, former Bishop of Bescia, who established a school in which he taught shorthand. His students, apparently under stress, stabbed him to death with their styli. In 1952, Bishop Cassianus became the patron saint of court reporters. Redemption at last.


So, I guess court reporting school has ALWAYS been hard. LOL.

Sitting at home, inside, on an absolutely gorgeous day working on transcripts.

Can't open the window because there's construction going on outside that rivals the tape playing through my headphones.

Wondering if something is wrong with my dictation machine because even on the highest speed as of late, the fast speed sounds like a slow chipmunk.

The transcripts currently being worked on are for a contract the firm I work for has with the government. I make only $150 per transcript, no matter how long my sitting time was or how many pages it is.

This particular transcript, my sitting time was from 10 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. and is about 200 pages in length. It's not worth the money.

Fortunately, these type of transcripts are the last of their kind because the contract expired.

Unfortunately though, these transcripts are the only transcripts I have outstanding before I head back home at the end of this week for two weeks to work on wedding stuff, and they're taking forever to trudge through.

There's nothing good on TV tonight so I'm not distracted by the boob tube today (a curse of working at home), but the fiance is working the late shift and our two kitties have spring fever at the moment.

Meow, meow, meow, meow, meow.

Meow, meow, meow, meow, meow.

I currently also have menstrual cramps, and it's making it very difficult to sit for long periods of time.

I'm wishing for an evil twin to drop from the sky to help me work on these last two transcripts.

Or a scopist who won't charge me 75 cents a page.

I think there should be a patron saint of court reporting to pray to.