Archive for category: Uncategorized

Expert Court Reporting: Accuracy

We’ve talked at length about what it takes to become a top court reporter. While Capital Reporting Company offers high quality, comprehensive court reporting services across the board, there are two foundational qualities that we always maintain: speed and accuracy. You may have read on previous blog posts that our court reporters transcribe a minimum of 225 words per minute. This is the requirement set forth by the National Court Reporting Association. What’s more is that Capital Reporting Company’s court reporters transcribe several-hundred page documents on a regular basis. When we type so much so quickly, how can you be sure that the work is precise?

The answer is the NCRA, which requires that a court reporter transcribe the minimum 225 words per minute, with at least 95% accuracy. This is the basic requirement to become a court reporter, and, as one of the Best Overall Providers of Court Reporting & Deposition Services, Capital Reporting Company, goes above and beyond the basic requirements. In the case of a verbatim transcription–we thoroughly review our transcripts before being certified, filed with the court, and forwarded to our clients. All of our work is as close to 100% accurate as possible.

At Capital Reporting Company, we understand the importance of getting a transcript right.  As the NCRA outlines, we assign court reporters and transcriptionists tasks based on their levels of ability. The most complex depositions will be placed in the most capable hands. We know it is not uncommon in the audio transcription world for a government agency or attorney to receive a transcript that does not match the audio, forcing the client to demand a transcript re-write. This is never the case at Capital, where our high standards ensure your work is handled by only the most capable professionals.

The guidelines for court reporting in Chicago may differ from those of San Francisco and New York, but Capital Reporting Company maintains its high standards across the nation and the globe. Our commitment to accuracy is just one of the many reasons that over 10,000 clients look to us to fulfill their court reporting and deposition needs.

Our court reporting company is proud to offer many different kinds of transcription and deposition services, among them are verbatim transcripts. What is a verbatim transcript? You probably know the word, verbatim, and its meaning “word for word.” And if you guess that a verbatim transcript means that each and every word is transcribed, you would be right. Did you know, however, that there are different kinds of verbatim transcripts?: Intelligent Verbatim, which is word for word, and True Verbatim, which is, essentially, sound for sound.

True Verbatim

Imagine an interviewer asking a witness, “Were you aware, of the defendant’s whereabouts on the night in question?” The witness hesitates, perhaps stutters or laughs nervously before answering, “Ummm…no. Not at the time.” An intelligent verbatim transcript (which we will discuss below), may simply read “No. Not at the time.” A straightforward answer, but a true verbatim transcription will capture every sound and nuance in the witness’s answer. This includes fillers, pauses, and ambient noise. It will read something like the following:

Interviewer: Were you aware of the defendant’s whereabouts on the night in question?

Interviewee: [Silence] um…no. [Pause]…not at the time.

A true verbatim transcript can be essential in assessing a witness’s credibility, as those hesitations, spelled out on the page, may indicate a witness’s lying or uncertainty, and determine how the litigants move forward. True verbatim transcriptions may be most useful in situations where the way in which something is said is equally important to what is said. Such transcripts are necessary in commercial cases, intellectual property cases, and even car accident cases.

Intelligent Verbatim

There are other instances, of course, where ambient noises, filler words and nonverbal sounds can be distracting. In this case, our court reporters and transcriptionists are happy to provide Intelligent verbatim, or simply verbatim, transcripts.This is an excellent practice for bloggers, journalists, and others who may need an exact quote but do not need the superfluous, minute details. Intelligent verbatim, or simply verbatim transcription, is helpful when you need a clean quote for a succinct story or report.

Whichever form of transcription you choose, Capital Reporting Company is proud to offer a host of court reporting services. We are a comprehensive court reporting and deposition company, proud to serve you locally, nationally, and internationally. Whatever your transcription needs, entrust your verbatim and true verbatim transcripts to Capital Reporting Company. Schedule a deposition or other service with us today.

Court Reporters Board of California

There are a lot of factors that aid Capital Reporting Company in providing quality court reporting and deposition services in San Francisco, CA. Not the least of these is the governing board that allows our court reporters in San Francisco CA– and all over the state of California– to practice. Founded in 1951,this board, known as the Court Reporters Board of California, authorizes court reporting school curricula and administers qualifying exams. Its aim is to protect clients and ensure that they receive quality, accurate, court reporting and deposition services in California.

What does the Court Reporters Board of California do?

Accurate court transcripts are instrumental to a fair and efficient judicial process. The Court Reporters Board of California assures that our San Francisco CA court reporters adhere to these standards in the following ways:

• Licensing California’s Certified Shorthand Reporters (CSR’s), better known as court reporters.
• Overseeing California’s court reporter schools through the following:

○     authorizing curricula

○     creating and administering licensing exams for California court reporters

○     auditing court reporting school requirements

○     responding to any complaints that might arise regarding record keeping and curriculum standards

• Disciplining professionals in violation of consumer protection law.
• Managing the transcript reimbursement fund that is responsible for providing deposition services to legal counsel in pro bono cases for indigent clients.

Who funds the board?

The Court Reporters Board of California does not use General Fund tax dollars but rather collects its funding from licensing exams. Therefore making it  a special-fund or self-funded agency.

How many board members are there?

The board consists of five members. Three of those members– a public member and two licensees,are are appointed by the Governor of California Two additional public members are also appointed: one by the Speaker of the Assembly and the other  by the Senate Rules Committee.

Where are they based?

The Court Reporters Board of California has one office in Sacramento, CA.

When were they founded?

As mentioned above, the Court Reporters Board of California was established in 1951 and, since then has licensed more than 13,000 reporters. Over 8,000 of these licensees are currently practicing. These licensees fall into two categories: freelance reporters (who mostly provide deposition services for private agencies such as our court reporting company in San Francisco) and  officials (who work mostly in the courts). All court reporters, whether freelance or official, are subject to licensing standards set forth by the Court Reporters Board of California.

Under the Court Reporters Board of California’s standards, you can rest assured that our professionals will provide with quality, accurate court reporting services for your San Francisco deposition. For more information on our San Francisco, CA deposition services, contact our court reporting company, or schedule a San Francisco Court Reporter online.

Jill Cohen

Shortage of Court Reporters Predicted

According to the recent Court Reporting Industry Outlook Report commissioned by National Court Reporters Association, there will be an estimated 5,500 new court reporter jobs available by 2018 in the United States.  The greatest demand is expected in California, Texas, Illinois, and New York.  However, this demand for court reporters will likely exceed the supply within five years.  Already some states are feeling the impact of the court reporting shortage.  In South Carolina, criminal proceedings have had to be delayed because no court reporters have been available to record the proceedings.

The court reporting industry is experiencing this shortage as graduation rates from court reporting schools fall and the population of court reporters ages.  Seventy percent of court reporters are 46 years of age or older.  As older court reporters retire, younger court reporters are not rising up to fill the ranks, despite the significant advantages to a career in court reporting.  A court reporter has job security and the opportunity for growth without the expensive requirement of a four-year college degree.  And the average starting salary – currently $43,000 – is forecasted to grow 14% in the next five years.  A more experienced court reporter can make upwards of $100,000 annually.

To combat the shortage, court reporting schools are doing their best to provide attractive incentives to newcomers.  Some schools, such as the College of Court Reporting in Hobart, Indiana, are offering significant tuition discounts.  Most schools work hard to ensure all students are placed with a full-time position upon graduation.  In fact, most students will receive multiple job offers before they even graduate.

With all of these perks, why aren’t more young professionals headed into the court reporting field? One of the key problems seems to be a low awareness of the profession.  Further, a career in court reporting is challenging.  Court reporters must have an extremely high attention to detail and be very strong in English grammar.  Given the nature of the work, court reporters may be required to work through the night or throughout a weekend to complete a transcript.  Most court reporting positions are also very independent.  Court reporters will largely work from their home, and when they are on the job they are expected to be “seen and not heard.”  The job does not provide the camaraderie and socialization that today’s millennial generation desires.

Although advances in voice-recognition technology continue to be made, this is still not a valid alternative to the accuracy of a court reporter, and likely will not be for years to come.

Jill Cohen

In the 21st century, there are mountains of choices in hardware and software that can record and even transcribe the human voice. Why, then, you may ask, are court reporters still so essential to the legal process? For one, voice recording and recognition technology are nowhere near capable of detecting the subtle nuances of human speech. How many times have you spoken a command to your smartphone, only to have it completely misinterpret what you’ve said? The human ear, or more accurately, the human mind, is the most careful and precise analyst when it comes to human speech patterns.

In the courtroom, this can mean a difference in verdict or judicial interpretation. If a lawyer says to a witness, “you did it,” this phrase can be read any number of ways. It takes the accurate ear and linguistic knowledge of a court reporter, like those at Capital Reporting Company, to understand the subtleties of that simple, three word phrase. Was it a statement (“You did it.”) or a question (“You did it?”) and on which word did the emphasis fall? These are all inflections that the skilled, experienced ear of a Washington DC court reporter might catch.

Additionally, court reporters are able to accurately interpret other small variations within a language such as accents, speed, or sudden switches between English and one’s native tongue. Especially in a cosmopolitan area like the District of Columbia, Washington DC court reporting relies on trained ears and insightful analytical minds. The list of uses for an accurate human reporter goes on, but let us focus on one of the most important: written record. At the end of the day, judges rely heavily on the detailed written records that court reporters produce. When sound volume and technology fail, judges need reliable transcription of the day’s events.

Court reporting is still a painstaking and highly valued task. Even as courtrooms across the country and in Washington DC cut costs, court reporters are still seen as indispensable within the judicial system. This is why awards for excellence in court reporting are still allocated, such as the “Best Court Reporting Service” award which Capital Reporting Company received from the Legal Times in 2013.

None of this is to say, however, that courtrooms or court reporters do not embrace technology. With today’s electronic advances, computers can instantly translate stenotype shorthand to provide judges with courtroom notes in real time. Combine that with the accuracy and experience of our Washington DC Court Reporters for the most accurate recording of your legal proceedings. Contact us or schedule your Washington DC court reporter here for courtroom transcription with unmatched accuracy.