What to Look For in a Court Reporting Service By http://www.georgiareporting.com/ If you need to hire a court reporting service and you're looking for the right selection criteria, you'll encounter two schools of advice: one that tells you to evaluate court reporting services and another that encourages evaluating individual court reporters. In this article, we present selection criteria for selecting the best individual court reporter, because regardless of a court reporting service's reputation, it's ultimately the quality of the reporter that will leave you satisfied or dissatisfied with your hiring decision. According to law firms and organizations that contract with court reporting services, there are two groups of selection criteria that should be applied to your list of potential court reporters: basic skills and exceptional professionalism and reputation.
Basic Requirements Although different types of legal proceedings demand different proficiency standards of court reporters, there are basic requirements of all court-reporters, beginning with state certification. State certification shows that a reporter has passed a certification test that attests to his or her knowledge of court-reporting. Another critical requirement is a minimum typing speed of 200 words per minute. Although depositions can be lethargic,
they can also be fast paced when a witness speaks quickly and gives long answers. A third essential requirement is computer skills and research skills. Depending on the type of reporting you need, a reporter may need certain computer skills research skills that other court-reporters don't. Another critical requirement is editing and proofreading skills. Prior to delivering a transcript, reporters perform proofreading and editing to ensure the accuracy and cleanliness of the transcript. Because anyone can claim to possess editing and proofreading skills, it's best to ensure that the development of these skills was part of a reporter's official training.
Exceptional Professionalism and Reputation Some law firms and organizations make the mistake of thinking that a court reporter's character and demeanor don't matter. While reporters rarely interact with witnesses, their degree of poise, professionalism and respectfulness can indeed have a bearing on the quality of a deposition. Just as judges and attorneys aren't immune to prejudice, bias and adversarial thinking, neither are court reporters. Aside of potentially interrupting a witness and sabotaging an attorney's line of questioning or mis-portraying a witness's nonverbal behavior, reporters that lack professionalism can also be a technical nightmare for the reporting process. From showing up for depositions in unprofessional attire to arriving late and not delivering transcripts on time, less than professional reporters have done it all. To judge a reporter's professionalism or lack thereof, it's a smart idea investigate their past work history and not simply rely on their agency's assessment of their demeanor.