Making and Managing
The Verbatim Record
A new NACM miniguide
NACM Annual Conference
Tuesday – July 10, 2007
Your presenters…
• Mike Bridenback: NACM Board member, Court
Administrator – 13th Judicial Circuit Court (Tampa,
FL)
• Jennifer Greene: Policy Analyst, Arizona Admin
Office of the Courts
• Chris Crawford: Court management consulting,
Justice Served®
WHAT and WHY?
WHAT
• NACM Miniguide on making and managing the
verbatim record
WHY
• The verbatim record has been largely a “hands off”
management issue. Human resource and
technology issues have changed this condition over
time.
Making the Verbatim Court
Record
“The first duty of society is justice”
-Alexander Hamilton
“…the court [would be] a place where what was
confused before becomes more unsettled than ever.”
-Henry Waldorf Francis
Imagine in your court …
Scenario #1:
The Case of the Impaired Reporter
Due to an employee staff resource shortage, we
contracted with one of the local private sector court
reporting service providers to send us a qualified
steno reporter with criminal court stenographer
experience to capture a trial in one of the Felony Trial
Divisions. This reporter came highly recommended to
us having had previous trial experience in criminal
court.
Scenario #1: Continued…
• During the morning trial proceedings the bailiff
noticed that the reporter seemed a little “off”, and
as the morning went on noticed the reporter was
stroking her machine which was out of paper. The
bailiff brought his observations to the attention of
the Court. It was believed that the reporter was
under the influence of either alcohol or drugs. The
judge immediately stopped the trial.
Scenario #1: Continued…
• Upon inquiry by the Court, the reporter assured the
Court that she had recorded the morning portion of
the trial on a back-up tape recorder and that the
record had been captured. When the reporter was
asked to replay the recording, it was discovered
that the tape was at the end and had not recorded
any of the proceeding. The entire morning portion
of the trial was missed and the presiding judge
asked for a replacement for the reporter.
Imagine in your court …
• Scenario #2:
The Case of the Missing Data File
Our digital court reporting system stores the data
recorded during the court proceedings on a server
maintained by our court in order to assure that we
always have a record. At the end of each day, that
information on our server is backed up to a tape
and stored.
Scenario #2: Continued…
• The digital court reporting service provider copies
the files to their server and manages those files to
facilitate transcript requests. Our digital court
reporting service provider received a request for an
appeal and couldn’t find the file on their server or
the court’s server. The service provider then
contacted the court and asked the court to restore
the file from the backup tape.
Scenario #2: Continued…
• After an extensive search of all of the backup tapes, it was
discovered that the case had been recorded but was
“moved” from the court’s server. This “move” command
had deleted the file off of the court’s server before the
day’s backup was done. It appeared that one of the
service provider technicians was copying files from the
court’s server to the digital court reporting service
provider’s server and instead of choosing to “copy” the
file, the technician “moved” the file from one server to
the other, thus deleting it from the court’s server. As a
result, the record was lost.
Scenario #2: Continued…
• The court reporting service provider had to notice
the DCA that due to a human error, the file had
been deleted and the transcript could not be
produced. The judge was then notified that she
would have to retry the case.
Miniguide Content
• What is the court record?
Methods of taking the verbatim record
• Review of trial court reporting practices
Decision criteria/factors to identify most appropriate
& cost effective method
Management of court reporting resources
Planning for the future
• Appendices
Miniguide: METHODS
Stenographic court reporting
– Using computer aided transcription (CAT)
– Realtime technology
Miniguide: METHODS
• Voicewriting (formerly stenomask)
– Using voice recognition CAT
– Realtime technology
• Electronic recording
– Digital versus analog (tape)
Miniguide:
SELECTION CRITERIA
•
•
•
•
•
Likelihood of need for a transcript
Availability of court reporting staff
Case or proceeding type
Statute or local rule
Complexity or special needs
– Need for realtime feed
– Accommodate a disability
Miniguide:
MANAGEMENT ISSUES
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
1st decision = in-house or contract?
2nd decision = one method or multiple?
Cost benefit analysis to choose method
Quality control
Technology & tech infrastructure
Archiving/retrieving the record
Transcription options
Miniguide:
PLANNING FOR THE FUTURE
• Advancements in technology
• Integrating the record into the automated case
management system
• Centralized (web) transcript repositories
• Voice recognition
• Captioning of video
• Refreshing of storage media
The Bottom Line …
• Whether you like it or not, the verbatim record is a
management concern.
• Whether it is in-house or contracted out, the record
must be managed.
• The end goal is an accurate and cost effective record
in a usable format
Questions??
And hopefully, answers
THANKS FOR COMING!!!