In honor of National Court Reporting & Captioning week, Thomas & Thomas Court Reporters is acknowledging one of its favorite court reporting gadgets/tools - Adobe Acrobat. From converting emails to PDFs, to bate stamping documents, to editing forms and pages, Adobe Acrobat makes office life so much easier. We use it for emails, transcripts, forms, exhibits, and trial presentation services on a daily basis.
TheTakeNote campaign, launched by the National Court Reporters Association (NCRA), the country’s leading organization representing stenographic court reporters, broadcast and CART captioners, and legal videographers, will serve as a main theme during the 2015 National Court Reporting & Captioning Week, which will run Feb. 15-21. This year’s event marks the third year NCRA has sponsored the celebration designed to help increase the public’s awareness about the growing number of employment opportunities the profession offers.
NCRA’s Take Note campaign launched in September 2014 and is based on the findings of an industry-wide outlook report conducted by the independent research firm Ducker Worldwide. The study determined that over the next five years, some 5,500 jobs in the court reporting and captioning profession are expected to become available.
Court reporters, captioners, CART providers, and court reporting schools around the country will participate in the week-long event by hosting an array of activities such as visits to high schools to showcase the profession, open houses, Veterans History Project interviews, media outreach, and more.
NCRA has made a wide range of resources available to its members, court reporting schools, and others at both crTakeNote.com and NCRA.org. Resources include tips on presenting the benefits of the profession to potential new students, press release templates, social media-appropriate logos and banners, and ideas for hosting special activities. NCRA will also support an official legislative recognition of National Court Reporting & Captioning Week and rely on its social media outlets including Facebook, Twitter, and blogs to reach thousands of people throughout the week.
“National Court Reporting & Captioning Week is an opportunity for our profession to celebrate the valuable contribution this vocation provides to ensure vital records are captured and maintained,” said NCRA President Sarah Nageotte, RDR, CRR, CBC, an official court reporter from Jefferson, Ohio.
“The areas where we work are vast and range from serving as official court reporters to freelance reporters who work strictly taking depositions or recording the proceedings of a variety of meetings and such, while broadcast and CART captioners do wonderful work to help better the lives for millions of Americans who are deaf and hard of hearing by providing captioning in real time for live sporting and theater events, church services, movie houses, and many other venues.”
Nageotte will help kick off the week with a presentation to members of the Hawaii Court Reporters and Captioners Association during a luncheon being held Feb. 14 that will cover the findings of the industry outlook conducted by Ducker Worldwide. Nageotte will also discuss the TakeNote campaign and share tips on how best to highlight the professional outlook to high school students. Representatives from Hawaii’s statewide student news network will also be in attendance and will generate a news segment to share with middle and high schools.
“I’m very excited about this opportunity to help increase awareness about the court reporting and captioning profession and will ask everyone attending to commit to contacting at least one person within their network and educate them about the opportunities this career path offers,” said Nageotte. “In fact, I’m urging everyone in the court reporting and captioning profession to do the same throughout National Court Reporting & Captioning Week.”
For more information, visit NCRA.org. Career information about the court reporting profession—one of the leading career options that do not require a traditional four-year degree—can be found at crTakeNote.com.
"'There is going to be a demand, and a need, for at least 5,500 new positions over the next three to five coming years,' said Sarah Nageotte, president of the National Court Reporters Association. Fifteen percent of the industry is poised to retire. Nageotte said a lot of people are not even aware the career still exists.
Court reporting not only exists, it's expanding.
Most new reporting jobs are outside the courtroom, doing depositions or closed captioning. There is a new federal initiative to provide captioning services to hearing-impaired students. The pay for those jobs can range from $35 an hour up into six figures. One current opening for a court reporter in San Francisco starts above $100,000, plus benefits."
Article by Jane Wells of CNBC
Have you ever flown in for a high-stakes deposition only to discover a tiny conference room, unprepared reporter, inadequate IT support and no one to solve your problem?
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Rely on fully equipped conference facilities with video capabilitiesWhen you have a high-stakes deposition, rely on court reporting experts who have the best reputation in that territory by allowing Thomas & Thomas to handle all of your reporting needs locally, nationwide and around the world.
Thomas & Thomas Court Reporters has lead the way in court reporting technology and we welcome the opportunity to assist you with any court reporting issues you may have. Please call our office to schedule a personal meeting where we can show you the benefits of the newest court reporting technologies. We look forward to making your life easier.
Excerpt:
LAWYERS of the Criminal Bar Association intend to take legal action against Attorney General Allyson Maynard-Gibson for the removal of stenographers from the Magistrate's Court.
This action comes nearly a month after calling a press conference to protest the removal of court reporters, leaving it to magistrates to take handwritten notes until digital recording comes on stream later this year.
Lawyers gathered yesterday at the steps of the Nassau and South Streets court complex, and indicated that they are taking the issue to the Supreme Court.
"Since then (February 14), there has been some discussion with the stakeholders and decision makers," lawyer Murrio Ducille told the media.
"The AG suggested that we may choose to bring our court reporter, but the problem is our court reporter's record would assist us, but it's not the official record of the proceedings in the trial, the magistrate's notes are," he added.
"Matters are being adjourned, but some magistrates are proceeding with trials despite the reasoned objections by defence counsel on instructions from their clients. This has created some disquiet among some magistrates who see our assertion of our client's right to a fair trial as a hindrance in what they are required to do... to make an accurate recording of the evidence and legal arguments in the proceeding... no more, no less."
"It is a no-brainer that one cannot record accurately or at all anything relevant and important if one does not write what is said as part of the trial process. As one client puts it, 'the magistrates do not go to jail, I do. I need to have my case properly recorded if I am convicted and have to appeal'."
Article by Lamech Johnson of the Tribune Staff Reporter
It's Court Reporting & Captioning week, and today Thomas & Thomas Court Reporters and Certified Legal Video, LLC would like to share why John and Gretchen Thomas became a court reporters. Although their stories are very different, it was court reporting that ultimately brought them together.
Why John Thomas became a court reporter:
"I was 100 percent influenced to becoming a court reporter by my court reporter brother, Roger. I admired roger and wanted a life in the courtroom like him. This desire gave me the dedication to make it through the rigors of reporting school and to obtain a job anywhere. Thats why I moved to Omaha not knowing anything about Nebraska. My brother changed my life."
Why Gretchen Thomas became a court reporter:
"I wish that I had a 'romantic' story to tell as to why I became a court reporter: You know, like someone who inspired me, a life-long dream, child prodigy ...
But no. I became a court reporter because I lived in a small town in Wisconsin, attended a very small high school, and had absolutely no idea what I was going to do after graduation. So at the suggestion of my English teacher and guidance counselor, I made a different kind of a list, the list of 'Jobs I do not want to have when I grow up.' I remember that it was an extensive list, but I only remember now that doctor, lawyer, teacher, nurse, fireman, clown, and unwed mother were part of the list. I don't know why.
Then one day during my senior year my dad told me about a friend of his who was a court reporter, Dale Braden. I checked out court reporting. It sounded very interesting. And it wasn't on my list! So I packed my small-town bags, followed in the footsteps of Mary Tyler Moore (after all, it was 1974), and moved to Minneapolis to attend Northern Technical School of Business, where I met my future husband and business partner. We both became court reporters, got married, raised three sons, lived happily ever after. I have LOVED my unexpected career. It has been stimulating and exciting and has afforded wonderful opportunities for our family, and I can see now that I had the romantic ending instead."
February 16-22 recognized as National Court Reporting and Captioning Week
Thomas & Thomas Court Reporters and Certified Legal Video, LLC has join second annual nationwide effort to recognize professionals, career opportunities in stenographic court reporting and captioning
The National Court Reporters Association, the country’s leading organization representing stenographic court reporters and broadcast captioners, has announced that Feb. 16-22 has been deemed National Court Reporting and Captioning Week. The awareness week pulls together a nationwide effort to highlight the contributions of stenographic court reporters and captioners to society and to showcase the career opportunities that exist in the court reporting and captioning fields.
Thomas & Thomas Court Reporters is planning to get involved with National Court Reporting and Captioning Week in Omaha, Nebraska by joining the grassroots efforts to promote the profession and educate local communities about the value stenographic skills bring to today’s marketplace. John and Gretchen Thomas have been a stenographic court reporters for 37 years and are graduates of North Technical School of Business in Minneapolis, Minnesota. They joined the NCRA shortly thereafter and have earned nationally recognized credentials, including Registered Professional Reporter ("PRP"), Certified Realtime Reporter ("CRR"), and Certified Legal Video Specialist ("CLVS").
National Court Reporting and Captioning Week lets us celebrate what makes our field unique. Stenographic court reporters have been around for a hundred years, and we’ve embraced technology which has allowed us to expand into captioning for television and for the deaf and hard-of-hearing. Court reporting and captioning is a great example of traditional skills employing the latest in high-tech to provide cutting-edge services in the litigation arena and in captioning. Our profession is a great career choice because skilled court reporters and captioners are in high demand. National Court Reporting and Captioning Week will be marked with promotional events and marketing nationwide, including a grassroots social media campaign, presentations at high schools across the country about court reporting and captioning career opportunities and community demonstrations such as producing transcripts of veterans’ oral histories. Stenographic skills translate to a multitude of career options—including court reporting, live-event captioning for the deaf and hard-of-hearing community, captioning for broadcast and specialized videography—and the strong marketplace demand means court reporting offers an abundance of long-term career opportunities. Court reporting is consistently ranked as one of the top career options as it offers both flexibility and significant income potential. Court reporters and captioners are able to begin a career without a traditional four-year college degree, and these highly trained professionals experience the continuous professional growth associated with an in-demand career.
For more information, visit NCRA.org. Career information about the court reporting profession—one of the leading career options that do not require a traditional four-year degree—can be found at CareersInCourtReporting.com.
